My Canadian journey begins

Another vacation come and gone.

Here's the story:

Packed my suitcase and my sleeping bag, and boarded the

flight out West.

Finally found one of the weird things at the Denver Airport.

Like this gargoyle in a suitcase.

On my walk to my Denver hotel from the train station, a guy

tried to pick me up. I must have looked like a hobo, with my sleeping bag

and backpack and suitcase, so maybe he wasn't too out of line.

Still, no thanks dude. My hotel is right over there.

😆

First stop was Fiddler's Green Amphitheater to catch a Dave Matthews Band show.

My first DMB concert attended alone, so I grabbed a cheap lawn ticket.

I'd never been on the lawn for a show before.

This venue's lawn is kind of steep, but I managed to get a spot at the top

of the top slope. Most people stood a lot of the show though, so it

wasn't really too bad.

Not the best venue I've seen the band at, but it was fine.

They played a good set. No opening act.

I think it was the first show back after a short break. There were a few odd spots.

But nothing that the band wasn't able to recover from.

They played a cover of Let's Dance.

My boi Dave playing my other boi Bowie!

nice!

After getting some sleep at the hotel near the venue, I had to

get the train back to the airport.

While waiting at the station, I watched some folks smoke crack.

A little slice of life.

At last the train arrived and I made it back to the airport to await my next flight.

On the way into the Denver Airport, I finally got a glimpse of Blucifer!

The giant blue mustang statue in front of the airport.

Its eyes glow red and it killed its creator.

And you can't get near it. There are no walkways.

You can only see it from the roads.

An acai bowl I had in the Denver Airport while waiting for my flight.

Pretty tasty. Kind of like a thick smoothie with toppings.

Still in Colorado.

Finally in Seattle.

Waiting for another train to get to my hotel for pickup for the tour

I'd signed up for.

The tour company wouldn't pick up until the next morning, so I had

some time to relax and enjoy the night.

I took a short walk from the hotel to a place called Mall of Africa.

There was a shop on one side of the building and a restaurant on the other.

I was uncomfortable, but largely ignored, at the shop, which was 

mostly scarves and hijabs and jewelry. There must be a large

Somali population in this part of Seattle, some men were

using prayer rugs near me at the restaurant.

The restaurant was a bit more welcoming, even if I was

the only white person in the place.

I ordered the Ethiopian injera plate, and after some confusion because

I asked for no meat, and vegetarian diets are completely bonkers to

most Africans, they finally decided to replace the meat with some fish.

They gave me salmon in the dish, and I was happy with that.

And it was so delicious!

Lentils and greens and some sort of sauce on the salmon.

I used my hand, as per custom, with the injera as much as I could, then 

gave up and asked for a fork. 

I ate half, then asked for a box to take the rest with me.

I ate it for breakfast the next morning. 

Double deliciousness!

The next morning, after pulling myself together and eating the leftovers,

I met the guide for my tour into the Canada Rockies.

There were only two guests in this tour, which was totally bizarre.

But I appreciate that they didn't cancel the tour entirely.

The other person had chosen the hotel option, so for the whole week

I got a tent to myself.

Nearing the Canada border.

Caffeinated milk?

Traded some US dollars for MooseBucks.

After clearing the border, we drove on to Bridal Veil Falls for some

lunch. It was a short stop. Long enough to make a sandwich and take a short

hike to the falls.

Saw my first huge slug.

Don't eat them!

Tim Hortons are plentiful.

I popped into one and got some coffee and donuts,

which I ate for breakfast the next morning.

Our first stop for the night is at Salmon Arm.

Set up camp at Sandy Point Campground.

Pretty, fairly quiet, if you can ignore the noise from the highway, 

but it was pleasant enough.

The only campground of the week that asked for money to use

the showers.

One loonie for three minutes in the shower.

A loonie is a Canadian dollar, so named because

it has a loon on it.

Their dollars and two dollars are in coin form.

This first night, I had a one loonie shower just to 

wash off the grime and sweat of the day.

Toasted the Tim Horton donut the next morning.

Warmish apple fritter with my camp coffee!

I had half of a chocolate donut left too. It also got roasted.

Home for the week.

Set up the tent, take down the tent, set up the tent, take down the tent.

There were a few occasions we stayed at the same place for two

nights in a row, and it was a luxury to arrive at camp and not have

to make your house and bed before you can relax.

But that's camping!

I'm kind of ambivalent towards camping.

I don't hate it, but I also don't really love it either.

I will camp without complaint when needed.

Sometimes it's relaxing to sleep outside.

Anyway, that first night the guide gave me the bear spray to keep in my

tent, and I wound up having weird dreams about animals around my tent.

In my dream I saw silhouettes of bears and moose with weirdly long legs

shadowed on my tent. And when I sprayed the dream bear with the

dream bear spray, it just acted like I was shooting it with a water gun.

I did sleep pretty well though, all things considered.

We packed up the tents and camping gear, hitched up the trailer,

picked up the hotel lodger, and set off for our next destination.

Which will be in the next post!