Portland, British Columbia, Seattle

Here's the last post from our trip! (sorry that it took so long to get it posted, we got back to Buffalo last week and were right into work) We left the Redwoods and made our way up to Portland for a night, then to Seattle for meeting up with Uncle Dave and Aunt Barb on our way up to British Columbia for a nice week in the Rocky Mountains on Lake Tyax. Katie hadn't been to British Columbia before and to the family cabin.

Within the first few hours of arriving in B.C. we saw a moose and black bear-and I knew we weren't in Kansas anymore! We ended up seeing another black bear later in the week while we were hiking. That one was on the trail right in front of us! Every time we went hiking we carried bear spray (kind of like pepper spray) and a fog horn. The area is not only home to black bears, but grizzly bears too! One evening while playing cards a doe and two baby fawns walked right next to the cabin.

Brendan also spent a lot of time flying fishing (check out the picture below). He caught several rainbow trout that we ate for breakfast-yum!!

Mid-week we went to Bralorne, which is an old gold mining town-and searched for serpentine (which turns into Jade eventually) and walked around an old mine. (http://www.bralorne.com/s/Home.asp)

We also kayaked on the lake, played a lot of cards, and relaxed after the busier portion of our vacation. It was a great week and a nice end of our vacation!

Upon arrival back in the States we had a great dinner with my girlfriend Katie from high school and her fiance Dominic-it was SO nice to visit with them before heading back to Buffalo!

Seattle with our friends...

Redwood Forest

After leaving San Fran we drove to the Redwoods. Our first stop was the Avenue of the Giants. There were some neat stops-Chimney Tree, the Drive through Tree (that is Brendan in our little Yaris driving through), and the Tree House.

We then headed another hour north for to see some more of Redwood National Forest. We stopped at Prairie Creek State Park. We had heard this was the place to see some amazing trees and it was! We cannot even begin to describe what we saw and the pictures do it no justice. The Redwoods are incredible. You can see me in a lot of the pictures if you look real close (I have white pants on). That gives you some sense of the massive size of the trees. The forest was quiet and peaceful. We kept saying it was like being in a dream! It has been one of our favorite stops throughout the trip.

We are heading to Portland, Oregon tonight and tomorrow morning we meet up with Brendan's Uncle Dave and Aunt Barb in Seattle, WA for the final leg of our trip-the Canadian Rockies in Lake Tyax, British Columbia.

We may not have Internet access as we are headed to a very remote area of BC! But we will be sure to post again when we return to Buffalo in one week from this Sunday. It is hard believe that this trip is winding down! It was been an incredible experience and we appreciate everyone checking in on us throughout! Thanks for your comments.















The name of the drive-and-stop tour that we took to see some of the biggest trees in the world. The world's tallest tree was here until it fell in 1991.



































































This tree was about double the size on the opposite side from where this picture was taken.














REALLY old trees!














Does this make you nauseous?






































Tree house!














Wild Elk






























HUGE tree, totally hollowed like a chimney, but still living





















































Where's Waldo?
































































Paul and Blue

Monterey and San Francisco

We left Santa Barbara and headed up some more of Pacific Coast Highway 1 to Seaside, CA to meet our friends Brandon and Natalie Rounds. Brandon was in law school with Brendan for one year before he joined the Navy. We miss them lots but Brandon is doing wonderful things to protect our country! The views up the coast were amazing. We found an area where we could head down to the beach and I put my feet in the Pacific-it was freeeeeezing!

We met Brandon and Natalie for a great lunch. After lunch we headed to Monterey, CA to see the sea lions. They were so fun! We have a great video of a sea lion eating a crab and then it dove down into the ocean to grab another.

We arrived in San Francisco mid-afternoon and strolled around Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf. We ate dinner at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company on Pier 39. There were great views of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz from our seats.

The following morning we went back to Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39. Alcatraz tours sell out weeks in advance during the summertime. We were unaware of this and weren't able to get tickets. So instead we went the Aquarium at the Bay. It was so neat. They have two glass tunnels you walk through while fish and sharks swim over you. They also had an area of the aquarium where you could pet stingrays, sharks, and starfish. The stingrays were so playful!

After leaving the aquarium we went to Gharadelli Square for some yummy chocolate and hopped onto a cable car for a quick ride before leaving San Fran. Now the public transit system in San Fran is confusing and I was warned ahead of time of this-but still we were still so confused! They call the trolley-looking cars (like in Rice-a Roni commercials) the cable cars, but they also have buses that run on cables. These are NOT the cables cars (although they have cables above them). But we figured is out eventually and went for a ride!

On our way out of San Fran we stopped for some pictures at the Golden Gate Bridge.
































































































































































































Car was filthy from the grand canyon and all the driving!





















































































































Petting the sting rays. They were young ones and very playful and would jump right out of the water to us!!!







































ALCATRAZ!