Vancouver and Seattle


	Leaving Barkerville I continued south and then turned south west to follow Highway 99 towards Vancouver.


	The photograph to the right shows a typical section of the road which is cut into the side of mountains for much of its length.


	The road takes you past a number of lakes like this one, note the snow covered mountains in the distance and the gathering clouds.


	A view from one of the high points along the road looking over the surrounding countryside.


	By the time I reached Vancouver the weather was starting to turn quite unpleasant and a few minutes after taking this photograph it started raining hard. The glass ball is the TELUS World of Science and the water is False Creek.


	The following morning the weather improved somewhat and as I wandered around Vancouver I encountered a number of nice features that reflected the importance of the sea to the city.


	I particularly liked this decoration that had been added to a building on the waterfront. The bird on the davit is carved from wood like the snoozing sailor.


	Vancouver Harbour is a busy place with a variety of ferries and a large container port sharing space with cruise ships like this one (it’s the Coral Princess).


	There are also Helicopters operating from a Heliport.


	There are also float planes using the centre of the harbour to take off and land. There was a seaplane base located on the harbour behind the cruise ship pier.


	A little while later the weather started to close in again, you can just make out the Lions Gate Bridge that takes you to North Vancouver.

I had intended to spend a few days in Vancouver but as I had taken rather longer than initially planned on the journey to and from Alaska and had a fixed ticket from Seattle to Honolulu I had to head south for Seattle (and Sea-Tac).

I made it to Seattle in time and after dropping off my hire car wandered around the terminal at Sea-Tac Airport. There is a large, high roofed glazed area with a couple of aircraft suspended on display.


	This is an Alexander Eaglerock biplane built in 1928, it was a type popular with barnstormers who put on flying shows across America.

This is a replica of the Rutan Model 76 Voyager which was the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refuelling.

Piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager the flight took 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds.


	Then it was time to get on my Hawaiian Airlines flight to Honolulu and a complete change from the snow and ice of the previous few weeks.

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