Olympic National Park

We always find snow somewhere!
We went on the mountain of the park and found a bounce a snow! We decided to go for a bike tour and we arrived on a road with 3 meters snow walls left and right!
The most impressive was all that wildlife who decided to stay in front of our van!
After a few hikes trough the rain forest to the famous water falls we decided to leave the park and go to Seattle. It is even better because of our 2 nights wild camping and cycling on the trails in the park, the rangers don’t appreciate us anymore...  

US border

Not that easy to pass the border!
2 guys and one crappy van that doesn’t fit for the customs !
All the ferry passengers went through the boarder easily but we had one whole inspection!

-Hello guys,
-Hello Sir,
-Hhm first, this plant “pothos” can’t cross the border; the garbage is there next to the building!
-(Damn) Ok!
-Where are you from?
-Switzerland!
-Can I have your passports?
-Yes sure.
-What are you doing here?
-Traveling Sir, we go to California!
-Where do you stay?
-We have friends in Seattle and in San Francisco! (haha it was too easy)
-Can you write me the adresse on this paper please?
-(Damn) yes I will: Hhm 4345 Main Street north east # Seattle  (there is always a main street in the US cities…)
-Ok thanks (pffiou we are lucky)
-What is that tire on the roof?
-that’s our emergency tire.
-From who is this van?
-It’s mine
-Can you show me the papers where it’s written that’s you’re the owner?
-Yes sure, here it is!
-Do you have fruits in your van?
- Yes two bananas!

-Nothing else, like apples, limes or berries? (why does he care about fruits ??? )

-No, just 2 bananas.

-do you have drugs?
-No No!

-Ok please park your van on the side next to the trailer and I will go through the van the time you complete the papers in the office…

After a bounce of questions in the office with the real USA police man (Black Ray Ban, fat, big USA cap, not friendly and probably a few donuts in his drawer) we finally could cross the border.

Victoria

On the road to Victoria, we had a quick stop in Cathedrale Grove! Many old trees, about 800 years old and taller than 100 meters ! A very nice show!  

 
Once in Victoria, after many hours on the road, we decided to take our bikes, a couple beers and wandering in the city. After 10min, we met 2 guys with who we spent the evening next to the harbour drinking a couple beers and enjoying the sun set. The city is quite but really nice with an English style.
Joëlle and Simon, our crazy Whistler hitchikers friends were also in Victoria and had a contact for couch surfing. We took the opportunity and finally, Drew and Ezra invited all of us in their house.  If once you go to Victoria, contact them! Haha, they showed us the whole city: Victoria’s hill with a crazy scenery, the Royal Museum, wild seals, metal concerts, Victoria’s night life and Victoria’s hangovers!
Thank you very much guys! 

We met also James and Shanon 2 travelers who spent the winter in Revelstoke. They showed us a spot for the night and gave us some tips to tidy up our van ;-)  Unfortunately, our van is not waterproof and the tarp was really noisy, we guess they left that nice spot during the night because they couldn't sleep! Good luck to them!

Now it’s time for us to say good bye to Canada and take the ferry to Port Angeles USA!

Tofino

This small village is crazy ! A surf and hippie town... We arrived here two days ago and already know half of the population.

The ferry, the surf gears and those hard parties are pretty expensive... So we had to sneak in a few hostels for a warm bed and confortable shower. (it's still quite cold to sleep in the van...).

It's just so amazing, 4 days ago, we were in Whistler skiing every day and here we surf, chill, have a BBQ, the eagles are flying above our heads, watch the wales in front of us... and that every day !!!

 

Unfortunately we live Tofino today direction Victoria for a couple of days! Cheers

Bye Whistler! Now road trip

Shit! It’s already Monday 22^nd! After long and hard days we had to let our skis resting on the wall of the student house and had to heat the engine of our van for a long, long, trip. Our beauty is ready: new tires, new bed, closets, 2 bikes and camping stuffs. A new friend joined our trip: Welcome “Pothos”. We hope that this new “vanmate” won’t be too noisy and bring us in a good mood. 

Now let’s go on the road! A last goodbye to Whistler and direction Vancouver Island. To see a part of the real wild Canada we decided to discover a few islands before Vancouver Island. So from Vancouver we took a ferry direction the sunshine coast. 

First night in our van in Sechelt… Pfouah! Canada is cold. Anyway, when we woke up and saw the ocean and the sunrise through the window of the van, we forgot about that hard night and started our beauty for the next destination: Tofino.

On these islands you have the impress to be in the middle of nowhere: No noise, ocean, trees, mountains covered by snow. Those are the only things we saw for hours! We discovered the real Canada!

After two days, already many fans of our van! Pictures, discussions, positive reactions, the people are really friendly and help us all the time to find our way.

Enjoying the snow

Beside trying to improve our van for a perfect road trip, we are still enjoying Whistler. This big ski resort where we are living for 5 months bring us still some amazing moments. Ski, apres-ski, parties and  natures landscapes give us so nice moments.

Unfortunately, everything can happen at ski! It looked like a perfect day: blue bird, fresh powder and nobody on the mountain. But follow what happened there:

After all, Steven’s tooth and lips are healed up we are back on the slope for one of our last day in Whistler. That special day had to be crazy so with our friends we decided to dress up like in the 80’s. After a couple beers on the mountain, a few runs in the snow park and a BBQ in the backcountry, we finished our day with a funny après-ski in the longhorn.