Only 25 more days to go!
“Thank you so much for the package, all so very useful for the children, so much is needed by our remote villages that your parcel is a very generous offering and much appreciated.I am so pleased that you enjoyed the café, 6 of the women staff are from abused backgrounds, all of whom have come into their power now that they have confidence in their work and that they are the ones who go home with a pay packet!I do hope this letter will reach you as you have not put your e-mail address.With warmest best wishes,Sonia”
Sonia Newhouse
c/o Hearts Café
Plaza de Armas, Ollantaytambo
Cusco, Perú
Donations of school supplies, medicine, clothing etc are all needed. ps: Packages cannot weigh over 5kg, and all clothing must look clean and new or will be confiscated by customs. If you want to contact Sonia e-mail hearts.cafe@hotmail.com
Thankfully Jon’s much more organized than I am. His travel research knows no bounds, and he’s fully addicted to trip advisor–so much so that they’ve asked him to be destination expert for Peru. (Which I don’t think he’ll accept. It is a little hard to be a destination expert if you’re from another continent!)
At least I know this Asian adventure is extremely well planned. Even so, the best laid plans of mice and men…
Rewind to when we were packing for Europe. The temperatures ranged from super cold and rainy to super hot and sunny with a bit of normal comfortable temperatures everywhere else. Consequently, we had to pack for several climates.
Fast forward to last year–we had to pack for cold temperatures in the Andes and Lake Titicaca, and scorching hot temperatures in Mexico City . We also decided it would be wise to take sleeping bags which turned out to be a good decision.
This trip will be hot weather. Warm to Extremely Hot weather only. There will be no winter jackets, no thermals, no puffy vests, no sleeping bags, not a mitten in sight. So, we’ve decided to downsize.
I was so happy to find the Buffalo Crossing sign to add to the photo collection! In all of Yellowstone, there is only ONE that we saw. The irony is that there wasn’t a buffalo for miles around the sign; they most certainly were everywhere else. We found the sign as we were leaving the park on the last day. Road signs included, there are quite a few differences between Canada and the US that are easily noticed when driving through the United States. None of these differences is a bad thing (well except for one which we’ll get to!)
Overt Patriotism abounds in the US. Not to say that Canadians aren’t patriotic, we just don’t generally plaster the Canadian flag anywhere and everywhere (well, except in Falkland. Maybe they’re a little nutty?). In addition to flags everywhere, each little town along the way had a huge letter on a hillside somewhere on the edge of town, like a teeny tiny Hollywood sign to celebrate the town, but with only the first letter. I can’t remember where the photo of the M is from, but you get the point.
Another difference–elected law enforcement. In BC, Sheriffs serve primarily with the court system. They’re involved with jury selection and with transporting prisoners to court cases etc. Whereas, in the US, the Sheriff is seen as the highest member of law enforcement, and is elected by the county he/she serves. As you can see, Wade Magers and Jesse Allen were running for Lincoln County Sheriff** (Kudos to you Wade Magers for winning by over 1000 votes.) Which also brings about the use of the word “County”. Seriously, I bet less than 1 in 10 Canadians could tell you which county they live in. We never use that term. Ever.
We did see another food item that was particularly interesting. Anyone up for attending the Testicle Festival event next year? Their slogan “You’ll have a ball! If you miss it, you’re nuts.” Klassy with a capital K.
There were literally thousands of Adopt a Highway signs. Every 2 miles for thousands and thousands of miles. I felt like I was being brain washed. Somehow they aren’t as noticeable here. The other uber-depressing marker that there were thousands of–little white crosses along the interstate that mark where someone has died.
Happy Travels,
~j
**The campaign signs were everywhere. Jesse Allen Lincoln County Sheriff became quite the conversation topic. Imagine a made for TV movie staring Tom Selleck as Jesse Allen and some washed up wrestler (like the dude who was a Governor) as Wade Magers. They would have rival moustaches. Ooh, that would be good TV for the ancient demographic.
Mid-September, I roped a friend into going to the Adam’s River Salmon Run. He really wasn’t keen on it. As someone who works on the Thompson and Fraser Rivers, he sees thousands of fish in the river each summer, and understandably didn’t want to go see more. Luckily, my persistence paid off, and we went for the mini road trip. Every 4 years there is a mass return to the spawning grounds; 2010 was supposed to be one of the biggest returns in the past 100 years, so why not check it out?
The Salmon Run was elementary school field trip extravaganza when we were little! We would have to learn all the stages of the life cycle. Here’s your science lesson just in case you don’t remember grade 2. The salmon swim from the Pacific Ocean, travel up the Fraser River through Hell’s Gate, up the Thompson River and into the Adam’s River where they spawn and die. (And, smell horribly bad!) The eggs hatch, grow, swim to the ocean, live there for a few years, and if they’re lucky to have survived that far, they swim back to the Adam’s River to start the cycle all over again.
We were there at the start of the Sockeye run and the very end of the Chinook run. The size difference between the two fish is crazy, but I wasn’t able to get any good photos of Chinook to compare. They don’t turn the bright pink colour that the Sockeye do. We wandered the trails, took a few photos and all in all had a fun little road trip.
Entry to Grand Teton National Park is included with the Yellowstone entry fee. Since, we had to drive through the park on the way back from Devil’s Tower we wanted to check it out. The photo above pretty much sums up the whole experience. Yep, a mountain range. The Teton mountain range. It is beautiful, akin to anything you’d see in Banff or Jasper, but just not quite as spectacular.
Prairie Dog Town is a real location at the entrance of the Belle Fourche campground. True story. Check out the map. We ended up spending a very rainy night there. The campground was nice enough, but the weather not so much. At least we were able to take some fun photos.
In 1906, Devil’s Tower was proclaimed the first national monument by President Roosevelt. The tower is a crazy rock formation. From the pictures it doesn’t really look that big, but the top of the tower is about the size of a football field. Though it looks like an old volcano it isn’t.
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