HaveKidsWillTravel

We headed inland, back to the I5 to speed things up for the drive through the rest of Oregon and Washington, stopping off in Portland, making a detour out to take in the sight & story of Mt St Helens, and then headed straight up to Vancouver.

Now Portland is a pretty cool city, alive to its history and setting, with almost a European feel, and seemingly full of freaks, hipsters and rednecks. We had some fun eating from their street vans and a great time in what must be one of the world’s greatest bookshops (Powells Books), but it’s still all just a bit too much like hard work dragging kids sightseeing around a city.

As is getting in and out of them. We bumped into a couple of Aussie retirees a few days ago, travelling around in their RV, and had a bit of a yarn as you do, and just as we were about to part ways, the bloke took me aside for a quiet word, man to man, about his GPS equipment (a Garmin Nuvi). He carefully demonstrated all of its features, and then, very seriously, with the womenfolk out of earshot, told me straight – ‘you really need to get one of these – it might just save your marriage’. I smiled and nodded politely at the time, but in that last 20 minutes, driving into Vancouver and trying to find the RV park at 11.30 at night, I was starting to think he might just be onto something…

And after what must be our longest drive yet, dragging the kids around Vancouver the next day was getting to a bit much. While we had a nice little wander in Stanley Park (and found the back door to the acquarium to see the seals and Belugas for free, which was pretty cool), the main reason for spending the day in Vancouver was really just to relive our favourite memories of when we lived there all those years ago as poverty stricken backpackers – the pizza slices and poutine…

The years had faded a few of the details, though, and we had forgotten till we got off the bus that all the best pizza parlours are actually in the red light district. (We somehow got off the train in the seediest part of town in Portland as well, so I’m thinking the kids might be getting a bit of a one-sided view of the NorthWest – as Evie calls out in her shrill 6 year old voice “Why are all these people are sleeping on the footpath, Daddy!?” “Aaaahhh – let’s talk about that in a minute, shall we…” – whilst simultaneously attempting to divert their attention from the strip clubs and seedy establishments we’re walking briskly past…)