USA/Canada 96/7 Trip Report

Once we actually leave which is about 28 hours from now (6am 18th October 1996), we'll detail our trip here as we progress around the country. (What the hell else do I do to keep up my computer skills while I'm away !)

You can find our trip schedule here.

18th October

Long flight from Oz Arrived and met by MH Met host after shopping foir shoes Julie & Scott Broomball sticks did not make it up from SFO to Eugene. Reported them and hopefully should see them by Sun day night. MH had the new Forest Ice sticks.

19th October

Shoppped at mall for shoes Saw Mike play football which they won Drinks at the Wild Duck Inn

20th October

Drove to coast via river valleys to sand dunes PLayed broomball, guys thought ice was great played blue line offside and 2point golas for females. Met new hosts, Lynda and Frank. Weather was perfect, no wind even on the coast, was relatively warm.

21st October

Collected chains for drive to Crator Lake (all up cost forthe days hire was $5. Chased up sticks ewhich where delivered to rink! Drove to Crator lake took 4 1/2 hours. Shot of just before arrival to get petrol. Locals discussing man hunt and body recovery for alost tojurist at the lake. Arrived at the lake. Spectacular view. Well worth the drive. Fogged in 5 minuytes after our arrival. Just made it in time. Drove back to new host. via Denny’s. Weather was cool all day, quite cold at Crator Lake as it’s 6500ft.

22nd October

Returned chains Collected Sticks from ice rink. Paul got his new shoes (another set) after waiting 1/2 hour for the shop to open. Returned the vehicle to the airport and caught flight to Portland flight was on a small 18 seater Dash. Flight from Portland to Vancouver on a Fokker. Cloudy conditions could not see much. Managed to find a place to hook up the Zaurus. Spent about 45minutes online downloading 100 messages only to run out of memory. Deleted a few bits started aagaain and got about 50 down before running out of time. Then promptly deleted them when I chose the wrong option. Ahhh well. Flight to Saskatoon after hour stopover in Vancouver. Dark, see very little. Arrived and met by Terry & Terri Forbes. Really looked after us and gave us the run if their home.

23rd October

Tour Besborough Hotel. Went to a golf shop for paul. To a large office equipment store and then toi a Sports store, bought knee & elbow pads $200 !Watchewd broomball (womens team) at local stadium (4 ice rinks). Played contact game against local side in their first round of the season. Lost 2 - 3. Team we played with was the Knights.

24th October

Went to Wanaskelin. A native exhibition centre. Interesting displays oif the Cree people. Ah la ’Dances with Wolves’.Went shopping at local stores. Terry gave us a tour of his produce warehouse.

25th October

Went to a golf hiting range. Played video golf against each other (I lost). Had a hit with a bucket of balls onto the golf range. Went to golf pro shop bank etc.Went to Nite Magic bar. With a DJ, really good music variety, everything from Rock & Roll, C & W to Techno and everything in between.

26th October

Bought a couple of CD’s from local store. Really cheap prices $16 each. Dropped Paul off to Dr’s appoimntment to get his toe checked. Had to amputate. Lunch at Seafood Sam’s. Huge serves, had salmon steak and clam soup. Had our photos taken with the Owner (SAM), who has hundreds of photos on the walls with various dignitaries and hockey players. Went to Forrestry Farm & Zoo. Saw Buffalo, wolf, Lynx, Bald Eagles, Owls, Elk, Deer, Moose etc. Went to friends of Terry & Terri (his team mates) for a small gathering. Lots of fun. Girls were gorgeous.

27th October

Headed up to Regina to play broomball with a coed team. 2 1/2 hour drive. Found a great sanswich place.Ended up playing two games. The firsyt team we played for was Jeff’s, who were very very good. Scored 4 goals and missed about three as well. Second game was as a couple of fillers. Went back to Jeff’s for dinner. Had HUGE meal, with deer sausages, and home made applle pie.Drove back to Saskatoon.Thanked our hosts for thei hospitality. Presented them with playing tops, hats and pins.

28th October

Up early and thanked our hosts for their hospitality.Caught flight to Vancouver. Caught flight to Vancouver. Small Dehalelland aircraft. None existant inflight service. Arrived Vancouver and caught Limo to hotel as cheaper than 3 bus tickets. Walked to Canada Place for a look see then down gastown. Paul shopped to death. After the drive through there we headed north to the Boeing Aircraft Factory which is located at north of Seattle. We arrived there and discovered that the tour was free and that it gets booked out very quickly. Did the tour at 11am which meant only an hour wait which was pretty good, cos by the time we got back from the tour it was booked out for the rest of the day (12.30). The factory, of which we only say a small portion is huge, massive, incredibly large, big, and any other descriptive phrase meaning large ! It’s about 14,000,000 cubic feet, or it can fit Disneyland inside, and still have room for a 23 acre car park. BIG ! Once inside we walked down a corridor over 1/3 of a mile long (about 830 metres). and up to the observation platform well above the factory floor, and still well above the planes inside. There were bays for several parts of the plane, as well as 4, (four) full size Jumbo’s, including wings, and they only took up a small corner of the factory (not allowed to take photo’s unfortunately). From there drove across to Pt Angeles via the ferry. And onto Olympic National park. Hurricane ridge was closed due to snow which was not unexpected. Onto the coast but it was pretty damn wet, so all stops were at a minimum. Drove down the coast and stayed that night at the State Capital (Olympia), Had a look around then headed to the airport to catch the flight to San Francisco. We were expecting it to be really busy because of the Thanksgiving weekend, but it turned out to be very quiet. The airline even offered to put us on an earlier flight which we accepted which got us to SFO about 2 hours earlier. Had a look around SFO the next day, caught the train into SFO and headed to Fishermans wharf. Caught a trolley car tour, which was excellent value, and took us from the wharf to Golden Gate and through many parts (Presidio, City, etc). Picked up the car from the airport that evening and drove down to Yosemite National Park. We arrived fairly late and tried our first hotel which was booked out, the hotelier said that they all were, not as visitors to the park, which we thought, but as returning families for the Thanksgiving weekend. Anyway she phoned around and found us a B & B 5 miles down the road. A bit on the expensive side, but it proved worth it, as it was a self contained house. So we had kitchen , bathroom, separate bedrooms, laundry, TV, reading room etc. So we stayed 2 nights. Next day into the park for a look see. The weather turned out to be perfect. Straight to the look-out, and then drove around the valley floor. A couple of the roads were closed due to snow in the higher elevations but no snow on the valley floor. Did the usual valley floor bits, Bridal Veil, Yosemite Falls. Hiked (walked) to mirror lake (which was closed for repair) and to Nevada falls, which was a reasonable hike uphill, but worth it. November 30th Next day headed up towards Tahoe. We picked the right day to travel as the weather had really closed in, and it rained, snowed, sleeted, hailed, and fogged, misted, except sun. Arrived in Tahoe, and discovered that they had very little snow, so that curtailed our skiing plans. Decided to drive onto Yellowstone. so got through Reno, and found a hotel. December 1st Next day headed to Yellowstone, through the slush from the previous day. Got to Idaho Falls and the weather turned nasty again. Made it through to west Yellowstone, only to find that the park was closed until December 20 ! A bit disappointing to say the least, but never mind. December 2nd Drove up to Big Sky ski resort the next morning, through what we thought was atrocious weather. Had a look around, toyed with staying a day and skiing. Decided that as we now were some 6 days ahead of schedule and the risk of being trapped with a snow storm (we did not have chains), to head south and do some of the extra National parks that we had ruled out through lack of time. Well, the weather had really turned nasty by then, the 100 miles from W. Yellowstone through to Idaho Falls was at 25mph - 40mph, with the visibility at sometimes less than 50ft. A slow journey. Made it through to to Ogden just north of Salt Lake, but was pretty nasty going, and we had had enough by then. (Salt Lake got hit by a REALLY big storm 2 days later). December 4th Drove into downtown Salt Lake (City - they drop the city, and just call it Salt Lake). Had a walk through Temple Square, the Mormon Capital of the world, and a wander through the rest of the city. Onto Bryce Canyon that night. December 5th Took a look through Bryce Canyon, not anywhere near as much snow as last time. Hiked through a couple of trails, and toured the remainder of the park which was closed to me last time. Headed in to Zion National Park today, a short drive. Weather was not perfect, so we hope for sun tomorrow. December 7th Today was much better weather, visibility was good. Our plans to hike to Angel Landing were encouraged by the Ranger (Go for it ! - we did not understand until later). The Angel’s Landing hike, is billed as :- Strenuous: Long drop offs and narrow trail. Not for anyone fearful of heights. Ends at summit high above Zion Canyon floor Last 0.5m (0.8km) follows a steep narrow ridge: chains have been added. CAUTION! This hike can be extremely icy and slippery. Well, we thought OK, sounds good, how bad can it be. The usual USA stuff, warn warn warn, to stave off lawsuits. We checked with the ranger, should take a couple of hours, 4 if you stop and take lots of pictures. Off we trundled, water, jackets, film, food, and enthusiasm. We had also spotted a poster of a spot called Walters Wiggle, which was a series of steps up the mountain. looked fantastic, which is why we chose this hike. Anyway we headed onward and upward. 1st part was pretty easy along the banks of the river, slowly climbing to a 150ft or so. Second part started a steep ascent up the cliff wall to a point a couple of hundred feet above the valley floor,. The third section was a gentle ascent up a hidden canyon (gave you a chance to get your breath back), The forth section (there are a few more) was Walters Wiggle, about a mile into the 2.5 mile hike (5 mile round trip). Was a steep climb up a few more hundred feet to a plateau. Then a short climb (!) along the edge of the mountain, using chains and prayers to hang on. At one point the canyon, plummeted away to my left in a sheer ,cliff drop 1000 feet straight down (at least that’s what Andrew said, I couldn’t look) and to my right into the hidden canyon, hundreds of feet below. This culminated in a platform about 1000 feet above the valley floor. Thinking briefly that be had reached the top, In front was a very narrow ridge, with chains heading down the mountain, then up a further few hundred feet. Deciding that I’d gone far enough, especially after taking a closer look at the trail, and deciding it was more difficult that what I had already done., I chickened out on climbing any further. Andrew however was unworried by the heights, dropped pack, and upped camera and set off. He managed without falling once, to reach the summit, about 1250 ft. above the valley floor. The view where I was was spectacular enough, let alone where Andrew made it too. The climb down after the sheer falls was easy (all down hill !, although Andrew had trouble with the descent, stuffed knees). Had lunch at the car park and set off on another hike to the Emerald pools. This one was more sedate, and relatively easy. Later drove through the tunnel via the top road. And a short walk to the valley view. Not as spectacular as the earlier climb, but pretty good. A long tiring day. Onto Arches National park tomorrow. We are still way ahead of schedule, because of no snow in Tahoe and the closure of Yellowstone. They apparently close it to let the snow accumulate on the roads, (for Skidoo’s) before they reopen the park December 20. December 8th Drove to Arches through some incredible scenery, that is not a National Park, nor even a state one, just ’waste’ land. Arrived there late in the day. Decided to do a quick trip into the Canyonlands NP And exactly as I did 5 years ago, we arrived at the ranger station just seconds before they closed, and grabbed a map, and headed out to the viewpoint 12 miles away, with the sunset 20 minutes away. Arrived with a couple of minutes to spare and broke every speeding law in the park. Took a few snaps and headed back out. December 9th Up and headed out to Arches NP Took in some of the sights along the way, stopping at Windows, and doing a short walk around a couple of the Arches. Headed down to the Delicate arch viewpoint, then hiked to Delicate Arch. It’s only a 3 mile hike (round trip), but it climbs 480ft. Rounded the final bend, and there it is, much bigger than I thought, worth the climb, and quite spectacular. Took lot’s of photo’s. Drove back to Moab the township for lunch, and decided that the hike in Zion had caught up with me, so decided to have a quiet afternoon and shop. Andrew felt the same, so we just pottered around the town. December 10th Drove down to Grand Canyon via Monument Valley. Spectacular entrance to M.Valley, with a long straight road pointing at the valley. Drove through and stopped at the visitors centre. Continued on to the Grand Canyon in the pouring rain, and arrived at dusk. December 11th Checked out the canyon this morning but as we could see from the Hotel window it was pretty overcast. The canyon rim was no exception and was so bad we could not even see the other side. Did the rounds of the souvenir shops and the IMAX Grand Canyon Secrets film, which I still enjoy even after seeing it three times. Took a drive to Williams and the Flagstaff. Found the Mexican cafe from Trek America 88. Williams is pretty dead. Flagstaff was a bit livelier. A very hip town, by which I mean there are a LOT of hippies. It’s a big Uni town. Damned if we could find the mall, which they constantly advertised on the radio. We thinks it’s a furphy. December 12 Todays weather was a vast improvement over yesterdays Clear skies, and great views. Headed to the airport and took the light aircraft flight over the canyon. Andrew enjoyed it but I thought is was very poor compared to the chopper flights (I’ve done 2) ands was most disappointed. Maybe I expected too much. Drove along the rim to the usual tourist view points. We are considering coming back after the tournament for a day, and maybe hike. December 13 Departed the Grand Canyon in great weather. Drove through to Las Vegas via Hoover Dam. Lot’s of new construction there mainly tourist oriented. Arrived Vegas. Went for a walk intending to come back to the hotel (food), but ended up wandering around for most of night, great weather. Lots of new casinos. Most spectacular is the new York new York still being built. Went to top of the stratosphere tower and rode the two rides there. The roller coaster was pretty tame, even though we were up 110 stories. But the big shot ride, takes number one spot away from the WE Mall as the best ever ride. It’s a reverse drop of doom. You get shot straight up, and when you’re 110 stories up, getting shot even higher is breathtaking to say the least. Have spent $1 on pokies so far, better cut back. December 14 Up late. packed for the trip to Eugene. arrived at airport to find flight is delayed from 2.25pm until 4.10pm, our connecting flight is at 5pm, will not make it, concerned , and checked with desk. Not much help, advised will know more when we land in SFO. Still not much help. Must be in Eugene by 10pm for Tournament start. Flight now brought back to 3.55pm departure. Made SFO with 10 minutes to spare. Raced to flight and made it OK. Baggage also made it. Met Marc Hunter at the airport with a couple of guys from our team. Went to rink for start of games. We played first up with a mixed team and went down 1 - nil. Second match straight after (Men’s) we won. One game break, then another men’s which we won again. 2 game break, then another mixed match which we lost. 2 game break and another men’s which we won. Another mixed which we won, then another Men’s which we won. With 5 minutes to go in this match I cramped up, in both legs from dehydration. Could not run any further. 1 game break then the final which we won as well. I didn’t play, as still unable to walk. Made way back to the hotel after breakfast for a nap, and caught flight back to Las Vegas (no delays this time). December 16 Up very late the next day. Went down the strip with the cameras. Took plenty of shots and found a couple of casinos where we gambled. Andrew came out about $5 in front and I came out about $30 in front. Successful night. December 17 Drove to Los Angeles. Went via Calico, and had a look around, they have done a lot of building since 1988. Drove through to Anaheim, very very windy day. Have booked in for the Universal Studios, LA city tour and Movie Mansion tour tomorrow., starts 9am. December 18 Caught bus to Universal Studios, via the City Tour. Bus was pretty bad, very difficult to see out the windows. Universal was EXCELLENT. Started off with the Traditional Tour, via the bus. A couple of additional "features" on the tour now. Including King Kong and the SFO earthquake sets. The to the Back to the future ride, which was a virtual reality ride. A giant screen larger than an IMAX or Omnimax screen, probably about the size of a planetarium screen. You sit in a car, and it all happens in front of you. Heaps better than the ride in Time Zone ! But along the same lines. Onto the Jurassic park ride. Which takes you through the park as per the movie, except in a boat rather than a car. The end of the ride is the vertical drop (log ride) into the pool. Pretty good ride. Also did a couple of other rides and shows, the best of which was the Water World spectacular, based loosely no doubt on (very loosely) the movie. December 19 walked to Disneyland after returning the car, and found myself out of $$$$. Got through the gates to disneyland after a mile hike across the car park (they have a shuttle service later in the day, the second favourite activity at Disneyland is spot the family car, where DID I leave it !). Did Space Mountain, Matterhorn, Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones, and all the other rides, but it was not on par with Universal studios, A much more family oriented place. Rides all the family can do. Spent that evening phoning the Bank manager and arranging a loan (had one organised in case). December 20 Planned to do Knottsberry Farm but decided to do the San Diego Zoo instead. Up bright and early and 3 hour drive to San Diego via the coast roads (I5 freeway). Zoo was certainly world class, and we saw some Gorillas, and the Pandas (sound asleep). Saw also some Orangautangs (or however it’s spelt) and various monkeys. Some polar bears and lions tigers etc, most of which we had seen before. A short walk through old San Diego (revamped buildings now just a tourist trap) then caught the bus back, arrived at hotel at 9pm, 12 hour day. December 21 Caught the airport bus to LA airport. A reasonably long trip. Arrived with hours to spare (we planned it that way) and checked baggage in after trying to leave it at the airport but $9/day was just too steep. Flew to Toronto and collected vehicle without problems., Phoned Heather and got directions to her place and drove up. Arrived at Heathers at about 11.30 that night. December 22 Heather and Mike took us for a drive around town and environs, also booked into a Hockey game between the Colts and the Otters, the Colts being the home team. Barrie has changed in many ways since my last visit, lots more businesses have moved into the area, and Train no longer stops here (how long that will be as Barrie is expanding rapidly). Went through a mall or two. Went and watched Jason’s hockey practice then to the Colts/Otters hockey match (AAA level which is about equivalent to the SAFL Was an excellent match as we had seats 1 row back from the glass (REAL close). The match was close with the Otters running out winners 5 - 4 after the Colts came back from 2 zip down and tied it with 5 minutes left in the 3rd period. December 23 Heather and Mike at work so Jason and step brother Ryan take us to all the malls. Pretty busy as almost last day of shopping to Xmas. Had a friend over who was going to Australia for 3 months, so we gave him some contact names. December 24 All the snow (3cm) around the house melted overnight with the rain we had, NONE left ! Dropped kids into mall for pictures and waited around until Heather and Mike returned from work, said our goodbyes and drove down to Niagara Falls. Left none too soon as weather started to turn bad, lot’s of snow on the road, very slushy. Arrived in Niagara in time to see (between flurries) the falls flood lit in different colours. Lot’s of Light displays along the bank. Rang home after trying for 1 1/2 hours before getting through. December 25 Slept Late ! Heaps of snow on the ground, drove to the falls, but could not see a lot, very foggy and still snowing. Went and did the souvenir bit and food. By which time it had cleared. So went to the top of the Skylon tower just in time as it got dark very quickly. Saw the remainder of the light displays. December 26 More snow overnight. Drove north to Toronto, roads are very slippery and slushy, but traffic was pretty light. Arrived Toronto and went to the CN Tower. Visibility was pretty poor, but still and incredible view. They now have a section of the floor removed and glassed over, which is some 1000ft above the ground (VERY scary). You can also go up an additional 300ft (for a fee) which we did, and it looks down on the platform below as well as being about 1300ft up ! Highest viewing platform in the world. C.O.O.O.O.L ! walked around town for about an hour and dropped the vehicle off after paying the $11 parking fee for 3 hours ! As our luggage was so heavy we checked it in the baggage storage for a couple of hours before we departed. Come time to go we got a porter, who marched us straight past the waiting queue of 300 people and onto the train, first ones on. well worth the $5 tip, if just for the looks we got, let alone struggling with the bags up and down stairs, ramps and queues!! Arrived Ottawa. December 27 Walked around town, past the Parliament houses, which are being renovated. Went through the Rideau centre and athe National art agllery (waste of time as the art work is just roidiculous). Went to the museum of civilisation which was excellent. A vast improvement on the previous visit there. The displays they had set up are excellent and very detailed. A sort of diaorama. December 28 Did the washing, maybe a movie tonight, pretty quet day. It’s raining and not very plesent out.

This e-doc was prepared by Kim Shapley of the Broomball Association of South Australia. An E-Mail list ( BROOMS-L ) about Broomball is also available for subscription. Please send any comments and/or suggestions to: broomball@kimshapley.com

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