day 7: monday 3rd april 2006
the final day, and the beginning of a 12 hour drive (technically, it should be between 15 and 16 hours, but when ben drives, 12 is a pretty good estimate) back from calgary to vancouver.
we have lunch back at gerry's for the final time - i order a hamburger steak set while ben does his meat omelette with potatoes and toast again.
and our final photos at the restaurant.
taken by the server...
and taken by ben. yar. he looks better when he's not taking the photos. wahaha. ;)
from there on, around 12.30pm vancouver time, it's back to the highway heading towards banff on the way to vancouver.
this is how ben drives when he is in "relac-mode".
i know. i have a lot of unglam photos of the both of us. wahaha.
and this is how the highway looks like when we're just heading towards the rockies - you can see them in the far distance.
talk about anticipation.
the drive isn't tons of fun though. for one, much of the highway is small, winding 1-laned roads... and when you are travelling behind some big monster truck who thinks tt 60km/h is fast enough for a highway...
you can just kill yourself.
like this truck for instance. observe the left corner of the 60km/h truck tt in front of us for quite some distance.
and our unanimous answer to the question posed: "FUCKING SLOW!!!"
but the road through the rockies is still beautiful.
can see the mountains and the river as the ice melts with spring.
and us leaving the state of alberta and entering the state of british columbia...
b.c. actually touts itself as the most beautiful place on earth.
i guess it's a bit far-fetched and quite a statement to make (yes, i hear you all scoffing. so did ben when he saw the sign). but as we drive down the highways... i guess i can understand why.
the route we took just beside the thompson river...
highway 1 in the evening as the sun sets. looks almost like the cover of a fantasy novel, just without the vehecles on the road.
and the fraser river as we drive towards cache creek. gleaming reflections of land on water.
but i have to admit, it's far from an easy drive. if you thought tt day is bad enough, once the sun goes down it is almost a torture. coz you can't see anything in front of you and you have to concentrate so much more.
and finally, when we hit hope 186 km from vancouver, it's raining.
the car skids twice on the road when we turn from hope towards vancouver on the highway, and the rain just keeps pelting down after tt. ben is driving at a speed of between 90km/h and 120km/h, but even then i am kinda scared coz i worry tt we might lose control and skid again.
you cannot believe the sigh of relief tt we feel when we reach vancouver at 11.25pm, almost 12 hours after we started out from calgary. we have a late dinner at denny's on broadway and granville - a bacon cheddar burger for ben and a lumberjack slam (scrambled eggs, ham, sausages, bacon, 3 buttermilk pancakes and 2 pices of toast) for me...
and our final photo.
us after surviving the continuous 1073 km drive from calgary to vancouver.
ben says he looks more tired than i do. obviously coz he was the chiongster driver. but i would like to think tt i look happy coz i'm just overwhelmed with relief.
we're both not stepping into a car for distances over 100 km for some time.
we have lunch back at gerry's for the final time - i order a hamburger steak set while ben does his meat omelette with potatoes and toast again.
and our final photos at the restaurant.
taken by the server...
and taken by ben. yar. he looks better when he's not taking the photos. wahaha. ;)
from there on, around 12.30pm vancouver time, it's back to the highway heading towards banff on the way to vancouver.
this is how ben drives when he is in "relac-mode".
i know. i have a lot of unglam photos of the both of us. wahaha.
and this is how the highway looks like when we're just heading towards the rockies - you can see them in the far distance.
talk about anticipation.
the drive isn't tons of fun though. for one, much of the highway is small, winding 1-laned roads... and when you are travelling behind some big monster truck who thinks tt 60km/h is fast enough for a highway...
you can just kill yourself.
like this truck for instance. observe the left corner of the 60km/h truck tt in front of us for quite some distance.
and our unanimous answer to the question posed: "FUCKING SLOW!!!"
but the road through the rockies is still beautiful.
can see the mountains and the river as the ice melts with spring.
and us leaving the state of alberta and entering the state of british columbia...
b.c. actually touts itself as the most beautiful place on earth.
i guess it's a bit far-fetched and quite a statement to make (yes, i hear you all scoffing. so did ben when he saw the sign). but as we drive down the highways... i guess i can understand why.
the route we took just beside the thompson river...
highway 1 in the evening as the sun sets. looks almost like the cover of a fantasy novel, just without the vehecles on the road.
and the fraser river as we drive towards cache creek. gleaming reflections of land on water.
but i have to admit, it's far from an easy drive. if you thought tt day is bad enough, once the sun goes down it is almost a torture. coz you can't see anything in front of you and you have to concentrate so much more.
and finally, when we hit hope 186 km from vancouver, it's raining.
the car skids twice on the road when we turn from hope towards vancouver on the highway, and the rain just keeps pelting down after tt. ben is driving at a speed of between 90km/h and 120km/h, but even then i am kinda scared coz i worry tt we might lose control and skid again.
you cannot believe the sigh of relief tt we feel when we reach vancouver at 11.25pm, almost 12 hours after we started out from calgary. we have a late dinner at denny's on broadway and granville - a bacon cheddar burger for ben and a lumberjack slam (scrambled eggs, ham, sausages, bacon, 3 buttermilk pancakes and 2 pices of toast) for me...
and our final photo.
us after surviving the continuous 1073 km drive from calgary to vancouver.
ben says he looks more tired than i do. obviously coz he was the chiongster driver. but i would like to think tt i look happy coz i'm just overwhelmed with relief.
we're both not stepping into a car for distances over 100 km for some time.
posted by Kitana at 3:58 AM
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