The Cons of Ferry travel (or Moooh, Moooh!)

Ferry travel has a downside?  Impossible, one would think!  But there are drawbacks indeed.  And the fare is the smallest one of them.  Try arriving in a packed ferry terminal without a single tree or shaded area on a 25 degree Vancouver day, sitting in an oven on wheels for an hour, just to be informed that you get to sit there for another 2 hours because too many other travelers filled up the ferry you tried to get on. This didn't happen today, but it happened to me before and it SUCKS!

This ferry terminal is FAR FROM full. 

Another downside stems from the fact that I happen to be of the strange opinion that people should not be treated like cattle.  But working one's way to one of the waiting rooms along the route depicted in the pictures, how could one feel anything but a cow on the way to slaughter?

Langley? Which Langley? ( The many faces of L.)

Open Google Maps. Type in Langley, BC, and hit enter.  The map will show you a section of the lower Mainland between roughly Burnaby and Chilliwack.  And there is Fort Langley. And there is Langley. Oh, and there is Langley.

??? 

There are two Langleys on the map in addition to Fort Langley. Since I am staying very close to the Langley Bypass, I decide that the real Langley must be the one I am very close to. Otherwise, what would they have built a Bypass for?  So to the lovely rustic charming center of Langley City I take off.
Only I can't find it. Getting lost in an industrial and commercial wasteland I keep re-checking Google Maps on my phone. The center of Langley must be here somewhere!  And then I find it.  The center of Langley (the one they built the Langley Bypass around) is a giant parking lot.  The only way to figure this out is by inspecting the buildings around the parking lot.  On one side of the parking lot there is a giant Army & Navy in a mall. And on the other side there is the Library and the City Hall.  I have found Langley!
Probably a good thing no-one heard me curse in my car as I break numerous traffic- and by-laws trying to get out of there as quickly as possible.  There are also no pictures of that area, because I WILL NOT go back there to take any.

In the morning I go for a bike ride.  Google maps had some green spots on it.

Obstacles on the way to the green spots

A green spot on the map

I always suspected that some RETARDS need  NO DUMPING signs to 'get it'

Another 'green' spot. As per sign: An Environmentally Sensitive Area

Now what is that?  WHITE FOAMY THINGS!

In addition to white foamy things: GREEN SLIME.    I guess the dumping worked ;-(

Don't get me wrong, there are gorgeous and most likely unspoiled areas in the outlying areas of Langley.  But here in the heart of darkness close to the Bypass, HWY 10, and Fraser Hwy, this is all you get (at 8am !)

A suspicion raised in a previous blog post is confirmed:  At that time I noticed (while stuck in nightmarish traffic) the abundance of brand-new car-dealerships along the Langley Bypass.   On my bike ride this morning I found the other parts of the puzzle. Gas stations. Tire centers. Car repair shops. Body shops. Car parts outlets. More car-selling stores. More, more, more..... Welcome to CAR CITY!

A note on the motel:  Westward Inn & Suites is located in the heart of this ugliness, but it is CLEAN,  COMFY, QUIET & CHEAP.  The staff is FRIENDLY. What did Arnold say?

 I'LL BE BACK !

Don't eat what's on your plate. Eat what's in your fridge !

In the evening news:  1/3 of all the food produced in the world ends up in the garbage. At the same time: 870 million people go hungry EVERY DAY.  Horrible as it is, it is difficult to point the finger at any one culprit.

Because in the 'first world' it is mostly us, the consumers, who fuck up. When was the last time you threw out the old bread because you just bought new bread or could get fresh buns just around the corner? How often did you throw out meat or dairy, because the well-meant 'best before' date on the package was yesterday?  Hint:  just because it was BEST before yesterday, doesn't mean it's bad today.

Now, if you say that the food you eat instead of tossing it just makes you fat and doesn't help the hungry, you're semi-correct.  But consider that the food you didn't eat needed water to be produced and that the effort of producing it most likely contributed to global warming. And if you hadn't bought a replacement for the 'spoiled' food in the first place and had donated some of the savings to a charity, you maybe could have just made a tiny bit of a difference.
And yes, while I'm writing this there is day-old bread sitting on my motel fridge.  And yes, I will have dry bread for breakfast.
P.S.:  After breakfast I am happy to say:  The bread is much drier in one's mind than in reality !

Hope again (II: Hell's Gate )

A few kilometers north of Alexandra Bridge is another spot that I've passed by numerous times and  this time made an effort to see. Hell's Gate Airtram.  It's a cable car descending over a very narrow part of the Fraser River (Because it is so narrow and it still has to convey all the water, the river is VERY DEEP here: I seem to remember something like 100 m) Check their website (link above) for more info about the fish ladders built by US & Canada in the 40s (?) in order to bypass the rock slide caused by railway engineers in 1913 that made the river almost impassable for salmon, etc etc. The entrance price of ~$20 is cheap compared to the ride up Grouse Mountain. The ride is shorter than the Grouse Mountain ride but it is spectacular, the walk over the bridge down there is cool too, and the other tourist concessions down there are not quite as tacky as the stuff at Capilano Suspension Bridge, which I once had the misfortune of crossing with some visiting German tourists.

Bridge over troubled waters ...

One doesn't have to take the cable car ;-)

At the time I was dismissing these tourist-ready installations as stuff that was way below me, but two years later I am happy that George insisted on these pictures.  (How did I get so high in years while remaining so low in wisdom?)

Hope again ( I: Alexandra Bridge)

In the past, Hope was the beginning of a trip to Dawson Creek, or on the return journey it signaled HOPE of being back in Vancouver soon.  Both of these meanings are gone these days, since Dawson Creek ceased being the residence of my grandparents and since I am no longer hoping of returning to Vancouver sooner than later.  Hope has become a refuge from the noise, pollution, and pandemonium of Vancouver.  And it is performing this role rather well.  The surroundings are beautiful and largely unspoiled.  Be it the Othello tunnels or the 'flea-market' in Yale that I can never drive by without stopping (5 DVDs for $5!); the time here seem to lag 10 to 20 years behind.
The tourist prospectus in the hotel room carried a picture of Alexandra Bridge on its cover.  I've driven by there many many times, but never had the time to stop (or so I thought at the time), so this time I'm taking the time to look for the 150 year old bridge over the Fraser River.

Supposed to be downhill of the railway tracks!

Train bait (and it worked ;-)

downhill of the trees?

There she is !

The view upstream

The salmon fishery is closed and I guess these guys check whether that's being followed

the view from below

When approaching the railway line on my way back up, I though I heard a strange noise ...

Good thing I didn't put my ear on the track !

New Westminster? (A matter of taste)

You'd think that a city right by the river could exhibit only charming attributes.  At least I thought so. But it's amazing how industry, a major rail yard, and a Harlem-like street life can make you think otherwise very quickly.  It is not often that I interrupt a smoke-break on the street outside a non-smoking hotel after two short drags, because I feel really uncomfortable standing on that street, as happened just outside the Met Hotel in New West.  Separated from that part of the town by the railway line is the Inn at the Quay, which is quieter and offers these views:

Alex Fraser Bridge downriver

Seagull in river mud

tug boats

paddle wheeler!