After dropping off our van we visited Downtown Dartmouth – the town on the other side of the bay of Halifax. It was not too exiting, so we took the ferry over to Halifax. While riding over we already see the famous Bluenose II, the beautiful wooden ship that is also on the canadian dime.…
In northern Nova Scotia we arrive in the town of Glace Bay. Underneath the city lies a net of tunnels where they used to mine for cole. The tunnels are hundreds of km long and up to 800 meters below sea level. After the closure of the last mine 20 years ago, they opened a…
In every harbor, every bay – Newfoundland has lighthouses just about everywhere! Little, discrete towers on a coastal rock or big towers in red and white with several buildings around it on a hill. Many of the big ones are museums and we visit some of them and learn about the importance, the mechanical lightning…
After a 16 hour boat ride we arrive in Argentia on the Avalon Peninsula in eastern Newfoundland. Already at the first sight of the island we knew this is going to be another highlight: wild, rocky coast and green forests. Mesmerized we drive down to Cape St. Mary’s. With the sun out we hike the…
Reaching the mainland again we still pass farmland. We pass by fields full of blueberries and are just in time to take some, before the machines collect them all. But we are more interested in the world famous maple sirup. What does it take to get the sap out of the tree? How do you…
The sea is always with us the following days. May it be at beautiful overnight spots directly at the beach or as brown water in the Bay of Fundy. The tides that rise more than 10 meters here have carved massive rock formations on the shore. With the rainy weather and the dirty water the…
We leave Québec and follow the Saint Lawrence River. Over and over we pass beautiful little towns, and that’s where we see the sign for the „Féstival Retro“. Old cars, live music and beer – what else can we wish for? The cars are beautiful and the band plays old rock songs. The songs must…
The four big cities of the canadian east coast await us! First we head to Toronto. The city of glass and concrete greets us grey and rainy. The walk along the waterfront was quick, as well as through downtown. Maybe we don’t like Hockey or Baseball enough, maybe it’s just bad timing, but we don’t…
All clean we start our day at the Niagara Falls. From far away we can already see the clouds of the Falls. It is just amazing how the earth suddenly opens up and these masses of water just falls down. Of corse we are not alone and soon we were forced to leave our place…
Soon we arrive in Ontario – the state of lakes. And Mosquitoes. From the shores of French Lake we paddle out on to Pickerel River in our canoe. This river has no current and links two lakes, so it is perfect for a relaxed tour through the land of beavers. After dozens of lakes we…
After the hype in Calgary vastness awaits us. Canola field after canola field and every now and then a cornfield. We tried to pass quickly all the shabby farms and leave this solitude. Instead of taking the regular Trans-Canada-Highway we take some smaller roads a bit more north and drive to the Duck Mountain Provincial…
From Banff on we head east. As soon as we are out of the park, big machines and industry seems to be everywhere. They take everything out of the Rockys they can find. Only when we came closer to the city border the landscape changed. In Calgary we quickly found a cheep and good spot…
Initially we planned to head directly east. From another vacation we already know southern Alberta and BC. But we found out, that the Calgary Stampede will be held until next weekend, so we decided on a little detour. After more than 100 km of lonesome driving, occasionally crossing a truck, the amount of tourists at…
We are not done yet with the Alaska Highway and with wildlife. Besides uncountable bears (we stop only for cubs) we see now our first wild Bisons. First only a few besides the road, then a whole bunch of them in the riverbed. The green roadsides are tempting for grazing animals, the salty road brings…
On the evening of Canaday we said goodbye to all the gold panners and headed south on the Klondike Highway. The spot on the lake was already wonderful in the evening, if we ignore the mosquitoes. But in the morning i get out of the van and can’t believe my eyes: a male moose was…
After the fancy town of Chicken we finally headed for the famous Top of the World Highway. Shortly after Chicken we can see a active gold mining area from the road and we stop. One of the 4 miners comes over and we can have a great chat about how this all works. The land…
Chicken is called Chicken because the original settlers, actually gold-miners, couldn’t spell Ptarmigan. They wanted to call the town Ptarmigan because these plentiful local birds filled many a pot in their camps. Ptarmigan were also called Chickens and that’s how the town got it’s name. Winter population is around 15. Summers numbers soar to 30…
Every now and then we encounter stories of the big gold rush and old gold mines. But there are also a few active mining areas and gold panning is a hobby for many americans. So we decided to visit Crow Creek Mine and learn how to pan for gold. After a short introduction we were…
So the mosquitos can’t follow us, we fled to the mountains and drove up to hatcher pass. The pass is a recreational area for anchorage with many hiking and skiing trails but is also known for his gold mine. Until it’s closure around 14 tonnes of gold were found here! You can look at the…
After a rainy day in Fairbanks and a unfortunate search for a suitable mosquito-net, I wanted to see the Yukon river. So we decided to take the highway to Circle. The first inhabitants here believed to be at the polar circle, but it is 80km further north. Still the name stayed. The Highway lead us…
After leaving the ferry in Haines, we spent the night next to the Highway to Yukon. At breakfast on a view point we were able to spot our first Moose crossing the river. Shortly after this we crossed the border to canada again and a bit later we entered the state of Yukon. After beautiful…
Perfectly in time we stood in line for the BC-Ferry, which carries us through the first part of the famous inside passage. The boarding went quickly and we could explore our home for the next 22 hours. After setting off, spotting wales, dolphins and orcas, we found some sleeping people in the lounge on the…
Thanks to a lot of Tipps of Stephanie and Mike we had a full schedule for the next days. First we biked close to Nanaimo and Campbell River (unfortunately some trails were snow covered). Then we headed to Mohun Lake. Here would start a wonderful Canoe or Kajak-Loop through 7 lakes, but it would take…
Everyone who visited Vancouver before, knows Granville Island. Our Highway was passing it by anyways, so we stopped for the market. We visited Vancouver several times before, so we directly took the road to the Bike-Mekka Wisthler. The Bikepark just opened partly for season and I enjoyed riding on these trails again. It was a…
By ferry we entered Seattle in the middle of downtown after an hour long ride. After exploring the waterfront we headed to famous Pike Place Market where we tried to get on through thousands of tourists. Everyone was busy selling or buying fish and flowers. Some fish even flew from one table to another! We…
Olympic National Park has so many different regions! First we drove along the coast and defied the rain. On the westside of the mountains are weather conditions like in rainforests. We were wet anyway so we decided to stay for the night. On the Campground Deer watched us baking a (close to) perfect bread. We…
We stayed a bit longer in Bend than planned, because the weather forecast for this week was basically only rain. When we started heading to Portland City the clouds grew bigger and the rain was here to stay. We landed in Sandy at the Sandy Ridge Bike Trailhead and Nick took the chance to ride…
After a stormy night at Doran Beach we visited the lighthouse at Point Area. The wind on the balcony wasn’t easy to handle and made it hard even to go around the tower. We hoped to find a less windy spot to stay the night. A lonesome Elk made us slow down on the highway…
After our great visit we had enough energy to drive the way to the coast. More southern than planned we hit the coast at Morro Bay (we had to buy a little gadget, which was worth the detour). The little town by the sea has a little touristy spot down by the harbor, where we…
Some weeks ago we met Maja and Chris on a parking lot at Lake Mead. The swiss emigrants saw our licence plate and invited us spontaneously to their home in St. George. Of corse we took the chance and on our way back to the coast we visited them. The consequence were two wonderful days…
Of corse I had to test the trails of the US Bike-Mekka Moab. The shuttle of my choice was an old VW-Van which brought me up hill to the snow line. The trail was easily found – I was not alone. By turns it was a Single Trail, 4×4-Trail (which are not to be underestimated!)…
After a lot of sand and rock we were carving for trees and water. In Dolores – a little town at the beginning of the San Juan Scenic Highway – we found what we were looking for. Basically all places were closed for season and we were lucky to stay on a place at Outpost…
After our impressive stop in Las Vegas we stopped for the night at Lake Mead. On the old train trail we could take a leisurely ride on our bikes to the famous Hoover Dam, which impounds the Colorado River to the massive Lake Mead. Road 66 was the route to take for getting to Grand…
This glamourus city was on our route, so we decided to visit it. Of corse we wanted to see the famous Vegas lights by night, so we tried to find a place to stay as close to downtown as possible. We found a spot on a run-down RV-Park – basically a parking lot with old…
On our way to Death Valley we crossed a Ghost Town and more than one time the water supply of Los Angeles. 674km travels the water from the higher parts of the state down to the city – for us simply unbelievable! We spend the night at the lake in Lone Pine. Below 0 –…
Finally we are reunited with our Emma! Only one signature was necessary and we were allowed to drive out of the harbor. After a big shopping trip for food and camping stuff we tried to find a place to stay over night. Unfortunately the only campground in the area was inaccessible, so we decided to…
Because the rental car was even cheeper than a rental bike, we decided to keep it for the weekend and drive down to Los Angeles. After a short stroll on the famous Walk of Fame we saw Hollywoods real side. We enjoyed thousands of tourists and couldn’t wait to take pictures with the stars –…
Shortly after our last entry the container ship finally landed in Oakland Harbor. Unfortunately our Container was listed for an X-Ray-Exam which leads to another delay. We can not get to our Van until Monday. Besides of that we are having a lot of fun. We explored Oakland Harbor by foot and by ferry. We…