Third Family Trip North: California to Canada

Art's Dad moved to Canada a few years ago. This our third family trip up there, to lush, cool Victoria. On our first day venturing north we climbed a bit of dusty Mount Shasta where Andrew made his own native-inspired rock towers, balancing rock on rock on rock in improbable shapes. The second day we ventured to Crater Lake in Oregon, a glorious crystal clear volcanic lake far away in the wooded mountains. The lake is the deepest in the United States and the clearest in the world. There is a marvelous volcanic island on one side of it called Wizard's Island which looks something like Merlin's hat. On another is a lava outcropping called the Phantom Ship. In the lodge I read about parties that were held there during the full moon. I would like to visit the cerulean disk of Crater Lake during a full moon. I wonder if the water will still seem blue in all that bathing white.

The next day we stopped in Portland. Unfortunately I couldn't find The Mallory hotel (of Bastard Nation Measure 58 fame) in the AAA book. We visited the Oregon Zoo, which is blissfully shaded, and which has a very good collection of arctic and the usual global beastie wonders. A favorite were the Indonesian water pigs: black, wiggly, and endangered. Washington Park is home to the zoo as well as to several other museums. We took a steam train ride to the international rose test gardens and the Japanese Garden. Alfred loved to the Japanese garden and kept trying to get away from us to think for himself, moody, reflective adolescent that he can be.

Yesterday we visit the Museum of Aviation in Seattle. Art and I loved it and I suspect the kids liked it too, despite general grumbling here and there. It made me wish again that I had had a proper math and science education. It made me fantasize about making a machine to automatically scrub my kitchen counter and suck up Charlie's fur from various surfaces.

Today we are in Vancouver, Canada and it's not clear what we will do. The boys have been mostly well-behaved with some gloominess from Alfred and some brattiness from Andrew but they are good travel-mates on the whole and I enjoy the quantity time we are having together.