Back from yet another road trip in the USA. This on extended into Canada. Roughly: From Seattle going east through Washington, Idaho and Montana to Glacier National Park, then back through the same states, going north into British Columbia Canada to Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Here's the full trip on Google Maps.

Totally uninteresting to anyone but my obsessive mind, I was happy to be able to add Idaho and Montana to my list of visited states. Idaho I was always curious about, as a part of the US that was colonized very late. I was a bit disappointed though, although now I think of it, Idaho's forrests, deserted country roads and rivers are very nice. And the fact that it rained didn't help either. It's just that I much more like America's desert and prairie lands, and in that respect the eastern part of Washington state totally blew my mind, unexpectedly. In all tourist guides this part of Washington is barely mentioned, but there's great landscape there. In Montana we only drove through the western part, and I guess the beautiful dramatic mountain landscape there is very different from the rest. I keep being obsessed (a bit) by Montana though, probably because of it's presence in the first very strong section of the book Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, and of course because of it's dental floss tycoons ;).

This was the first time I was in Canada, and I liked it. But again, what I liked most was the desert landscape around Osoyoos (yes, they have desert in Canada!), the mountains and beach on Vancouver Island, and Vancouver the city. Driving becomes a bit less interesting after so many treeeeeees. Nothing beats driving for hours through bare landscapes and straight roads ;)

Vancouver Island was great though. The beaches in the west, directly connected with the temperate rainforest, totally has this Lost, or The Beach atmosphere. Great strolls through the forrest, ending on endless beaches with (again) lots of trees on small islands in the sea. Strathcona National Part in the center of Vancouver Island is something totally different. Snowy mountain tops, smooth lakes, very quiet and very isolated. Beautiful.

Washington:

Idaho:

Glacier NP:

Washington again:

Vancouver Island, Pacific Rim NP:

Vancouver Island, Strathcona Provincial Park:

Back to work.