Canadian research - "learning experiences"

Well my trip was not just about riding and stocking up on cheap souvenirs, it was experiencing different things. Some things were a bit more "different" to what my Lonely Planet told me to expect. So here are some of the highlights...

Begging in Seattle
Unfortunately Seattle has been hit hard by the recession, so there were a lot of people begging on the streets. However some of those out begging don't seem to have a credible story:
Begging Woman: "Hey man, spare a veteran a dollar?"
AL: "Sorry" (NZ accent of course)
Begging Woman: "Well excuse me, you're not from round here. We liberated your country and you can't give me a dollar?"
AL: "Ummm I don't think NZ was liberated recently" reaching in my pocket to give her the change I had just so she would get lost. "Here" giving her a handful of quarters and pennies
Begging Woman: "What, you waste my time and that is all you give me?"
AL: "ah....."
Drunk man who just appeared on the scene: "Hey man, ignore that stupid b____! I won't lie to you sir, I'm no veteran but if you give me a dollar I will be go get drunk!"
AL - I fish out my wallet and give this man $5!
Drunk man: "Hey man, America needs more people like you! I'll go raise a toast to you right now!"
It was only 9am in the morning...

Sh!t coffee in Seattle

The original Pike Place Market Starbucks "Coffee"

Ah yes, the original Starbucks in Seattle's Pike Place Market, where sh!t coffee was born! There must have been a Starbucks every 50 metres in Seattle with a queue in every one. They sure do like their coffee flavoured sugar water over there. But to add insult to injury, they love to top it all with whipped cream.
So as a fan of real coffee and an even bigger fan of tea you can imagine my delight in find an independent cafe that specialised in "real espresso coffee and good old fashioned tea"
So I went in and order a tea. All was going well till I was asked if I wanted cream. "Sorry, did you say cream with my tea?" A surprised look from behind the counter... then she pulled out a can of aerosol cream! "Yes sir, whipped cream for your cup of tea"
I admitted defeat and just had a crappy coffee and donut instead

Yummy!
Not all the food was complete rubbish, there were some interesting and yummy things out there
...like waffles for breakfast!

Fresh Sockeye Salmon for dinner...

I had to bring back a bit of food as well, like Marshmallow Fluff for the hyperactive food colouring fan club at work

1.6kg on Pancake mix for my father (it's nice, but c'mon! It's just pancake mix!)

Hello Yogi!
Yes, as you probably already know, Canada has bears. Now given I was travelling alone, I quite often would you out riding alone... in back country Canadian trails...

But not all bears hangout in the woods, they quite often come into town looking for food.

So there I am riding along the main highway going through Whistler. I pull up to the main set of lights outside Whistler village and there is a queue of cars (or to be more precise North American Suburban Assault Vehicles). People are hanging out of these cars taking photos. But there is only a ditch on the side of the road, so I look at the them all a bit puzzled till I hear a noise from the pavement. A black bear is standing right beside me on the pavement as if he was waiting to cross the road at the lights. Given this bear was less than a couple metres from me and I have never seen a bear (but heard lots of stories about them), I decided that I could justify the traffic ticket for running that red light and getting the hell out of there!

REDNECKS!
Now Nanaimo was my favourite place my trip, but I did fear for my life during my ride there. When I visited the bike shop to get directions of where to go the shop owner gave me a few landmarks to get my bearings from. One of those landmarks was a clearing with quote "what looks like the remains of a redneck party, shoot up cars and lots of beer cans." I keep an eye out for this area as it was where the good trails started from. It was easily to find then I thought it would be...

Moments after this photo was taken... a redneck scared the sh!t out of me!

As I came out to a clearing with what I thought might have been the area the guy in the shop was talking about a guy in a pickup truck pulls up.
Guy in pickup truck: "Morning"
AL: "Morning"
Guy in pickup truck now parking the truck and getting out: "Are you alone?"
AL: ".......yes?"
Guy who has just pulled out a rifle from his pickup truck: "Oh yup"
BANG BANG BANG (three cans on a log at the end of the clearing are shot at)
That guy again: "Oh sorry man, that question was a bit odd. I just didn't want to shoot any other riders"
AL: "....ah cool... I'll just head off now...."

I have no photos of the clearing or the redneck, funnily enough I wasn't in a photo taking mood and felt the need to move on!

Farewell oh British Columbia!

So there you have it, I still have a few tall tales to tell. For a donation to the Send-Al-back-to-Canada fund...