For the last three years, I have met up with Rich and Wayne, my old Manila barkada, at Rich's house on Bussard Lake in Washington State. Sadly, there are no blogs for these first three years because I did not start my Newport Newz blog until 2011. Our first Road Trip was in 2008 and this was the first photo I ever took of my two buddies--on a visit to Whitworth College in Spokane. In those heady days, Rich was a Professor of Economics and Wayne the Managing Partner of a big D.C. law firm.
That first year, it was supposed to be just the three of us; but out of nowhere, some old ADB colleagues from our Manila days found their way to Bussard Lake too. Below is the assembled gang (L to R) consisting of Wayne, Yours Truly, Peter Sullivan, Ramdass Keswani, Fred Mesch (who also had a house on Bussard Lake), Rich and Dick Bradley. It was wonderful to be together again and to rat on about our "youthful days" some 30 years ago. But we still look youthful, right?
When our random visitors left, we contented ourselves with canoeing, jumping off bridges, fishing, riding horses (in my case, falling off horses) and generally exploring the magnificent country around Bussard Lake. A few glasses of red wine in the evening would usually lead to long rambling conversations about family and friends, dubious exploits, college basketball, dairy farming in Wisconsin and what the hell had happened to our 401(k)s and our hair.
We seem to have misplaced the year of 2009, or can't remember that far back. However, just the thought that we might have met up that year is good enough for us. We don't want to believe that we have missed any year of our now legendary Annual Road Trips. As the Archivist, I can record things "to the best of my memory" and the photo below is now the official photo for 2009. This was our trip to a fire tower close to the Canadian border in high Alpine country. The views were astounding and our first real sense of the wild beauty of N.E. Washington State.
We met up again this year, 2011, at Bussard Lake and decided to head off into the Canadian Rockies. Rich was the Commodore for the trip, Wayne was designated the Official Driver, and I was appointed Treasurer because I am so good with money (not). I also somehow became the Official Photographer and Archivist.
On the way to the border we had to pass by Sullivan Lake where Rich had made us jump off the bridge in July of the earlier year(s). It was now September 20. Wayne and I suspected that the water might be a bit chilly. Rich jumped first (it is about 15 feet or so before you hit the wet stuff) and announced that it was "warm". Like an idiot I followed and discovered that Rich had no idea what "warm" meant. It was bloody freezing!
I was still blue and shivering when we arrived at the Canadian border an hour later. Wayne somehow omitted to stop at the large red STOP sign and nearly caused an international incident. This was becoming a worrying pattern. He had also failed to stop for a police car pursuing us with flashing lights on the night we arrived in Spokane.
Having sworn to the border guard that we were not carrying currency in excess of $10,000 and had no interest in alcohol, we entered Canada and headed for the nearest bank to exchange $10,000 into Canadian currency and found a liquor store where we bought a ridiculously large bottle of Canadian Club whiskey to sustain us during the trip. We also stopped at a Fishing and Hunting shack in a small town near Nelson because Wayne wanted to get a "popper" (don't ask) for his fishing rod. I noticed that they were selling Uzis and sub-machine guns for bear hunting. We should have bought a few guns because Rich was suddenly attacked by a bear right outside the store in broad daylight. Scary.
Our destination that first evening was a little town called Nakusp which sits on the banks of Arrow Lake in British Columbia. Rich had booked all the accommodations and we were expecting his usual three-man log cabin surrounded by dark trees and distant outside toilets. But this was Canada and we discovered that we had a brand new log cabin with indoor plumbing, kitchen, dining room and an upstairs bedroom overlooking the lake. This was heaven.
We cracked open the bottle of Canadian Club for a little pre-dinner drink but never made it to dinner. We don't really remember seeing any sunset but sometime before midnight we discovered that it was quite dark and 1.14 liters of Canadian Club had disappeared without trace. It could have been bears or racoons (they are well known scavengers) but we never did find that bottle again. Wayne and Rich slept upstairs but I decided the ladder to the loft was too dangerous to tackle on an empty stomach. Once again, we had solved the problems of the world in just one evening. We all agreed that it had been a good first day and slept like logs in our shiny new log cabin.
The next morning is best not described. We did head into town, had a lot of black coffee and ordered the vast lumberjack breakfast with multiple eggs, pancakes, hash browns, sausages and bacon. We felt considerably better after that. We also found a small bakery down the road where we bought pastries and muffins in case we got hungry. Rich convinced us that having a swim in Arrow Lake would probably complete the sobering up process. The fact that we jumped into glacial water and had to swim a considerable distance around a pier to get back to shore indicated that the sobering up process was still in its early stages. I was blue and shivering--again!
The next stop was Revelstoke but we first had to take the car ferry to get to the other side of Arrow Lake. We were supposed to go white-water rafting on the Illecillewaet River (try saying that after a few shots of Canadian Club) which cuts directly through the town of Revelstoke and eventually flows into the Columbia River. We inquired at the tourist office about white-water rafting but they told us that they had stopped rafting on the Illecillewaet for the season. Curses!
That first year, it was supposed to be just the three of us; but out of nowhere, some old ADB colleagues from our Manila days found their way to Bussard Lake too. Below is the assembled gang (L to R) consisting of Wayne, Yours Truly, Peter Sullivan, Ramdass Keswani, Fred Mesch (who also had a house on Bussard Lake), Rich and Dick Bradley. It was wonderful to be together again and to rat on about our "youthful days" some 30 years ago. But we still look youthful, right?
When our random visitors left, we contented ourselves with canoeing, jumping off bridges, fishing, riding horses (in my case, falling off horses) and generally exploring the magnificent country around Bussard Lake. A few glasses of red wine in the evening would usually lead to long rambling conversations about family and friends, dubious exploits, college basketball, dairy farming in Wisconsin and what the hell had happened to our 401(k)s and our hair.
We seem to have misplaced the year of 2009, or can't remember that far back. However, just the thought that we might have met up that year is good enough for us. We don't want to believe that we have missed any year of our now legendary Annual Road Trips. As the Archivist, I can record things "to the best of my memory" and the photo below is now the official photo for 2009. This was our trip to a fire tower close to the Canadian border in high Alpine country. The views were astounding and our first real sense of the wild beauty of N.E. Washington State.
In 2010, we upped the ante and launched off on a road trip through Washington State, Idaho and Montana. We ended up in Glacier National Park after a long haul up the Going-to-the-Sun Road in monsoonal rain. Along the way, we went white-water rafting on the Lochsa River, stayed in log cabins, undertook epic walks along the banks of the mighty Selway River and forced ourselves to walk across a vertiginous swing bridge near the Kootenay Falls. We discovered that we all had a strong aversion to heights, cold water, walking uphill and unlit outside toilets in bear territory.
We met up again this year, 2011, at Bussard Lake and decided to head off into the Canadian Rockies. Rich was the Commodore for the trip, Wayne was designated the Official Driver, and I was appointed Treasurer because I am so good with money (not). I also somehow became the Official Photographer and Archivist.
On the way to the border we had to pass by Sullivan Lake where Rich had made us jump off the bridge in July of the earlier year(s). It was now September 20. Wayne and I suspected that the water might be a bit chilly. Rich jumped first (it is about 15 feet or so before you hit the wet stuff) and announced that it was "warm". Like an idiot I followed and discovered that Rich had no idea what "warm" meant. It was bloody freezing!
I was still blue and shivering when we arrived at the Canadian border an hour later. Wayne somehow omitted to stop at the large red STOP sign and nearly caused an international incident. This was becoming a worrying pattern. He had also failed to stop for a police car pursuing us with flashing lights on the night we arrived in Spokane.
Having sworn to the border guard that we were not carrying currency in excess of $10,000 and had no interest in alcohol, we entered Canada and headed for the nearest bank to exchange $10,000 into Canadian currency and found a liquor store where we bought a ridiculously large bottle of Canadian Club whiskey to sustain us during the trip. We also stopped at a Fishing and Hunting shack in a small town near Nelson because Wayne wanted to get a "popper" (don't ask) for his fishing rod. I noticed that they were selling Uzis and sub-machine guns for bear hunting. We should have bought a few guns because Rich was suddenly attacked by a bear right outside the store in broad daylight. Scary.
Our destination that first evening was a little town called Nakusp which sits on the banks of Arrow Lake in British Columbia. Rich had booked all the accommodations and we were expecting his usual three-man log cabin surrounded by dark trees and distant outside toilets. But this was Canada and we discovered that we had a brand new log cabin with indoor plumbing, kitchen, dining room and an upstairs bedroom overlooking the lake. This was heaven.
We cracked open the bottle of Canadian Club for a little pre-dinner drink but never made it to dinner. We don't really remember seeing any sunset but sometime before midnight we discovered that it was quite dark and 1.14 liters of Canadian Club had disappeared without trace. It could have been bears or racoons (they are well known scavengers) but we never did find that bottle again. Wayne and Rich slept upstairs but I decided the ladder to the loft was too dangerous to tackle on an empty stomach. Once again, we had solved the problems of the world in just one evening. We all agreed that it had been a good first day and slept like logs in our shiny new log cabin.
The next morning is best not described. We did head into town, had a lot of black coffee and ordered the vast lumberjack breakfast with multiple eggs, pancakes, hash browns, sausages and bacon. We felt considerably better after that. We also found a small bakery down the road where we bought pastries and muffins in case we got hungry. Rich convinced us that having a swim in Arrow Lake would probably complete the sobering up process. The fact that we jumped into glacial water and had to swim a considerable distance around a pier to get back to shore indicated that the sobering up process was still in its early stages. I was blue and shivering--again!
The next stop was Revelstoke but we first had to take the car ferry to get to the other side of Arrow Lake. We were supposed to go white-water rafting on the Illecillewaet River (try saying that after a few shots of Canadian Club) which cuts directly through the town of Revelstoke and eventually flows into the Columbia River. We inquired at the tourist office about white-water rafting but they told us that they had stopped rafting on the Illecillewaet for the season. Curses!
We decided to climb Mount Revelstoke instead--a feat made easier by the fact that you could drive up the first 14 miles through a pristine National Forest. We did trudge up the last mile on foot but noticed that we were frequently being overtaken by elderly hikers from Europe. We decided that we must have been suffering from altitude sickness. Or something.
The dinner was a mistake. Wayne had the pizza which we saw them taking out of the freezer and sticking in the micro-wave. The "noodle soup" was just some Ramen noodle soup with bits and pieces floating in it accompanied by kimchee. At the end of the meal I got up to pay. I was handed a check for $58. 50. I went weak at the knees. Being the Treasurer, I politely asked whether I was reading the check correctly. "Yah!" was the very assertive answer from the Korean Princess.
I paid up and did not have the heart to tell the Commodore and Driver what the meal had cost. I spent a sleepless night thinking about my inability to control our expenses--and about the final warning given to us by our beautiful hostess before we retired for the night: "Please lock cabin door to avoid bears and mice". Mice? Holy mackerel, I don't mind bears but mice are terrifying. I swear I heard something scratching all night behind the fridge. It might have been Wayne--but why would he go behind the fridge in the middle of the night? We survived and headed off the next morning towards Lake Louise in Alberta. On the way, I told them about the cost of our evening meal. I was nearly dumped on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway but luckily the truck doors would not open while it was moving.
Lake Louise makes you feel that you are in some Disney Theme Park. The water is impossibly blue, the snow-capped mountains are perfect and the 5-star Fairmont Hotel is located at one end surrounded by violently green lawns and beds of flowers ablaze with color.
After walking a fair way around the lake, we headed back for lunch at the Brasserie restaurant of the Fairmont Hotel.
We had an outstanding lunch and I felt that Wayne and Rich had now forgotten about the $58. 50 meal the night before. But when the lunch check only came to $57. 85 (and this in a 5-star hotel), they once again berated me for paying Miss Kim Pentagon prices for disgusting soup and pizza. Thank goodness they didn't know about the lousy exchange rate I got for our US dollars!
After taking in the beauty of Lake Louise, we headed off towards Banff. Ever since we entered Canada, we had been passing through pristine forests, crossing icy blue rivers and admiring the Rockies towering above us. Banff was also pristine, full of ritzy shops and restaurants, and the Rockies seemed to be right there in the middle of town.
The next morning we gassed up at a quaint old gas station and started to head for home. We had spent three days getting to Banff but were going to drive home in one day. In all, our trusty Driver clocked up over 1,000 miles for the whole trip. The trip home was via another route (we never do the same road twice) and you can only sit back and wonder at the sheer beauty and majesty of the Rockies. The National Park systems in Canada and the United States are amazing and we are lucky that those who came before us had to vision and good sense to preserve and protect these extraordinary lands.
We got back to Bussard Lake at about 4PM. It was a glorious afternoon and we literally got out of the car and walked straight down to the lake to do some fishing. While Wayne was putting his popper onto the rod, Rich and I climbed into the small row boat that we use for fishing.
It is still unclear exactly what happened but one moment we were sitting in the boat and the next moment we had capsized. Wayne was still on the dock concentrating on his popper when he heard a big splash as the boat turned over. Rich and I went into the lake fully clothed along with watches, wallets, cameras, phones and all the other paraphernalia that you tend to carry around with you. I stayed under the overturned boat because I had lost my glasses and was frantically diving down and searching for them. Wayne and Rich were going crazy looking for me because I had not surfaced. They were unaware that I was actually above the water, breathing, but under the boat. Maybe they didn't want to lose the Treasurer after all? Amazingly, I did find my glasses at the bottom of the lake.
It seemed ironic that we had survived 25 IV-Class and 2 V-Class rapids on the raging Lochsa River last year only to fall out of our row boat on placid Lake Bussard this year. Ah well. It was an exciting end to a great road trip and we'll be back for more excitement next year.
One little addition to the original blog. My white Panasonic Lumix camera with a great Leica lens went into the lake with me. I put it in a bag of rice immediately in the hope that it would dry out but it didn't work any more. In 2019, I was sorting through our storage unit at home and found the said white camera in a box in the same old bag of rice. I put in a battery to test it before I chucked it out. Lo and behold the camera WORKED and continues to work to this day (July 2, 2020). I call it the Miracle of Bussard Lake!
NOTE: Original blog was published on October 26, 2011
That night we stayed in a small resort in some other National Forest. The wildlife was small too. Where were the moose and bears? The resort contained hot springs and we were able to lower our weary, aching bodies into large pools of 104F water. Bliss. We discovered that the restaurant was closed for the season. (It was getting towards the end of September and that counts as winter in Canada). However, they said that they could offer us noodle soup or pizza for dinner. I think we might have been unduly influenced to stay in for dinner by the rather ravishing young Korean lady at the Gift Shop where dinner was to be served. She certainly took a shine to the "Commodore" who had introduced Wayne as his driver and me as his money man. We later discovered that she was married, had a small baby and a mother-in-law who would make Kim Jong-il quake in his boots.
I paid up and did not have the heart to tell the Commodore and Driver what the meal had cost. I spent a sleepless night thinking about my inability to control our expenses--and about the final warning given to us by our beautiful hostess before we retired for the night: "Please lock cabin door to avoid bears and mice". Mice? Holy mackerel, I don't mind bears but mice are terrifying. I swear I heard something scratching all night behind the fridge. It might have been Wayne--but why would he go behind the fridge in the middle of the night? We survived and headed off the next morning towards Lake Louise in Alberta. On the way, I told them about the cost of our evening meal. I was nearly dumped on the side of the Trans-Canada Highway but luckily the truck doors would not open while it was moving.
Lake Louise makes you feel that you are in some Disney Theme Park. The water is impossibly blue, the snow-capped mountains are perfect and the 5-star Fairmont Hotel is located at one end surrounded by violently green lawns and beds of flowers ablaze with color.
After walking a fair way around the lake, we headed back for lunch at the Brasserie restaurant of the Fairmont Hotel.
We had an outstanding lunch and I felt that Wayne and Rich had now forgotten about the $58. 50 meal the night before. But when the lunch check only came to $57. 85 (and this in a 5-star hotel), they once again berated me for paying Miss Kim Pentagon prices for disgusting soup and pizza. Thank goodness they didn't know about the lousy exchange rate I got for our US dollars!
After taking in the beauty of Lake Louise, we headed off towards Banff. Ever since we entered Canada, we had been passing through pristine forests, crossing icy blue rivers and admiring the Rockies towering above us. Banff was also pristine, full of ritzy shops and restaurants, and the Rockies seemed to be right there in the middle of town.
The next morning we gassed up at a quaint old gas station and started to head for home. We had spent three days getting to Banff but were going to drive home in one day. In all, our trusty Driver clocked up over 1,000 miles for the whole trip. The trip home was via another route (we never do the same road twice) and you can only sit back and wonder at the sheer beauty and majesty of the Rockies. The National Park systems in Canada and the United States are amazing and we are lucky that those who came before us had to vision and good sense to preserve and protect these extraordinary lands.
We got back to Bussard Lake at about 4PM. It was a glorious afternoon and we literally got out of the car and walked straight down to the lake to do some fishing. While Wayne was putting his popper onto the rod, Rich and I climbed into the small row boat that we use for fishing.
It is still unclear exactly what happened but one moment we were sitting in the boat and the next moment we had capsized. Wayne was still on the dock concentrating on his popper when he heard a big splash as the boat turned over. Rich and I went into the lake fully clothed along with watches, wallets, cameras, phones and all the other paraphernalia that you tend to carry around with you. I stayed under the overturned boat because I had lost my glasses and was frantically diving down and searching for them. Wayne and Rich were going crazy looking for me because I had not surfaced. They were unaware that I was actually above the water, breathing, but under the boat. Maybe they didn't want to lose the Treasurer after all? Amazingly, I did find my glasses at the bottom of the lake.
It seemed ironic that we had survived 25 IV-Class and 2 V-Class rapids on the raging Lochsa River last year only to fall out of our row boat on placid Lake Bussard this year. Ah well. It was an exciting end to a great road trip and we'll be back for more excitement next year.
One little addition to the original blog. My white Panasonic Lumix camera with a great Leica lens went into the lake with me. I put it in a bag of rice immediately in the hope that it would dry out but it didn't work any more. In 2019, I was sorting through our storage unit at home and found the said white camera in a box in the same old bag of rice. I put in a battery to test it before I chucked it out. Lo and behold the camera WORKED and continues to work to this day (July 2, 2020). I call it the Miracle of Bussard Lake!
NOTE: Original blog was published on October 26, 2011
What an amazing trip. The Rockies look so beautiful. The dog in the second to last picture knows that something is about to go awry!
ReplyDeleteExcellent post! Lovely photos. I think the word you are looking for is "barkada", or perhaps your mates taste like Bacardi rum?
ReplyDelete