Day 20 – Vancouver Island -> Northern Cascades National Park, Washington

- jono talking to a duck & anna swimming in diablo lake (glacial - 40 degrees!)

After a 6am wake-up (6:20 actually, with an alarm reset) we headed down island to have JJ’s exhaust system revamped. Following the successful surgery, we took a ferry from Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay in Vancouver and drove through the city on our way back to the states. With a VW van and our driver being shaggy, unkempt, and somewhat dirt-ball looking we had a nice sigh of relief after crossing the border without having been searched. Although once again we did have some unreported contraband: fruit! Ha, take that. From there we headed east on Route 20 into the Northern Cascades National Park in Washington. What a magnificent route to take. We arrived at dusk but drove through some amazing sections of waterfalls, raging glacial rivers and scary over-looks. These are the reasons they call this area the American Alps. We were both taken aback at how little mention this incredibly beautiful area gets, as it is some of the most striking landscapes we’ve seen yet. We picked a campsite at random out of the 4-star Steph Linakis camping book, again with much luck. The campsite is ideal and for only $12 thanks to the City Light Hydro-Electric facilities up and down the Skagit River which subsidizes the maintenance here. We went to sleep under a moonlit sky surrounded by snowcapped peaks! The next morning (Day 21) we woke up and jumped into the Glacial Lake for our morning shower – the water was frickin cold (look at Anna’s face in the picture). We’re headed to the town of Winthrop this morning and then to the Grand Coulee Dam before we continue east toward Glacier.