Tidbits
Sleepover at Ikea - Maybe this is the only way to get to the $1 early enough…
A ramen bath - Japanese spa with special baths resembling instant noodles. I wanna play!
Old age homes for dogs - 1) Old dogs don’t like to be abandoned at strange places. 2) Playing with young puppies will probably cause the older dogs to die faster due to exhaustion.
A remote-controlled pigeon - Oh the poor thing…
An article on a brilliant method of teaching grade schoolers about bats and rabies. I smell a lawsuit.
Will trade beer for Crumpler bags. Tempted by the beanbag and messenger bags…
Photos
One Trip Down…
May 06, 2005, 4:41 am
So Im back from a week on the West Coast, revisiting old locations, visiting new places I didnt get a chance to see during the eight months I was there. The weather was surprisingly nice in both Seattle and Vancouver, sunny and blue skies. Only rained near the end of the trip, which was fine since we were doing mostly indoor activities anyways. And so the highlights:
Day 1
Flight into Sea-Tac was uneventful. Still hate Sea-Tac. Enterprise didnt have an office inside the terminal, had to take a shuttle there. Got a red ‘04 Nissan Sentra. It got progressively harder to start it as the trip continued. Checked into a Holiday Inn thats pretty close to the Space Needle. Had cheap burgers at Dicks, a local Seattle burger chain. It was the first of a series of nostalgic, West-Coast-only food selections. Took Mike on a tour of the Microsoft campus at 11 pm. Walked around the old Building 34 and surroundings. Sigh.
Day 2
Had breakfast at IHOP, and noticed the proportions were definitely larger at IHOP California. Did the usual tourist loop of the Space Needle and area, finally found the International Fountain. Cheap admission to the Pacific Science Center, which had pretty much the same content as the Ontario Science Centre. Mike stole drinks from the Amazon.com electronics vendor summit. Pikes Market, with my favourite clam chowder place for lunch. Walked to Underground Tour, to miss the last tour of the day by 10 min. I dont think Im meant to check out this Underground Tour thing. Started heading to Frys, but ended up at REI to wait for rush hour traffic to die down. Got new toys at Frys, then back to Bellevue for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Drove to Anacortes.
Day 3
Got up a bit late to catch the Washington State Ferry to Orca Island (a San Juan island). Visited Moran State Park for a few hours, and then its mad rush back to ferry terminal to get back to the mainland. Drove the rest of the way to Vancouver to stay at the Hyatt Regency Vancouver, $50 hotel, $20 parking. Dinner at Richmond Sushi, once more. $12 all-you-can-eat-sushi buffet is scary sometimes.
Day 4
Visited UBC and surrounding beaches. Typical drive through Stanley Park. Was a wonderfully warmed and sunny day, and nagged Mike constantly about convincing us to not bring our blades cause the weather forecast said it was gonna rain. Headed up Hwy 99 to Whistler, checked out some of the stuff along the way I never got to see cause every time I am in mad rush to get to Whistler. Shannon Falls, Alice Lake, various viewpoints. Had Boston Pizza at Squamish. That place is really expanding in preparation for the 2010 Olympic. Home for the night was Cascade Lodge in Whistler Village.
Day 5
Skiing at Whistler. For the last day of April, there were still plenty of runs opened. Sure, it stopped even before the mid-station, and it was weird to have both mountain bikers and skiers hanging around the same area, but for spring skiing, it was great. Pretty much did all the non-black runs that were open. Cant wait to go back during peak season this year, and actually get to go down all the way from the peak to the base. Drive back to Vancouver was fun. Had dinner at The Beach House in West Vancouver, a very classy seafood restaurant on par with some of the places Ive been in Sausalito. Stayed at the Lonsdale Quay Hotel in North Vancouver, which has to be the most unique hotel Ive ever been in. Its on the top floors of the marketplace at the quay, and was entirely decorated with Ikea furniture and accessories, and poorly at that. But it was incredibly homey, and free internet is always a plus.
Day 6
Decided to catch the 10:30 ferry to Victoria at Horseshoe Bay, since we are in northern Vancouver anyways, instead of driving back to the Tsawwassen. Underestimated the popularity of Vancouver Island, so couldnt get on the 10:30 ferry since we arrived only 30 min in advance. Next ferry was at 12:30, which was also almost cancelled due to possible criminal investigation, whereas the 8:30 ferry was delayed due to a medical emergency. So yes, visited Butchart Gardens again with like two hours until closing time. Old Sphagetti Factory for dinner. Mikes meal could have fed us both.
Day 7
Night before, we swung by the US ferry terminal, and was a bit worried when we saw people lining up already, leaving their cars there overnight to reserve a spot. Since the ferry only runs at 10:30 and 4:30, we decided to get up insanely early to line up, so got there around 7:30-ish. The rain started. Was comatose for entire ferry ride, got to Port Angeles and had lunch. Drove to Olympic National Park, which was pretty much deserted of tourists. The Good: getting to take photographs without having extra people in the way. The Bad: not having people around to show you where the trail is when you cant find it. Spend most of the time at the Soh Duc area, saw the falls, and then enjoyed half an hour at their hot springs. Very modernized, basically your typical outdoor pool and hot tub setup, but filled with smelly hot spring water. Expensive too. Saw some beaches. Then did our signature middle-of-the-night drive to Olympia, getting out of Olympic National Park took way longer than I anticipated. Stayed at the generic Best Western, free net, free breakfast buffet, free parking!
Day 8
Off to Oregon, the blessed State with no sales tax. On the way to an outlet mall, got side-tracked to visiting the Columbia Gorge and their waterfalls. Very impressive. Except for the stupid bee that flew through my open window causing me to freak. Stayed at the Benson in Downtown Portland, loosing another limb to overnight parking. Downtown driving in Portland is the worse yet. The Benson had Tempur-pedic mattresses, the memory-foam thing thats always being advertised on TV, and a really well-stocked mini-fridge. We were close to Chinatown, but we were warned not to wander there after dark by the front desk people. Visited Powell’s Books, the largest independent used and new bookstore in the world. Their collection was pretty impressive. Happy hour appetizers at a bar, alcohols too expensive.
Day 9
More shopping. Visited Woodburn Company Stores, the largest outlet mall in the Pacific Northwest. Bought stuff. Went to Apple Store. Bough stuff. Headed back to Seattle a little before 7, with the goal of reaching the Enterprise rental place before it closes at 10. Had fun adventure on the drive back, there was this white Ford that was leading the pack from the middle lane, and nobody seemed to be passing it. I eventually passed, and Mike noticed the guy was wearing a uniform, so I quickly slowed down and trailed behind it, waiting to see if it really was an unmarked cop car, since we couldnt see any lights or grills or anything. Eventually, this one car did try passing it, and prolly saw that it was a cop, but decided to test it out anyways, and as soon as he did 15 over, the cop turned on the lights and pulled him over. So mean! Its like entrapment! Got back to the rental place at 9:30. Got dropped off with our mess of stuff at a Travelodge very close to the airport. Ill have to say its one of the most ghetto motels Ive stayed at, the perimeter of it is guarded by a chain-linked fence with barb wires. Walking down the street to find a fast food place thats open at 10 was a scary experience.
Day 10
Got up at 5:30 to catch the free shuttle to the airport for our 8:15 flight back home. Missed the 6 am shuttle and had to wait for the 6:30 one. Security had long lines, but was very efficient, and so it was another uneventful flight home. End.
Next Up: Finalize stuff for Hawaii, which we are leaving on Sunday for. Sigh.
Tagged: Photography, Travels
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