Vancouver – Seattle

Well, it does seem a while between posts.

We were sitting in the queue for the ferry at Friday Harbor, waiting patiently for our lane to get permission to board. Luckily it was a downhill run, for when the call came to advance, I lunged for the button to start the car, but starting was not happening. We were rolling, but steering and navigating on to a ramp is pretty difficult when you have no power, and panic is starting to control movements and decisions. Fortunately the car behind me was even slower than I was and I was able to summon enough calm to stop, start the car properly and take our place on the ferry. The thing is, this a hybrid, and there is very little difference between the car being on and not on. The dash lights are shining brightly, but there is no giveaway sound of an engine. (Up here they say “keep clam and carry on”.)

Off the ferry, we found our way to the Interstate 5 which runs up to Canada. There was the inevitable delay through the border, and we only got lost once (it may have been twice) on our way to North Vancouver to our AirBnB apartment. Booking our apartment, we had no real idea about locations, but we had a terrific spot on North Vancouver, just a short walk to Lower Lonsdale with restaurants and theatres – and the ferry into the city. It is also a pretty short drive to West Vancouver where our friends Iraj and Nadia live.

We had a lovely time with Iraj and Nadia who took us for dinner at a local Persian restaurant, and then a walk along the very pretty shoreline. Pretty in a Vancouver sort of way. Not quite Balmoral, and various logs that escape the lumber haulage that is still part of the industry here, wash up and decorate the shore. Iraj, a retired professor of architecture, was quite scathing about housing in his area, where new money is buying up beautiful old established homes, pulling them down and creating monstrous mansions and destroying the lovely gardens that make this area so special. Progress.

Nadia had some recommendations for us to see – Grass Mountain, Squamish, Horseshoe Bay, Stanley Park and Granville Island – so we determined to attempt that list in our four days here. We had already had a look at Stanley Park. First on our list was a drive up the Sea to Sky Parkway to Squamish, about an hour north of North Vancouver. Such a stunning drive. British Columbia has scenery in spades. Squamish features Stawamus Chief Mountain, a 700 metre bluff mountain, and a destination for mountain climbers in North America. The gondola presented an easier option for us. There were some great trails that we took advantage of, and of course the views were amazing.

On the way home we called in to Horseshoe Bay (to the consternation of our GPS navigator) for a stroll through the village, and a coffee. HB had the inevitable marina and ferry terminal, but it seemed more of a working town, with fishing boats rather than million dollar yachts.

Let’s see, that must have been Wednesday. Thursday was town day, a ferry across the harbour, and a hop on-hop off tour bus to see the main city highlights – of which there are many. To be honest I am “over” cities – concrete canyons, noise, sirens, crowds and did I mention noise. The bus was an old converted trolley bus with no suspension and narrow wooden benches with a millimetre of cushion. And we pay for this experience! Granville Island was more interesting with galleries and restaurants and a pleasant walk along the shore, and yes, the marinas. We were glad enough to get back home.

For the life of me I could not find any mention of Grass Mountain. There was a Grouse Mountain – maybe that’s what they meant. The drive was up through West Vancouver to another gondola launching us up about 1200 metres. At the top there are the usual attractions and tourist  shops, a grizzly habitat with a couple of large bears, and a bird display of hawks, eagles and owls. All very interesting. On the way back we decided to take in a movie: Beatriz at Dinner. I definitely think you need to see this movie, because i don’t think we should suffer alone.  It had potential but ended up being perplexing and unresolved.

Seattle

Saturday was Canaday, or Canada Day, celebrating 150 years of something. We did our bit, putting on red shirts, and apparently like everyone else, drove to Seattle. It took longer to get out of Canada than into it. The border guard quizzed us about any food we were taking into the States. I think we have 2 tomatoes, I volunteered. Anything else? Oh, yes, an onion. Anything else? Jen: I think we still have an apple.  The car before us had been whisked away for a more determined interrogation, so we were trying to recall anything else. Half a KitKat, some chewing gum and roasted almonds. Beads of sweat were forming a guilty signal on my brow. Get outa here, and welcome to the United States. We sped away but in our haste took a wrong turn.

The traffic escaping from Seattle more than matched the traffic escaping Vancouver. An accident on the Interstate 5 can have consequences. We should not have felt so smug as there was an accident on our side too. Looked very bad for the motor cyclist who seemed to have crashed into a truck.

Our AirBnB on Seattle’s Southside is fine – a bit out of the way, but handy to the airport when we return the car. We have a habit of getting lost lately, and getting here was no exception. The problem is that you can have almost identical addresses, miles apart, with just a letter difference.  So, we are 10457  19th Avenue S, which is vastly different to 10457 19th Avenue SW, even though both are on corners of a 106th Street. The first address looked a bit wild – abandoned cars and some scary dudes hanging about.

On Sunday we abandoned the car and took the bus into the city to check out Seattle Centre with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Centre, the Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass. Well, everyone who did not escape on Saturday decided to turn up and it was impossible to see anything. Still it was interesting to observe Seattleans. It is a very cosmopolitan city with many languages spoken in the streets. With marijuana legal here, you do see some odd types in the street – people wandering along muttering and sometimes yelling at unseen companions. A large African American woman was walking against the pedestrian lights yelling: I ain’t doin’ what no white man says I can do. (The lights have an illuminated red hand for no walking, and a white illuminated walker for walk now.)

We had booked a tour at the Boeing Future of Flight Tour on Monday, so drove down to Everett for that. Everett is very close to Mukilteo, which has the ferry terminal across to whidbey Island where we had travelled just over a week ago. After some considerable research on the subject we can now assert with some confidence that the fish and chips at Mukilteo is the best – anywhere. Almost, anyway. Best anywhere is Pelican Rocks at Greenwell Point near Nowra.

The Boeing factory is massive and the tour is most interesting. I had a go on the flight simulator – a real adrenalin rush, that lifted my admiration for the men and women who operate these flying machines for real.

Today is July 4, and we are having a quiet day ahead of our next phase – off to Hawaii where we will catch up with the kiddies. We had a reccie at the airport so we know our way to car drop-off and getting to the terminal. It is a late flight so we have a day to kill. Jen is not one to let a shopping centre go unexplored, so we visited a local Walmart. You can buy literally anything there, and we did – some new and better cabin luggage. However, it is all too much and we escaped more or less unscathed and came home to do laundry and get ready. We might seek out the fireworks tonight if there is something local.

Thank you dear readers if you have made it this far. I promise shorter missives in the future. Honest.