Canada here we come. Mostly empty road - just a few trucks.
Stopped off in LaGrande-Baker, OR at the Inland Cafe for some tasty diner breakfast. It was even further enhanced with Marionberry syrups and jams. Yummyum.
From there, began scooting further NW again and passed the 45th parallel (at least that's what the sign we passed in a cow pasture seemed to indicate).
Made another stop at Pendleton, OR to see the mill. Stopping off at the visitor center, got sucked into their scintillating museum (yawn). Although, seeing one of the first charcoal grills was something I guess.
With my dawdling, we then missed a tour of the mill. That didn't stop me from shopping of course - found a blankie to send back to Seanie for his recovery, We were able to peek thru a door and see them making one of the blankets. We also wandered thru a little section where with some of the old designs and artifacts.
Drove the rest of the way up to Kennewick, WA. During the course of the day, it turned into misty, verdant, rolling hills/mountains. A lot of cloud cover with bands of sunlight piercing thru and lighting up parts of the valley and blotches of the mountains ahead. I was very pleased to have my Toastitoes insole warmers as well as a travel blanket. How Mr is not bothered just wearing his sandals I do not know - maniac.
Had a celebration picnic in the room watching television and clinking plastic cups over cheese and grapes. Despite the lack of class, Mr seemed pleased.
On Thursday we hit 82 W and went thru a big vineyard area with Hogue signs (think that's one I've actually heard of). Nice driver's views of rolling hills and pretty passenger views of orchards & vineyards down to a river at the base of the valley. It went on this way for a good while. Is this America's fruit cup? It reminds me a little bit of some of the places Mum has taken me by train in England. Of course, it is grey and damp, so maybe that is why.
Going thru some of the areas across to Seattle around the Mountain to Sea trail, we pass by what look to be 'roided out Christmas trees. They are not ancient redwoods, but huge and majestic enough to impress this monkey.
Of course, as we approach Seattle, the traffic gets heavier. Hope it won't be too awful when we come back after Vancouver. Between Seattle and the Canada line, it gets quite lovely again and we hope to catch some glimpses of the Pacific. All there really is though, are some inlets - not the big, thumpin' ocean.
Passing into Canada was pretty easy. The guy went thru his usual questions/schpiel and asked us a couple of times if we had any firearms tucked into the back of our truck. But, he was jovial and quick. Guess he really only needed our licenses and we need not have schlepped our passports along, but oh well.
Horrid traffic getting to the hotel downtown, but once we parked and could take the transport there or walk (yay, movement! So sick of sitting in the car) it all became much more chill. We were in a great location right at Broadway and Heather. We are on the 15th floor with a balcony. Think I'll just stay indoors thank you very much. It is a beautiful view of the city with cloudy mountains in the distance.
Let me talk about food first as we all know how obsessed this one is with that. The eats in BC were fantastic. They must have different rules about pasteurization and such because the grocery stocked shelves upon shelves with delicious biopot yoghurts and cheeses that we don't get at home. There is also, of course, the awesome seafood and in conjunction with a wonderful Asian influence = incredible sushi. We passed several little specialty produce shops. When (not if, but most definitely, when) we return, I really want to check out the Granville Island market.
After some investigating a few blocks around our neighborhood, we had some poutine (or "dirty curdies" as Mr dubbed them) and then crashed.
On Friday, we adventured out from our tower nest to the train station and got a couple of day passess. Totally worth the expense as it seems to work for the trains, buses and even the ferry. After taking one of each, we arrived at the Capilano suspension bridge. Definitely an over-priced tourist trap thing, but every vacation has to have some of that. Of course, maybe I am just still feeling queasy.
After napping for several hours, we had dinner and I went for an evening walk - some lovely tree-lined sides streets with pretty houses - a bit like the old neighborhood in Cambridge, MA
Saturday morning we jangled up our nerves with a little tea/coffee action. Every other storefront here seems to be a cafe. Then, we jumped on the #99 bus (thanks to Curt we ended up even taking it in the right direction) and headed over to the University. Got soggy walking over to the Museum of Anthropology. That was okay though because it was so interesting & warm, we dried out and wandered for quite a while.
We got a bit damp again making our way to the Beaty center for Biodiversity. Incredible. Seeing too many reconstructed skeletons, things in jars and taxidermied animals made me a little sad though.
We traipsed our way back to the bus and hotel. Caught up on laundry and that kind of exciting stuff. It is remarkable just how gross one can get even just sitting in a car. Had a low-key night. Hit Minato for sushi and walked around some more before tucking in early to rest well before driving again.
It is with a sense of contentment that we leave. It is beautiful here and the people we've met all seem a bit reserved, but genuinely nice. There is much more to see and do. We tell each other that this is somewhere we want to visit again. So, it's not so hard to go:)
