Victoria and Vancouver

We went across from the Port of Seattle to Victoria on the Clipper- basically a ferry that serves food. Crossing took about 3 hours, and when we arrived our friend Andy was waiting for us. We went back to Andy and Graham’s lovely condo to unpack, then headed back to the Fairmont Empress for High Tea.
The Empress is a gorgeous old hotel known for their “Tea” and we loved it. 3 tier platters with everything from watercress/cucumber sandwiches to scones. Of course, they also served a selection of teas, being a bit of England and all that. All of our daily allotment of calories all at one sitting, and our daily budget for food at the same time. Good thing we were staying under the largess of Andy and Graham- tea per person was $72.

We brought the better weather with us and we had blue skies and sunshine again. The guys showed us around their beautiful area, including of course the world famous Butchart Gardens. Truly spectacular. Although they say every season of year has it's benefits, by visiting in July we got the most amazing roses, begonias, snapdragons- every summer flower you can imagine. Really a mesmerizing day. We enjoyed Victoria very much, and then we were off again- this time on the ferry across to Vancouver to see Marion. This trip was really our Mexican/Canadian friends tour! Really fun to see them all in their “natural habitat”. As it turned out- Andy, Graham and 2 of their friends (also from Mexico) needed to run an errand in Vancouver, so we drove their car onto the ferry and rode across with them. We had breakfast while crossing, and arrived in Vancouver in time for lunch. We said "goodbye-we’ll see you in PV" to everyone and met up with Marion right on schedule. She lives about 20 minutes out of the city, in White Rock, in an unbelievable 2 storey condo overlooking the harbor. After she showed us the techie things like how to turn on the lights, run the shower and put the curtains up and down, we rode in her private elevator up to her private roof balcony. There, a pair of seagulls were raising 3 babies, on her roof. Unfortunately they didn’t understand that it was Marion’s roof, and every time we went out onto the deck they barked at us for interrupting.

One full day we spent in Vancouver, an attractive city surrounded by water. We continued to get clear weather, for which we were very grateful. One day we walked down to the water in White Rock, where kids were crabbing and fishing. Marion explained to us what makes a crab “legal”, as we watched a young boy try repeatedly to unhook the pincers of an “illegal female” from his net. Marion finally went over and helped him hold the claws and release it from the net.

Andrew and Gordon were actually in their Vancouver condo during this time, so they came over to have lunch with us.

A wonderful respite, all in all, after the walking in Seattle and Victoria, and after 3 nights there in paradise, Marion took us back into Vancouver to catch the Rocky Mountaineer train to Banff.

Seattle...continued

So, I forgot to mention that the reason we arrived so early from home was that the Seattle Mariners were in town for one more day- so we got tix to see them lose their ninth game in a row, this time to the Texas Rangers. Still, the park was pretty, the weather was nice enough that they left the roof open, and we had hot dogs at the ball game. Good enough. Besides, we really didn’t care who won (but for the benefit of the suffering Mariners fans around us we pretended we did.

But back to the Underground Tour- we had seen it advertised and the nice young lady behind the desk at the Seattle LQ said “it was her favorite tour” so we signed up. Turns out Seattle had an interesting past, as probably all cities had. Especially those in the Wild West. The city burned to the ground in the late 1880’s, and as raw sewage backing up from the low lying streets was a real problem, they elevated the streets that the buildings were constructed on, as much as 2 storeys higher than before. This meant that for many shops, the entrance was at the second storey, and that the rest was underground. This left a bunch of space beneath the level of the street, and a whole section of the seedier side of Seattle took place, such as prostitution, gambling and crime. We actually walked around through the original rooms under the world that was going on above. And in the gift shop-every tour has a gift shop-they had a great t-shirt for sale. I didn’t buy it but I did take a picture of it.

So we spent 4 nights in Seattle, had several Starbuck coffees, and then caught the Clipper across the water to Victoria.

SJC to SEA-TAC at dawn. Why do we do this to ourselves?

Seattle. We arrived from SJC by 8:30 in the morning, so we settled into our hotel just up from Pike’s Place Market and assessed our condition. The weather was rainy, we had been up since 3AM, and we didn’t have a car.

The LQ was nice enough to let us eat some of their complimentary breakfast while the room was being readied…after all, check in time is 2PM and we were hours away from that. We got a map and struck out for downtown Seattle. 6 blocks, the concierge said. Easy- just walk to the end of the block and head toward the water. Before a block had passed we realized that yes, it was easy, because it was all downhill………

So we looked around, I bought a pair of pants at the local Nordstrom, Judy bought a blouse. Not exactly sightseeing, but still fun. Then we headed out to the street, to return “home”. The tourist map, we discovered, was not really to scale, or even very accurate. Streets that converged on paper, did not do so in reality. But with the help of several police and more than a few streetpeople, we were on our way. Just about then, the blue skies blew away and we were walking in the rain. No umbrella, of course- they were in our suitcases back at the LQ (the last time we made that mistake- Seattle). We ducked under an awning to wait it out, and as we were standing there, 5 or 6 young adults came by. They were 18 to 20 years old, with backpacks and a large jug of what looked like rosé wine carried by one of them. As we watched, the young man dropped the wine, which hit the pavement at the curb and shattered. All of them started to wail, except the guilty one, who promptly dropped to his knees and started sucking the wine (and the glass particles!) out of the gutter. Since Seattle is like SF, it’s very hilly, and the wine was flowing rather swiftly toward the bay. One by one they all got down and slurped as much of the dirty wine as they could from the ground, until the rain had slowed and we started back on our way up the hill. An amazing sight. Scary.

But we did have a good time in Seattle- the weather actually held for the most part and we got around. Rode the trolley out to Lake Union, the bus along the waterfront, had a marginal facial at an Aveda beauty school, and took the Underground City tour. More on THAT…next time!

On the Rocky Mountaineer-

After 3 amazing days with Marion in Vancouver, we got up at 4:45AM to catch the train from downtown Vancouver to Banff. The train is very comfortable, a doubledecked carriage with clear plastic ceilings for viewing the gorgeous countryside. We were served a tasty breakfast and settled on in for the 10 hour trip over to Kamloops.

The landscape we are traveling through is green, lush and full of wildlife. We have seen osprey, eagles, marmots, and promised the possibility of a glimpse of grizzly bear. But the overwhelming impression is that of clean, clear water. Lakes and rivers have wound along the entire route, reminiscent of New Zealand. We have learned all about the rough life of the local salmon, and seen huge protected habitats of the seabirds that live in the area.

After a night in Kamloops, we reboarded the train for the 12 hour jaunt into Banff. More of the same stunning scenery with all of the food and drink we could ever want. We had just left the relative flatlands of BC with an increasing climb up the mountains towards Banff, when we came to a stop. We have now been sitting here on the RM tracks for 90 minutes, and were just informed that our secondary engine is malfunctioning. Because of the steepness of the track, we can’t make it without the second engine, and so here we sit. They are sending another engine, and in the meantime we are enjoying the summer rain, the green environs and the free alcohol. I just hope that the Avis rental car agency will still be open when we do finally limp into town. But we are staying at the Fairmont Banff Springs so if we can’t get the car tonight- we’ll get it tomorrow! No worries, as they all say.