14 March 2005
Sunny Seattle
Thursday 9th March we were picked up from the Samesun youth hostel just before nine in the morning. We shared the shuttle bus with only two others this time and surprise, surprise, they were Australians. From Perth. (There are so many of us over here it is a bit scary). Anyway, they had got married just two weeks before and this was their honeymoon. He had rolled his ankle quite badly and she had fallen and bruised her tailbone. As we were discussing our respective trips they expressed surprise at the length of time we are intending to be away and sugested that perhaps we had no-one at home to miss. I was a bit offended but didn't say so. Just incase anyone at home thinks the same, WE DO MISS YOU. Of course we have people at home that we will miss but that doesn't mean you shouldn't go and see the world!!
Chris has just told me to stop ranting... so I will. He is very wise.
At the Airport in Kelowna we discovered a very interesting selection of local delicasies - Beaver Droppings, BigHorn Droppings, Polar Bear Droppings and Black Bear Droppings. Curious, we investigated further and discovered (with some relief) that they were infact a selection of choc-coated nuts and raisins. Mmmmm.... animal droppings.
The flight back to Victoria was fine and we were kept giggling most of the way by our Steward (yet another entertaining guide)who assured us all that we were all happy to have had them as our crew during the flight and that we should be careful to take all our belongings with us because anything left behind would be evenly distributed between the staff.
From Victoria on Vancouver Island, which is actually south of most of the US border, we caught the Victoria Clipper. It is a ferry that takes about two and a half hours to get from Victoria to Seattle in the US. The trip takes you down through various islands and as the sun set it was a beautiful sight.
Photos here
We arrived in Seattle ok, and even made it past the suspicious customs guy who was tempted to go through our bags simply because they were pad-locked. Yes, security consious travellers are always the most suspicious! I guess he couldn't be bothered though because he didn't. It was cold in Seattle that night as we headed out to find Becca.
Rebecca is a friend of Chris' who he met at Uni 9 years ago when she was in Australia for a year. He had arranged to call her on our arrival in Seattle, and she would come and get us from the Ferry terminal. He didn't get her address, figuring that she knew where she lived so we didn't need to. However, when we went to call, the phone was out of service. So what to do? We asked a local at the terminal if she could try calling on her land-line, perhaps the problem was something to do with the phonecard we were using. Nope - same result. So we checked the phone book to see if we could find either an address or an alternative phone number. No luck there either. We decided it wasn't a good idea to leave, perhaps show up unexpectedly at Chris' aunt's house, a) because that might give Chris' aunt a bit of a shock and b) because if Becca showed up she wouldn't know where we were. No worries, we would just wait and see if she came anyway. Then Chris remembered that he had told her our ferry would arrive an hour later than it actually did. After investigating various other options and finally getting to the point where Chris called the phone company ("how did you get this number?") Becca arrived. Becca my hero.
She took us to a pub for a late dinner and then to her place. As it turns out she lives not far from the ferry or the city and we probably could have walked it if we knew where we were going.
The following day (Thursday) Becca and her house-mate Colleen (the pocket-rocket) had to work so the two of us walked into the city to check out the sights. It was an easy walk and we passed a lot of interesting places and characters. Our first destination was the Pike Place Markets in the heart of the city. It is a vibrant collection of local artwork, produce and fish-throwing. Lots of taste testing was done (fruit, beef jerky, jellys, honey etc.) and we bought a huge(ish) bag of jerky and some yummy plums.
Chris had heard about something called a 'piroshky' in our guide book, so when he saw the sign across the street for them we decided to give it a go, even though neither of us had any idea what they were and they sounded kind of scary. They were good. Essentially a kind of Russian pie, a kind of pasty crust wrapped around a multitude of different fillings. We both enjoyed ours and took a photo to prove it.
From there we walked up to 4th street to catch the monorail to the Space Needle. It is not like the monorail in Sydney that goes in a loop around the city and stops in several different places. This one does a straight (and speedy) run from one end to the other. So those of us who were hoping to make our tousist dollar go a little further and ride a whole loop extra were a little dissapointed.
We were not dissapointed by the Space Needle though. The elevator to the top itself was an adventure as it is on the outside of the tower and provides an excellent view of the city dropping away below as you rise up. At the top we saw cowboys. No kidding. At least half a dozen individual people were spotted walking around in cowboy boots and cowboy hats. Interesting. Especially the one who was wearing pink boots, pink hat, pink midrif-bearing top and white jeans...
One of the most amazing facts that we learnt about this tower is that despite its height (Top of the Space Needle: 605 feet, Observation Deck: 520 feet)its centre of gravity is only five feet (less than two metres) above the ground!! They did that by digging an enormous hole and filling it with concrete to base the needle in. Pretty cool.
From there we walked back to Becca's place to relax on the couch for a bit and watch some TV until the girls got home. Ordinarily we consider ourselves to be reasonable technology savvy but Becca's remote control was scary. It was a monster of a thing that had about a thousand buttons for seemingly every electical appliance in the house. After a little deliberation we decided to push the button called 'All On' hoping that it might just be that simple (and that the house wouldn't implode). It was that simple.
We went out that night for dinner at a great mexican restaurant, I figured that it was just dinner and we didn't really need to take the camera. This is a decision that I may regret for the rest of my life. The burrito that I ordered was one of the most amazing things that either of us has seen on this trip. It was enormous. It was gigantic. It was delicious. Even so, I could not eat more that a third of it and after Chris had a go there was still a third of it left. It was (completely without exageration now) the length of my forearm and about thirty centimetres in circumference. Although we have no photographic evidence of this monster we do have three eyewitnesses who will testify to the accuracy of this account if we pay them enough.
The following day, which was Friday, we got started a little late. We went into an area of Seattle near the University. We ate at another place that Chris had become enamoured with while in Chicago a couple of years ago and we just had to go there. It was mexican aswell (which after the last night's effort you might think would be too much) and the burritos were a much more respectable size. Both Chris and I had a couple of problems ordering though, due largely to the speed with which questions about our order were asked. "Doyawanmilehotbeanchillicorn?" After asking for each of three servers to repeat what they were saying I ended up just nodding. I am unsure exactly what I got in my lunch but it tasted good, Chris ended up with a little less in his burrito than he would have liked because he answered yes to the question "Izhatallyuwaninit?" The napkins in this restaurant were easier to understand. They had pictorial instructions on how to go about eating the burrito that you just 'ordered'.
From there Chris and I wandered down through the university district a little, checked out a couple of second-hand book stores on the way and bought ourselves a book on the south of england (to help us start to get organised) and one on France. We walked a few kilometres through the residential area between the university and an area called Fremont. We were looking for a troll.
Several years ago a group of people got together and with community help built the head and shoulders of a hugr troll under the Fremont Bridge. We found him and he really is worth a visit. From there we walked back to Becca's place and she took us on a driving tour of the city.
First stop was a drive-through Starbucks... we were tired. She took us out to West Seattle for a great (but freezing) view of the city centre, we went past Alki Beach and Madisson Park. Part way through the trip we noticed a very interesting, and slightly disturbing, phenomenon. There were several houses that we drove past that were under construction and in the front yard of each of them was a portable tiolet (know in Australia as a 'porta-loo' or 'porta-potty') for use by the men and women working on the site. This is not unusual. What was unusual, as far as we were conserned, is that the 'brand name' of the tiolets was 'Honey Bucket'... how weird is that? 'Honey Bucket'. And slightly gross...? Ahhh the wonderous things that travel can expose you to!
That evening we took it easy infront of the TV, we watched a couple of movies through the 'on demand' feature and drank a bit of beer.
Saturday was the day of the big reunion. The last time Chris saw his Aunt Suzy and Uncle Roy he was about three years old. So we were both excited. We had a lovely lunch at a place called Ray's with Cousin Mike and then went to the government locks to see the boats coming in to lake Union from the bay. We saw a salmon ladder. Salmon are an amazing fish, they come back years after they were spawned to the very same place to do their own reproducing. Since the locks were built to help the boats the ladder had to also be built so that the fish can still get in. Unfortunately it was the wrong season to see any fish jumoing but I imagine that at the right time of year it is a really amazing sight!
We had a really lovely afternoon catching up and even though we barely knew each other at first, by the time Suzy and Roy dropped us off they really felt like family.
We had a BBQ that night on the deck out side Becca and Colleen's place. It overlooks Lake Union and is a really special spot. Chris wrestled with the BBQ (and heat beads - right Becca?) for a while, until one of Becca's friends introduced a whole lot of lighter fluid to the mix. Then it burnt willingly. We got to meet several locals that night, a whole bunch of really neat people who were a lot of fun. We didn't stay up too late, except to pack, because we had to get up at about six to make it to the airport for our flight to Toronto. (Thanks for the lift Ed.)
Chris has just told me to stop ranting... so I will. He is very wise.
At the Airport in Kelowna we discovered a very interesting selection of local delicasies - Beaver Droppings, BigHorn Droppings, Polar Bear Droppings and Black Bear Droppings. Curious, we investigated further and discovered (with some relief) that they were infact a selection of choc-coated nuts and raisins. Mmmmm.... animal droppings.
The flight back to Victoria was fine and we were kept giggling most of the way by our Steward (yet another entertaining guide)who assured us all that we were all happy to have had them as our crew during the flight and that we should be careful to take all our belongings with us because anything left behind would be evenly distributed between the staff.
From Victoria on Vancouver Island, which is actually south of most of the US border, we caught the Victoria Clipper. It is a ferry that takes about two and a half hours to get from Victoria to Seattle in the US. The trip takes you down through various islands and as the sun set it was a beautiful sight.
Photos here
We arrived in Seattle ok, and even made it past the suspicious customs guy who was tempted to go through our bags simply because they were pad-locked. Yes, security consious travellers are always the most suspicious! I guess he couldn't be bothered though because he didn't. It was cold in Seattle that night as we headed out to find Becca.
Rebecca is a friend of Chris' who he met at Uni 9 years ago when she was in Australia for a year. He had arranged to call her on our arrival in Seattle, and she would come and get us from the Ferry terminal. He didn't get her address, figuring that she knew where she lived so we didn't need to. However, when we went to call, the phone was out of service. So what to do? We asked a local at the terminal if she could try calling on her land-line, perhaps the problem was something to do with the phonecard we were using. Nope - same result. So we checked the phone book to see if we could find either an address or an alternative phone number. No luck there either. We decided it wasn't a good idea to leave, perhaps show up unexpectedly at Chris' aunt's house, a) because that might give Chris' aunt a bit of a shock and b) because if Becca showed up she wouldn't know where we were. No worries, we would just wait and see if she came anyway. Then Chris remembered that he had told her our ferry would arrive an hour later than it actually did. After investigating various other options and finally getting to the point where Chris called the phone company ("how did you get this number?") Becca arrived. Becca my hero.
She took us to a pub for a late dinner and then to her place. As it turns out she lives not far from the ferry or the city and we probably could have walked it if we knew where we were going.
The following day (Thursday) Becca and her house-mate Colleen (the pocket-rocket) had to work so the two of us walked into the city to check out the sights. It was an easy walk and we passed a lot of interesting places and characters. Our first destination was the Pike Place Markets in the heart of the city. It is a vibrant collection of local artwork, produce and fish-throwing. Lots of taste testing was done (fruit, beef jerky, jellys, honey etc.) and we bought a huge(ish) bag of jerky and some yummy plums.
Chris had heard about something called a 'piroshky' in our guide book, so when he saw the sign across the street for them we decided to give it a go, even though neither of us had any idea what they were and they sounded kind of scary. They were good. Essentially a kind of Russian pie, a kind of pasty crust wrapped around a multitude of different fillings. We both enjoyed ours and took a photo to prove it.
From there we walked up to 4th street to catch the monorail to the Space Needle. It is not like the monorail in Sydney that goes in a loop around the city and stops in several different places. This one does a straight (and speedy) run from one end to the other. So those of us who were hoping to make our tousist dollar go a little further and ride a whole loop extra were a little dissapointed.We were not dissapointed by the Space Needle though. The elevator to the top itself was an adventure as it is on the outside of the tower and provides an excellent view of the city dropping away below as you rise up. At the top we saw cowboys. No kidding. At least half a dozen individual people were spotted walking around in cowboy boots and cowboy hats. Interesting. Especially the one who was wearing pink boots, pink hat, pink midrif-bearing top and white jeans...
One of the most amazing facts that we learnt about this tower is that despite its height (Top of the Space Needle: 605 feet, Observation Deck: 520 feet)its centre of gravity is only five feet (less than two metres) above the ground!! They did that by digging an enormous hole and filling it with concrete to base the needle in. Pretty cool.
From there we walked back to Becca's place to relax on the couch for a bit and watch some TV until the girls got home. Ordinarily we consider ourselves to be reasonable technology savvy but Becca's remote control was scary. It was a monster of a thing that had about a thousand buttons for seemingly every electical appliance in the house. After a little deliberation we decided to push the button called 'All On' hoping that it might just be that simple (and that the house wouldn't implode). It was that simple.
We went out that night for dinner at a great mexican restaurant, I figured that it was just dinner and we didn't really need to take the camera. This is a decision that I may regret for the rest of my life. The burrito that I ordered was one of the most amazing things that either of us has seen on this trip. It was enormous. It was gigantic. It was delicious. Even so, I could not eat more that a third of it and after Chris had a go there was still a third of it left. It was (completely without exageration now) the length of my forearm and about thirty centimetres in circumference. Although we have no photographic evidence of this monster we do have three eyewitnesses who will testify to the accuracy of this account if we pay them enough.
The following day, which was Friday, we got started a little late. We went into an area of Seattle near the University. We ate at another place that Chris had become enamoured with while in Chicago a couple of years ago and we just had to go there. It was mexican aswell (which after the last night's effort you might think would be too much) and the burritos were a much more respectable size. Both Chris and I had a couple of problems ordering though, due largely to the speed with which questions about our order were asked. "Doyawanmilehotbeanchillicorn?" After asking for each of three servers to repeat what they were saying I ended up just nodding. I am unsure exactly what I got in my lunch but it tasted good, Chris ended up with a little less in his burrito than he would have liked because he answered yes to the question "Izhatallyuwaninit?" The napkins in this restaurant were easier to understand. They had pictorial instructions on how to go about eating the burrito that you just 'ordered'.
From there Chris and I wandered down through the university district a little, checked out a couple of second-hand book stores on the way and bought ourselves a book on the south of england (to help us start to get organised) and one on France. We walked a few kilometres through the residential area between the university and an area called Fremont. We were looking for a troll.
Several years ago a group of people got together and with community help built the head and shoulders of a hugr troll under the Fremont Bridge. We found him and he really is worth a visit. From there we walked back to Becca's place and she took us on a driving tour of the city.
First stop was a drive-through Starbucks... we were tired. She took us out to West Seattle for a great (but freezing) view of the city centre, we went past Alki Beach and Madisson Park. Part way through the trip we noticed a very interesting, and slightly disturbing, phenomenon. There were several houses that we drove past that were under construction and in the front yard of each of them was a portable tiolet (know in Australia as a 'porta-loo' or 'porta-potty') for use by the men and women working on the site. This is not unusual. What was unusual, as far as we were conserned, is that the 'brand name' of the tiolets was 'Honey Bucket'... how weird is that? 'Honey Bucket'. And slightly gross...? Ahhh the wonderous things that travel can expose you to!
That evening we took it easy infront of the TV, we watched a couple of movies through the 'on demand' feature and drank a bit of beer.
Saturday was the day of the big reunion. The last time Chris saw his Aunt Suzy and Uncle Roy he was about three years old. So we were both excited. We had a lovely lunch at a place called Ray's with Cousin Mike and then went to the government locks to see the boats coming in to lake Union from the bay. We saw a salmon ladder. Salmon are an amazing fish, they come back years after they were spawned to the very same place to do their own reproducing. Since the locks were built to help the boats the ladder had to also be built so that the fish can still get in. Unfortunately it was the wrong season to see any fish jumoing but I imagine that at the right time of year it is a really amazing sight!
We had a really lovely afternoon catching up and even though we barely knew each other at first, by the time Suzy and Roy dropped us off they really felt like family.
We had a BBQ that night on the deck out side Becca and Colleen's place. It overlooks Lake Union and is a really special spot. Chris wrestled with the BBQ (and heat beads - right Becca?) for a while, until one of Becca's friends introduced a whole lot of lighter fluid to the mix. Then it burnt willingly. We got to meet several locals that night, a whole bunch of really neat people who were a lot of fun. We didn't stay up too late, except to pack, because we had to get up at about six to make it to the airport for our flight to Toronto. (Thanks for the lift Ed.)
# posted by Elke & Chris @ 4:35 pm 
