Great Adventure Part 3.

Location, On board Amtrak Coast Starlight.

Great Adventure Part 3.

What did we do for 10 days in Lynden, WA?

It rained for the first few days but even so it didn’t stop us from doing things. We did a road trip to Winthrop via the North Cascades Highway which is Hwy 20. Beautiful scenery with lots of snow at the higher elevations and along side the road over the passes.

With a few stops along the way to admire the scenery we arrived at Winthrop and had a picnic lunch in the park. It was blustery and cold but we survived.

After lunch we walked downtown Winthrop’s board sidewalks and browsed several stores. While the ladies shopped, Mark and I found seats at an ice cream store and people watched. Of course, we couldn’t sit at an ice cream shop and not have some.

We visited Dawn and Matt’s new property and admired Dawns garden. They have done a lot with the property already.

We had lunch at a nice downtown deli located inside an arts center which was originally the old city hall. The building has been completely redone. It now houses room for craft and music classes as well as concerts and weddings.

We ate lunch one day at a distillery. It produces liquor from apples. Matt says it is very good. We didn’t taste it.

We drove to Lummi Island for 2 days of R & R with Mark and Candi. Lummi Island is a 10 minute ferry ride from Bellingham. The house belongs to friends Scot and Kathy and was built by them over several years. It is beautifully decorated and has a large deck over looking the water. We ate out the first night and Candi made Greek gyros the next night.

 Ferry to Lummi Island.

Sitting on the deck in the sun.

 View from the deck.

We played cards and board games each night. It was a very relaxing two days.

After returning from Lummi Island we went to Matt and Dawns for dinner. Dawn fixed a very nice dinner from menus she found on the website Pinterest.

Clyda and I with our host Dawn in her yard.

The Great Adventure Part 2.

Location, Lummi Island, WA

Blog written on June 1, 2013. Posted June 3.

A comment before I continue with the blog.

Vancouver is a very cosmopolitan City. It is also very expensive. Most people live in condominiums in the city center. These condos dominate the city skyline. Vancouver never really had a slump in housing prices during the real estate downturn as there is a large demand for housing. While many people have moved South and East of the city and commute because of high real estate prices in the city center, condos are still being built. One instance of high prices is that of wine. Wine is taxed at 110% which more than doubles the price of a bottle.

On Friday morning we were picked up at the hotel in Vancouver by our tour operator. After gathering several more people we proceeded to the ferry terminal at Tsawwassn south of Vancouver. About 15 minutes later the bus drove aboard the ferry for our 90 minutes cruise to Vancouver Island. While on the ferry we had lunch in a very nice eating area. The ferry holds about 2250 people plus cars, buses, trucks, RV’s, and commercial vehicles.

 On the ferry towards Swartz Bay.

Disembarking at Swartz Bay on the bus we drove for 20 minutes to Butchart Gardens for a 2 hour tour. Two hours just doesn’t do these gardens justice. See the photos below for a sample.

 

 

After the tour we drove to downtown Victoria where everyone else on the bus was let off downtown and Clyda and I were driven to The Inn at Laurel Point for our overnight stay. It is a very nice inn but not quit up to the standards of the Georgian Court Hotel in Vancouver.

Dumping our bags, we walked the sea wall around the inner harbor. The harbor was filled with sail boats for the Swiftsure 2013 race. The boats along with multiple vendors made for a colorful display all around the inner harbor. 

 Swiftsure boats fill the harbor.

We checked in with the float plane base and then had dinner at The Otter Grill on the water front. The grill is named after the Otter aircraft used as float planes. It happened to be happy hour so tap beer was cheaper along with 2 for 1  hors d’ oeuvres.

 Float plane base with our hotel in the background.

We walked back to the hotel after dinner.

Early the next morning all the Swiftsure boats left the harbor for a day of racing. It took about 1 ½ hours for them all to leave.

After breakfast at the hotel we checked out and took a cab to the float plane base and checked in our luggage which would be shipped back to Vancouver sometime during the day. The weight limit is 25 lbs so if your luggage is over weight and the plane is full of passengers the bags wait until a later flight.
Our bags weighed over the 25 lb limit so we took them early so they could be flown back at the airlines discretion. Besides, we didn’t want to deal with them during the day.
We toured the Empress hotel but declined “High Tea” as it was $60 each. In hind sight we probably should have done it just for the experience. We also took a tour of the Parliament building. Later we wandered the streets around downtown Victoria.

Empress Hotel.

 

Parliament building.

About 3 PM we went back to the Empress Hotel and had drinks and a snack on the veranda over looking Victoria harbor. It is a very nice way to spend an afternoon. 

We walked back to the float plane base for our 5:40 PM flight to Vancouver but were told we could go earlier, so we did. We had a very nice flight with great views of the islands and ships going and coming from English Bay.

 

Flying over Stanley Park with Vancouver skyline in the background.

We arrived in Vancouver just as Mark and Candi got off the elevator by the terminal. We picked up our bags and drove through Vancouver back to the Aldergrove crossing at the US border.

With a stop for dinner, we are in Lynden for 10 days.

Our great adventure, part 1

Location, Lynden, WA

This is an account of our first 5 days of “The Great Adventure”.

Our goal was to travel by cruise ship from Los Angeles to Vancouver and return home by Amtrak while visiting family and friends along the way.

We traveled to San Pedro Harbor on the Airbus which drops people off at Los Angeles Airport and on ship days also at San Pedro Harbor.

Our embarkation aboard Coral Princess went as usual with very little delay and we were aboard ship by 2:30. After dropping our bags in our cabin we proceeded to Horizon Court for a quick bite before general muster stations.

After muster we went to the top deck to watch the ship leave the dock. In this we were slightly delayed as the ship had had problems with a thruster at its last port and steamed early to Los Angeles so divers could take a look at the problem. We were never informed of this but fellow passengers who remained aboard the ship told us of this.

Our departure from Los Angeles proceeded normally and we sailed up the coast and out through the Channel Islands with our track being about 50 miles offshore.

Bow of the ship as we leave Los Angeles

 Entrance to Los Angeles harbor.

 We did a lot of this.

 Stormy seas.

 Decks are closed.

For this short cruise we had elected to book an inside cabin. Both because of the lesser fee and also to see if we could do this for longer cruises.  We have decided that for most cruises we would rather have a balcony because of the extra space and also we use the balcony while in port. With no stops on this trip, a balcony was not necessary.

The weather became a factor for the second and third day of the cruise as the wind was out of the northwest which made being outside very uncomfortable. In fact, by the third day, all outside activity was halted and no one was allowed on deck. We had winds gusting to 70 knots with small white caps but not a very large sea running. Movement around the ship was erratic as the ship moved with the seas and wind.

Upon entering the Straits of Juan de Fuca the seas subsided and we proceeded overnight to Vancouver, arriving at 7 AM on the 22^nd.

We only had carry on bags so were some of the first people off the ship about 7:40. We turned in our declaration cards and never went through immigration. We got in a taxi line and were driven to our hotel. We were checked in and in our room by 8:15 AM.

We stayed at the Georgian Court Hotel across from BC place where the Winter Olympics were held. The Georgian Court is listed as one of the Small Hotels of the World and was perfect. We had a great room with plenty of amenities. We would love to stay here again.

 BC Place at night.

We had seen an ad for the Big Bus tours which is a hop on-hop off bus which travels around Vancouver. The hotel sold us tickets for 2 days and we immediately walked up the block to a pickup site and hopped on the first bus of the day.

 

We rode the bus to Stanley Park where we transferred to a local sight seeing bus for a tour of the park. Later we got back on the city tour bus and rode past our stop to Gas Town where we had lunch.

 Totem poles in Stanley Park.

 

Vancouver skyline.

 

English Bay.

 Clyda at Prospect point in Stanley Park.

 

After lunch we walked all the way to Canada Place where the cruise ships dock and to the convention center next door where we checked out the float plane base.

Steam powered clock in Gastown.

 

Float plane base in Vancouver.

 Coral Princess docked at Canada Place.

 

 Olympic winter games flame.

By now we were ready to call it a day so hopped back on the bus and got off as close to our hotel as we could and walked several blocks downhill to it.

We had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel and called it a day.

On Thursday we decided to again take the Big Bus and get off at Granville Island for a day of touring/shopping. Granville Island is sort of and island but is reachable by car and boat. We took a small harbor boat to the island.

Harbor boat to Granville Island.

 

Entrance to Granville Island.

There is a Public Market on the island which has everything. It was really fun to wander the isles checking out all the food and produce. Eventually we bought cheese and bread for our lunch. We also checked out the artistic area of the island. We later caught the bus and got off at our hotel stop.

That evening we wandered around the streets near the hotel checking out all the eating places. There certainly are plenty of places to eat.

Tomorrow we leave for Victoria, BC

Catching up.

Location, Home, CA

My gate guard job is done for another year. Everything went as planned with the exception of wind which lasted for several days. The wind and the very dry conditions this year meant that we had few night campfires. What we did have was built in an old wash machine tub. I still have a load of fire wood in the back of my truck which never got burned.

 All setup to work the gate.

After we broke camp on Friday morning I drove to Lake Cachuma and parked at the RV Park for 3 days. Clyda had a friend drive her up. I had plenty of leftover food so we invited two other couples for hamburgers on Sunday.

On Saturday we drove to Buellton and toured the Mendenhall Museum which is described at a museum of Petrolina or gas related items. Jack Mendenhall was a local car racing buff. The museum had things like old gas pumps and the glass tops from old pumps. Also porcelain signs from gas stations, road signs, and many more signs. Lots of drag racing and speed racing memorabilia. Room after room full including all the walls and ceilings. We spent over 2 hours viewing it all.

 A sample of signs in the museum. That's me leaning over the bar.

 Signs outside.

 Restored old gas pumps.

While I was at Rancheros, a crew cut down our very large Chinese Elm tree in the back yard and ground out the stump. This tree was planted when we first moved here in 1966 and had gotten so large it needed to go. The roots were going under our house slab. It sure is bare in our back yard! 

 Tree before they started cutting.

 Last large piece is down.

 

Only sawdust left of the stump.

On Monday after we got home I washed the RV 5 times. It was part of a cleaning process prior to waxing it. Tuesday we were busy so Wednesday morning I wiped down the RV as we had wind the day before so there was a light coating of dust on part of the rig. I then started waxing with a liquid wax which goes on easy with no buffing. Four coats later it really shines. Because the RV is so tall I needed to use the ladder to do most of the cleaning and waxing and boy was I tired by the end of the day.

Look at that shine!

This morning I washed both the car and the truck. The truck especially was filthy from all the dust at Rancheros.

On Sunday we leave for a combined round trip cruise and Amtrak trip to Canada and return. We are looking forward to it.