the vacation.....

was short. but... a couple of amusing memories.....

Matthew is 4

• Guess who discovered how to make farting noises by blowing against his forearm?
• We had chicken nuggets for lunch at "Mr. Donalds". (Mr. Donald was not at home, but one of his butlers(?) was more than happy to make us lunch and accept our money.)

not so amusing memories.....

• the sound a 4 year old's head makes when it bounces on concrete (running, water park, horrified parent who is unable to move faster than light and has a busted time machine).
• vomit.

and a teaser quiz.....

Q: What's worse than the smell of a mini-van a 4 year old has thrown up in twice?

A: Same car the next day after sitting closed up in the heat.

back. early....

can't really bring myself to talk about it yet. here's a hint.

• 4 year old
• vomit
• massive volume
• spray pattern
• van
• interior
  

gone campin'....

a little tribute to grant in the title there....

off camping for the next couple days. if you're lucky, maybe i'll have something to post when i get back. if you're really lucky, it may even be interesting.

wouldn't that be a nice change ;)

now, don't y'all work yourself up into a frenzy of expectation whilst i'm gone now.

vacation.... part 4our (the final installment)

the long drive home..... 3 months late.

short version: got in the car, drove. went through customs. drove. stopped overnight. drove more. got home, so i stopped driving.

full version:
day 10en: we spent the morning at pike place market, a fabulous market. if you've never been, and have the chance, i highly recommend it. at then end of it all, we bought a bag of hot, fresh roasted, salted cashew and hit the road toward home.

we picked up the i5 and drove down to the 250, from the 250 to the 252, and then onward until we met up with the 2. (if you have no clue what the hell i'm talking about, that's fine - because neither do i. damn highways proliferate like a pot of wet noodles flung across the floor. you'll have to grab a map and figure it out.) at last, after hours and hours and hours of driving (at least an hour) we came to beautiful downtown wenatchee, where we threw ourselves upon the mercy of the local super 8 motel.

thankfully they accept visa. problem solved. however it turned out we were somewhere in washington... damn. guess i didn't drive far enough. oh well. there's always tomorrow.

what's there to do in wenatchee? well.... here's what they have to say about the beautiful city of wenatchee: "wenatchee is world famous for our apples but it has so much else to offer.... one of the most digitally connected places in the country..."

after a night of sleep, it was another day.

day 11even: holy shit - the highway never ends. just keeps rolling. kilometre upon kilom... sorry, miles upon miles of blacktop. i keep forgetting the kilometres of blacktop are still across the border. Kept on driving that number 2 highway....

eventually we came to the border. rolled up, passports at the ready - it's always been easier to cross with passports, even before they became mandatory. roll up to the custom's officer and...

where you headed? home.
how long you been down in the states? about 4 days.
anything to declare? 32 tins of altoid ginger mints.
pardon? 32 tins of altoid ginger mints.

keep in mind, this whole time, i've had my hand sticking out the window of the car, waving our passports at this guy. he studiously ignored them. it didn't seem to matter how hard i waved them - he couldn't have cared less.

have a nice drive home. please drive on.

still waving the passports... he won't take them. fer fuck sakes buddy - after the cost and hassle of getting these damn things - look at them. thankfully, my inside voice stayed inside where it belonged, and i slowly accelerated forward. still waving the passports of course.

welcome to osoyoos, home of canada's only desert. that's right... just across the river, by one of canada's warmest lakes year round, is canada's only desert. things of interest: model t truck, fully restored coming back from a car show down in wenatchee (almost ironic) and a sculpture apparently demonstrating the dangers of drowning in our desert region.

as nice as the weather looks, the owners were
bundled up in full winter gear, as the truck has the
original heating system - none.

Back in the car and onto the number 3 highway eastbound. we stopped in beautiful downtown castlegar, where we had an incredible view from our room's window.
and yes, it was fun. staff stopped to watch, as laying fully flat on my back i picked up enough speed and momentum to shoot 25 feet out into the pool and make a hell of a splash. i did it until my not too healed, previously dislocated shoulder started to complain. (then i did it a couple more times to teach it who was boss.)

morning dawned to find us seeking yet another complimentary continental breakfast. although this one was a nice surprise - as they had waffle machines, hard boiled eggs, and a couple other additions to the spread that were a welcome change.

we took off as early as possible to get home at a decent hour, and headed up the 93/95 through radium and invemere to meet up with the trans-canada highway (no 1). one of the fun things about this area was the continental divide - the point where water stop flowing to the west, and starts flowing to the east.


and an area that had previously been devastated by forest fire, and was beginning to grow back. stopping to read the information was quite sobering - as i had mistaken how recent the fire was. by a lot.



and finally to home. where much to my dismay, i finally discovered the cause of the shredded engine belt that we had discovered shortly out of seattle. someone at the factory that had refurbished my nice shiny alternator i put in mere days before leaving, had put the wrong pulley on. thankfully the guy at the parts area just shook his head and handed me a new belt and alternator. warranty - you are a good thing.

note how the belt doesn't actually fit when
seated properly on the side. the car had been serviced
by mechanics who replaced the water pump after i changed
out the alternator.... since the belt has to come off
you think they might have noticed.

of course, at this point - arriving home - i decided i needed a vacation to recover from my vacation.

vacation..... part 3hree

oh yes, i've been remiss in posting, and replying to comments. blame it on work. because it's truth. anyway....

part 3hree: the u.s. border and seattle. photos wherever they fell. no movies this round. and for the hell of it, i'll try and keep this one short(er) even though i know i'll fail miserably. (just look at how many words i used to say i wouldn't use so many words! i mean come on.... i haven't gotten anywhere yet, and you're already running out of coffee break.)

day 8ight: saw us sitting at the border. in line. for a while. the security has gone up since the last time i drove across the border. i was almost surprised when no one pulled out a glove and an invitation to a private room. they did however ask what i was carrying across. what kind of answer are they expecting? does that really work? drugs? weed? crack? illegal mexicans? i mean nothing - just some groceries sir.

i kept my mouth shut and managed to resist any response similar to the one above. the truth is, how do you quickly cover what you're carrying across the border for a long road-trip vacation? luggage, clothes, food, couple cameras, mp3 player...... ummm.... handed over the passports. waited while they checked them. suffered the mandatory photo of vehicle plates and passengers. and was glad when i was able to get the hell out. like most people - for whatever reason - i get slightly nervous around police. even when i've done nothing. to be around border guards with guns downright gives me the willies. hauled ass out of peace arch and headed down the i-5 to seattle.

didn't stop until i got to seattle. the mega i-5 antiques mall didn't catch my interest (ok... i missed the turnoff) and the costco didn't thrill me either. it had already been long, and there were two spots i wanted to hit before they closed.

• half price books
• hardwick's hardware store

ok.... so what you may ask. to be honest, i don't think we have anything quite like half price books in my area. a clearinghouse for new books that have gone through their initial release and now have massive quantities languishing on a clearance table. and used books. it's mostly the volume i think. they had books by authors i've been searching for and been unable to find used. bruce sterling, neal stephenson, orson scott card, william gibson and others. anywhere i can find a hardcover book for a dollar - or an out of print 30 year old woodworking book for a $1.50 is cool by me. we left with a box full of $120 worth of books and headed to hardwick's. headed down to seatac for a cheap(er) hotel, and had dinner at the rainforest cafe. the foods ok, the prices are always higher than i remember, and the decor is sort of cornball.... but it's become tradition on our trips now (sanfran, vegas, seattle.)

day 9ine: now, there is that corny old saying "i left my heart in san francisco" - which i'll admit i did when i finally had a chance to get there. mmmmmm..... ghirardelli's. well.... i can say i lost 2 years of my life in seattle.

we headed down to seattle centre on the i-5. where i come from, the exits on our major freeway system (all one road through the city) are on the right. same with the entrance. so there's lots of congestion as people are trying to get on and off in the same 2km (1 mile) stretch. so i kept to the middle lane knowing the exit i needed could be on either side. ok... on the left. worked around a large delivery truck in my way, cut over into the lane i needed, and realized.....
i had less than 3 car lengths to come to a complete stop from 60 mph (90 km/h for the rest of the world). you know.... i was suddenly glad i had spent all that money to have the brakes completely redone. because i managed to keep control, and come to a stop with at least half an inch to spare. although i freaked out the guy in the lane beside me because i drifted a little bit. after the guy in front of me cleaned up his shorts, he pulled back into traffic and left.

we managed to make it to seattle centre in one piece - no thanks to me. home of the space needle, the science centre, emp (experience music project) and the science fiction museum and hall of fame. any guesses what we went to visit? (didn't go up the space needle, have something similar at home. didn't go to the science center - they had the dead sea scrolls which would have been interesting, but the body works 3 exhibit had moved.... to vancouver! so i missed it in both places due to an out of date website. in my defense, their signage still showed it as being there.)

emp and sci-fi land. $27ish a person for the 2. the only thing that really made me mad was you couldn't take photos. after having gone through both, i can understand - there is a huge amount of original, one of a kind items - a flood of tourists snapping photos would cause serious damage. and oddly enough.... they sell a book of the emp. (to clarify - these are housed in the same physical building.) oh yes... the building.

it is a fairly controversial building, designed by Frank O. Gehry. The outside is interesting - the inside possibly ugly. let's say steel ribs with mesh/concrete layered over top. the outside of the building is a metal skin that is attached but sits above the framework. here's what i'm talking about....

exterior shots of the emp

interior shots of the emp

interesting stuff. history of the guitar from the first "standard" style spanish guitar about 800 years ago through the development of the electric and electric base. history of hip hop - and i'll admit while i still may not like it a lot, i appreciate where it came from and why. history of music in seattle. jimi hendrix (well, not really jimi - they left him where he belongs). all of the permanant exhibits. we skipped the special exhibit 'doubleTake: from monet to ;ichtenstein' and the 'disney: the music behind the magic' which wasn't set up at the time.

lunch was at revolutions bar and grill. it was excellent. i had the fish tacos - had never seen them on a menu and to be frank i had a horrible image of my childhood. in my childhood, a typical lunch was a box of el molino taco shells, some salsa, some shredded cheese, some lettuce, and a can of tuna. let's just say these were better then my childhood lunch. if i remember, they were "beach style". i think it was the guacamole that really made them. here's a gratuitous food photo:
post lunch we hit the science fiction museum and hall of fame. let me tell you, unless you really like sci-fi, you'll be bored to tears. they have a huge amount of books on display, movies that were inspired by them - the impact of history on sci-fi and vice versa. the original manuscript by neal stephenson for the baroque trilogy (about 2-1/2 feet high). original costumes & weapons - everything from star trek, to firefly, aliens (the queen, and the power loader used in the last scene), battlestar galectica (the original), history time lines, a massive section on war of the worlds, star wars...... geek heaven. hours of geek heaven. here's the link to their list of galleries. what i did learn is my philip k. dick library is sorely lacking. and that the rest is in decent shape.

what can i say... if you're into sci-fi you have a pretty good idea of what you'll find. if you hate sci-fi you don't want to hear about it. so i'll leave you with a couple photos.....

(yup, you guessed it....)

we left right at closing, managing to snag a copy of firefly (the complete series) on dvd.... only to find out yesterday walmart carries it for about $20 cheaper than what i paid. still.... it's a great series. think of it as a space western - lots of outer planet/frontier style to it. a fabulous series by joss whedon that got canceled for no good reason after winning many awards. if you've seen the movie serenity - it's the completion of the series. it's fantastic.

day 10en: was the day we were leaving. but we couldn't leave seattle without hitting pike place market. i've been forced to watch the corporate training videos that are based on the pike place fish market (where they throw the fish around and involve their customers. it's all about selling the business to the employees - and getting them involved. they always seem to show it to the employees instead of the management though..... anyway).

pike's place (back of the building)

pikes place (front street)

"the" pike's place fish market

monkfish on display. (this is a great gag.... they
wait until someone steps near to get a close look, and
then pull on a string to make it jump and twitch)

this is an incredible market. a must. a convoluted maze of 4 or more stories in an old water front building. across the street is the first starbuck's. if you like 'bucks, i recommend the pike place blend - you can't buy it anywhere else. i only bought a pound - and i gave it to my brother as a housewarming gift. damn.... it was really nice. anyway... pike place.

"the" first starbucks... i thought some
of the people were on pilgrimage and kept waiting
for them to drop to their knees. "we're not worthy"
would have been pretty accurate.

it is a nice store - they've never renovated it so it has the feel
of an old store, lot of wood counters - very little chrome and shiny.

fresh flowers as far as the eye can see. fresh seafood. magic shop. antiques. books. crafts. soap. musical instruments, tea, spices, fresh roast nuts..... you name it, it's there.... 3 floors of permanent stores, and the upper floor of market stalls. crazy place. lots of fun. good restaurant. we ate lunch at lowell's - a 3 floor restaurant and bar overlooking the port of seattle - since 1957.



and after lunch, we were back into the car, and on the road... headed home.

so sayeth i.

and now i'll quit, because this has become much too long to read, and taken about 3 hours more than i meant.

the road home is short. well... not literally, but it was pretty uneventful driving on major highways. but that is for another day.

the vacation...... part 2wo

long. probably close to the length of day 1ne.
(let me know if these need to be shorter and i'll go day by day instead).

part 2wo: vancouver to the border. photos all over the place. two short videos hosted at youtube.com (i linked rather than bog your browser with loading video on top of the too many photos.)

day 6ix: so, umm... where was i? oh yes, picked up the car and rolled into vancouver around noon.

and to be honest, it was new westminster, south-east of the whole "greater vancouver" area. we managed to find our way through the street systems and arrive unscathed at our friends place, where we visited for a couple of hours and made plans for the next day.

interested in our friend? he's better known as "litotes" in his blog. feel free to stop on by and watch how his mental state unravels. truly frightening at times.

at his suggestion, we sought lodging at a location recommended by someone he knows. the dutch dog. a quaint european styled bed and breakfast located in a historic house. selling point?
A formal dining room features a full, gourmet breakfast daily, served by your Host, Rose Nadon, herself a graduate of the famous Dubrulle Culinary Art and Hotel Institute.

let me tell you, sleeping in a king size ‘heavenly bed’ series pillow top, and eating a gourmet breakfast cooked by a classically trained french chef was one of the highlights of the trip. and the price was extremely reasonable. if this sounds like i'm endorsing this place, you're right. i am. highly. she was fabulous. the place was fabulous. the food was fabulous.

anyway... after setting up 'home' in the dutch dog we headed out to see the capilano suspension bridge. this is in essence, a bridge that goes nowhere. "vancouver's oldest tourist attraction, originally built in 1889, stretches 450 feet (137m) across and 230 feet (70m) above capilano River." why? it seemed pretty cool. they have a haida, first nations cultural living exhibit, some great history displays, the bridge, largest private collection of totem poles, and the treetop adventure walk "seven suspension bridges through the evergreens taking you up to 100 feet (30m) above the forest floor." plus in all the times we've been to van, we'd never been there.




the bridge is long, and high, and moves. there were a fair number of people who came with others, and refused to cross. it was quite the view of the canyon from the bridge.



if you're interested in how bad the motion is, i shot some short video - the quality isn't great, but you get a good idea. (click here to view) and remember, i am not moving. your medication just wore off.

the treetop adventure walk was pretty good as well, though not as long or as high as i had hoped. still a lot of fun. there are a couple places in north america that have 'canopy' walks, which is what i was hoping for, but not really expecting.




day 7even: the next day we met with our friend and his 4 1/2 year old and headed out to stanley park for the day. we spent most of our time at the aquarium and managed to catch the show for the beluga whales, and the dolphins. there's some beautiful salt water fish in the exhibits here. however the one i really wanted to see, the jellyfish exhibit was closed for a major remodel.

want to see the dolphin do a trick?
click here

how could i forget the lovable sea otter?

a trip around stanley park also brought us to the display of totem poles. not to mention the reams of tourists posing. busloads of them. i think i got more photos of people posing than i managed to get of the totem poles.

on the way home, we stopped and spent some time at the beach and the sea wall near stanley park. let me know if you see anything strange with the one building in the area (yes, it's real).





the trip home also took us by the famous "la casa gelato". home of over 508 flavours of gelato, including garlic, pear/blue-cheese/gorgonzola, fig, pumpkin/walnut, apple pie, and more than you could think possible. samples to help you decide are free and plentiful. the pear/blue-cheese/gorgonzola was good, but a little more than i was looking for that afternoon so i went with the fig in the end. great gelato.

the day wound down with dinner and long hours of visiting. we headed back to the b&b for the night.

day 8ight: we got up, packed, loaded the car and then ate a fabulous breakfast. it may have topped the breakfast of the first day.

we hit the highway taking the 99 down to the border at peace arch. the border crossing was fairly smooth. although i am a little disappointed. after seeing this sign, i expected everything to be accessible just beyond the border. who knew the country was that big? we managed to find the pointy thing on the right side, but the rest... no where near this sign. bastards. i curse your false advertising.


the border agent's primary questions were the standard. where you from. where are you headed. purpose of your visit. what are you bringing across. apparently sneaking this last question in catches large numbers of people. drugs. doh! i mean... come on, does that really work?

i was well behaved and bit my tongue to refrain from making stupid comments that would land me in trouble. although i had to laugh as we left the place....

while the interrogation was quick, we lost too much time waiting in the line up for any kind of hump that day. of course, this may have been advertised falsely as well.

and so ends the saga of terrible long prose, many many photos (i thinned, really) and bad video footage. i'll cover the gourmet breakfasts in another post if anyone is interested.