Day 19 Continued

As you might remember, we spent the morning tooling around Seattle, taking in some of the sights.   Then it was back in the car for the drive to Ash & Bridget’s in Spokane.  A short 4 hour trip and we were done driving for the day (a pleasant break!)   Ash and the Visla with boundless energy Hogan, greeted us at the driveway.  (you really should read about their adventures at www.homesweethomme.com )  We enjoyed some wine on the patio catching up a bit.  When Bridget got home, we all headed off to dinner at Bennidito’s Pizza.  The food was great and the beers were good.   The girls made friends with the drunk frat boy who was there “representing” some beer company and holding a raffle for Tshirts and pint glasses.  We tried to sneak out while he was “busy”, but he chased the girls down and made sure that they received a “special” gift of pint glasses, just from him.   With that drunk boy in the rear view, we headed to Bridget’s office downtown to check out the new space, and then over to The Elk Public House for some Red Stripes, before heading back.    Now, De Ann and I were excited for sleep, as the Bennidito’s Pizza is rumored to give some crazy, hallucinogenic dreams…. But alas, we slept soundly and without craziness…

Day 20

A quick breakfast at Frank’s Diner with Ash (great homemade gravy and salsa were both awesome additions to our traditional breakfast of eggs and bacon! J), and we were on our way to Yellowstone National Park.   To get there, we leave Washington, drive through Idaho and into Montana.  I should mention that we’ve been geeks about crossing the state lines.  We’ve been taking a picture of each one of the “Welcome to…” signs.   So, we are driving out of Washington, I’m on the phone and driving and all of a sudden, the Now Entering Idaho sign shows up.  We have no camera ready, we weren’t really paying attention until it was too late.  So, we did what anyone would do with 8 hours of driving ahead of them… we got off at the next exit, drove back into Washington, turned around and headed back to Idaho!   With the picture taken and our collection intact, we headed off into the hills of Idaho.

About an hour outside of Yellowstone, where we have reserved a campsite, it starts to rain… a lot.  The closer we got to the Park, the more it rained.   Being our last stop and being exhausted from this journey, the last thing that we wanted to do was set up a tent, in the rain, and deal with all of the associated headaches.  So, we found a nice lodge with rooms available, changed our clothes and decided to see what West Yellowstone, MT has to offer the world.    For the record, we found out that the answer is…. Nothing.   Small town, lots of flea bag motels and quite the interesting collection of locals at the bar at the hotel.   We grabbed a beer, watched a little basketball, got a bite to eat and crashed early.

Day 21

With the anticipation of being home and the prospects for rain for the next 48 hours, we made the decision to see a little bit of the Park this trip, but to high-tail it out of there and do the marathon 9 hour drive home today.    We joked about “poor Yellowstone”, the unfortunate last stop on this trip, equating it to the 5^th day, 23^rd church that you see in Europe and say “this is nice… let’s go.  And if I have to look at one more beautiful church, I think I’m going to hurl.”    So, we drove through Yellowstone, stopped at Old Faithful and took some pictures.  Did a lap around the parking lot to see if we could add to our state license plate collection (coming along nicely, thank you!) and then took off for Denver.  9 short hours later, at 8:30p on Friday, June 5^th, 21 days and 5372 miles after we started, we pulled into our parking garage and let out a big sigh of relief.

It was an awesome trip!   We got to see a ton of friends, family and colleagues.   We had a ton of new experiences and a great blend of travel and enjoyment of a great number of cities in the West.  Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Victoria, BC, Washington, Idaho, (Washington, Idaho again), Montana, Wyoming and back to Colorado.  Whew!   I know that De Ann has another post on the rest of “her” experiences, but I hope that you have enjoyed the journey with us! J    We will be continuing our posts on the adventures in Denver in the coming weeks and months, so make sure that you stop on by when you can!

Until then…

The next morning, we made the obligatory trip to Starbucks for breakfast then headed to Seattle Center for a stroll among the museums. We rode the bullet-speed elevator to the Space Needle’s observation deck and took something like 360 pictures. It was another gorgeous, cloudless day (yes, we were still in Seattle!) so the views were amazing. Although it was a very quick first visit (for me) to Seattle, it was a great introduction to the Emerald City (formerly nicknamed the Queen City, hence the grill).

Off to Spokane for a visit with Ash, Bridget & Hogan! Happy belated birthday, Hogan!

…WE MADE IT!! With upwards of moments to spare! I nearly wept and hugged the ferry booth attendant when I heard the glorious words, “Pull through to lane 7.” Crisis averted. Heart rate immediately restored to normal level. Okay, still sweaty and a touch jittery, but still.

Safely arriving to our hotel-slash-brew pub, we immediately dumped our luggage and headed to the brew pub section for a pint of nectar. About three minutes later we were off to dinner at a great tapas place, cleverly named “The Tapa Bar.”Great food, but I think someone forgot to tell them the part about small plates, as the portions were much, much bigger than expected. But, we had the best olives ever, very tender and tasty, and hands down the best garlic shrimp. We started looking around the table for things to drag through the garlic sauce. Then back to the brew pub section of our hotel for a nightcap before returning to the hotel section.

Our full day in Victoria was the best vacation day in recorded history. I’m serious, look it up. Great breakfast in the pub section followed by a walk along Victoria’s inner harbor. This is the really peaceful and beautiful part, not a shred of the previous day’s anxiety in sight. We rented bicycles and toured the residential section of the coastline. The nice rental guy overestimated my athleticism judging by some of the hills on his suggested route, but we powered over them. (Eventually, in 2 cases.) It was a gorgeous & exhilarating ride. The seaside homes could have been in any American beach city. After the bike tour, we headed back to the harbor for a light lunch & a refreshing pint of ale at the outdoor Milestones café.

That afternoon, we boarded a tiny float plane for a stunning aerial tour of Victoria. The pilot was about 15 and had moved back to Victoria just 3 weeks earlier (probably from boarding school). Normally I would have questioned such a thing – a pilot/tour guide who had been in the city literally days longer than I – but I was so excited about getting into the co-pilot seat of a sea plane I forgot to prod. On a previous visit I saw Butchart Gardens (stunningly beautiful), which looked absolutely dinky from the air. How in the world did it take me four hours to get through some rich lady’s garden? Anyway, the float plane tour was just amazing, worth every penny and I would do it again in a second. Maybe with an adult pilot next time.

We skipped (really, we were pretty giddy) back to the hotel section for a quick rest before dinner, which was a horrible meal with service to match. We’ll let part of The Best Day Ever slide. We promised that on our next visit to BC we’re splurging for the whale watching, too. Up early the next morning for a quick breakfast before heading back to the ferry terminal for interrogation by customs agents (so distrusful!) and some sniffing by a customs dog. Returned to the US without incident, and off to Seattle. Right back through those quaint little canal side towns, which I still had a hard time enjoying.

Day 16 – Epilogue…

We made the ferry.  It was nuts, traffic was ridiculous.  There was screaming, there was more than a little bit of swearing, but in the end, De Ann came through like a champ, balancing the speed with the avoidance of Johnny Law that was crawling all over those god-forsaken little towns…but we made it with a few minutes to spare.  We cleaned our shorts, boarded the ferry and asked “Where’s the bar?”   No bar on the car ferry, though if we wanted to buy some duty free booze, we could do that.   We thought about it, but opted for caffeine until the truck was safely parked at the hotel.    A one hour ferry ride later, we got off of the ferry and got interrogated by the customs agents… do we LOOK threatening?  No, we look thirsty.  Outta my way!

We booked a room at the Swans Hotel.   A great place with a brewpub on the first level that has live music 7 nights a week.  We spent some time in that little brewpub before and after dinner, and again the following night.   I would highly recommend that hotel, as it is in a great location, offers affordable accommodations, full kitchens in every room and the aforementioned brewpub.   We received a great recommendation for a tapas restaurant from our server at the pub, so off we went.    The Tapa Bar lived up to the local’s recommendation.   Small plates were anything but small, but everything was absolutely amazing – I’ll let De Ann tell you about the menu and what we had, she’s got the eye, nose and memory for that kind of thing.   But we left full and very happy.  Before we drifted off to sleep, we mapped out what would prove to be one of the best single days of our journey.

Day 17 – A day of fun and firsts…

Breakfast at the Pub and we were off to the wharf.   We decided that we were going to splurge and take a Sea Plane tour of Victoria.   Though a bit pricey, it was something that we have both wanted to do and never had.   We went to the Hyack Air office and booked ourselves on a 3:15 tour of Victoria.  30 minutes of air time proved to be enough for us to see much of the island and have a blast… but I’m jumping ahead.    With our 3:15 reservation, we had about 3 hours to do some other exploring and wandered over to the bike rental office.   Armed with some new street bikes (yes, bicycles, not scooters, though we thought about it), a map and some suggestions from our rental office chap, we headed south to the coast and took a scenic ride on the southern coast, over to Oak Bay Village and back again.   The ride was challenging, due to the hills, but we survived our 90 minute ordeal and were pleased with our biking proficiency.    I guess those Denver Cruiser rides have really paid off!

With some time and a little hunger, we went to a restaurant right on the water.  Milestones Cafe had patio seating available and the weather was perfect!    We enjoyed some time basking in the sun and having a little lunch, before checking out some of the street vendors on the walk to the plane.   We arrived and were escorted to a 7 seater seaplane, built in 1964 or there abouts.   We were the only passengers on the tour that day.  Our pilot, born approximately 30 years later than the plane was built, assisted us onto the plane.  With De Ann seated in the co-pilot’s seat and Doogie Howser at the stick, we fired up the single prop and drifted into the bay.    My general fear of heights, mixed with my propensity for motion sickness did not bode well as we travel to the edge of the bay for take off.  But, I’m happy to say that all of that fear evaporated and was replaced by sheer exhilaration as the plane picked up speed and lifted out of the water.   I joked with De Ann that I took a picture about every 30 seconds of the trip, but it’s not too far off.  With the camera in one hand and the phone camera in the other, I snapped and snapped… we saw many of the places from the air that we had seen from the ground.  The expansive Butchart Gardens appeared below, looking tiny from above…  and before we knew it, we were heading back to the bay.   The landing was smooth, just as Doogie has practiced so much on his Xbox I’m sure.   Both De Ann and I were smiling from ear to ear, as our day of fun continued.

With a stop back at the hotel for a chance to relax a bit, we headed out again for the last event of the day.  The Ghostly Walking Tour of Victoria took us on a 90 minute tour of most of the major buildings in Victoria, complete with “scary” ghost stories and interesting facts.   Content that we had seen much of what Victoria had to offer, we stopped for a late dinner (crappy restaurant, not worth discussing), before heading to the pub for a nightcap and the end to a magical day in Victoria.

Day 18

With a quick breakfast and a pack of the truck, we were off to the harbor to catch our ferry back to the USA.  Same interrogations from the customs agents and we were through the process and traveling to Seattle.  Now, remember from Day 16, the “easy” way to Seattle is over the bridge that is currently closed for repairs/expansion.  So, I got the joy of driving the same route that De Ann took us through.  Quaint towns and idiotic drivers seem to be all that you will find on Hwy 101 from Port Angeles to Olympia.    “Hey buddy, nice mini van and I appreciate your desire to be cautious.  However, did you happen to notice the 25 cars stacked up behind you because you won’t pull over??”    We finally made it through the canyons and through Olympia for our 3^rd time in 3 days.  On to Seattle…

We checked into the Fairmont Olympic Hotel (another shout out to the good folks at Travelzoo, a last minute deal resulted in a great room in a gorgeous hotel for next to nothing.)   And kudos to Seattle and the Fairmont, as I was informed that the $36 overnight parking fee was waived because we arrived in a Hybrid.   Their little thanks for keeping the environment a bit cleaner.   Nice work.

With some time to kill before our dinner reservations, we headed on a walking tour of downtown.  We stumbled upon Pike’s Market and were amazed at the fresh fish and produce deals at this farmer’s market.   We walked past the very first Starbucks, and meandered through stores.  Back to the hotel to get spruced up for dinner.   An old friend of De Ann’s, reacquainted through the Boo (Facebook for those not “in the know”), is the executive chef for the Queen City Grill.   Upon hearing that we were coming to town, he extended an invitation to be his guests at the restaurant.   A nice place with good ambiance, the Grill experience was an amazing one.   With a few questions for us, Chef Larry took our menus away and let us know that he would just bring us a great meal.  8 courses in all, which De Ann will go through with you in good detail, I’m sure.   We left there, having had a wonderful meal and great conversation.  As things were a bit quieter on this Tuesday night, we had the pleasure of having the Chef bring us each course, discuss it with us, and visit for awhile… just like we like it!   Thanks for a great time Larry.  Everyone should be so lucky, as we’ll look forward to the release of the cookbook later this summer!

An early night, as we prepared for our departure from Seattle in the morning.

Day 19

It’s Wednesday.  We will be back in Denver in just 3 days from today.  The trip has been amazing and there is still more to look forward to.  The remainder of the trip consists of a visit with Ash and Bridget in Spokane, WA.    (Shout out to Ash and doin’ it “bloggystyle”, our web host and guide to this wonderful world of blogging.   You can check out Ash’s adventures as a work from home husband with no kids at www.homesweethomme.com )   Tomorrow, we head to Yellowstone for some camping fun and checking out the sights and sounds of this historic national park, before doing the marathon drive back to Denver all day Saturday.

But before all of that, we had a couple of hours to spend in Seattle before heading out.   So we got some Starbucks (had to, it IS Seattle, after all) and headed out to the Seattle Space Needle.    The Needle, for those that don’t know, has an observation platform just 520’ above the ground and was built in the 60’s for the World’s Fair.   We took the tour to the top and the views were amazing.   The weather has been great, with temps in Seattle of 86 with not a cloud in the sky.  We have been very fortunate, and today it made for a great viewing of the city.   With the pictures taken and the views taken in, we wandered around the grounds a bit before hopping in the car.   We are about 100 miles outside of Spokane now and looking forward to our time with A&B.   We’ve got some driving to do tomorrow, so De Ann will likely be sharing with you pictures from the last few days, as well as a detailed look at the food we’ve been lavished with.   I hope you all are having a great day, and we’ll check in with you later!

Until then…

There, you are all caught up.   Saturday, Day 15, May 30^th.  Portland has been having great weather and we took advantage of it by spending much of the day outside.  As De Ann told you, we went to the Saturday Market and toured around downtown a bit.   I showed De Ann where Ash & Bridget had their reception and a couple of other landmarks from the event.     We headed out to Multnomah Falls, taking the long way up and around the Historic Oregon Trail road (Exit 17 off of Hwy 84, if you want to find it.)  Beautiful drive that takes you all the way up to a place called the VISTA HOUSE, Crown Pointe.    This two story stone bungalow is perfectly situated on a high point far above the Columbia River below.  You could see for miles and miles, a perfect day in Portland!   On to the falls for some hiking, pictures and an ice cream cone.

We headed back to Kathy and Mat’s house for some relaxation time on the patio and then on to dinner.  It was a good visit with Ashley and we enjoyed the time with her and the rest of the Jennings clan.  Can’t wait for Ashley’s next visit to Denver at the end of June!

This morning, after a quick breakfast at Shari’s diner (a chain, much like Coco’s) we headed out for our trek to Port Angeles to catch the ferry to Victoria B.C.   So, as I type this, we are stressing that we will not be making the ferry.  We have a reservation on the 5:15p shuttle and they advise getting there 60 minutes early to claim the reservation.   We followed the GPS up I-5 to WA-16 and then we were to take the WA-104 bridge over to get to Port Angeles.   Well, as we were heading up WA-16, there was a sign indicating that the bridge was closed on WA-104.   So, after doing some quick research of the maps, we figured out that our only choice was to backtrack all the way back to Olympia and take Hwy 101 up to Port Angeles.  Soooo, De Ann is stressing and driving, and we are slowly making our way north, hoping and praying that we make this damn ferry.  There are no other ferries…this is the last one.   So if we don’t make this, we are going to be spending the night in Port Angeles.   De Ann (aka Mario Andretti) is doing her damndest on these mountain roads…speed limits fluctuating between 50 and 35, traffic, quaint towns and slow drivers.  OUT OF OUR WAY, PEOPLE!!   We’ll see what happens!    Wish us luck!  Check in with you guys tomorrow.

Until then…

After a good night’s rest it was off to Portland. The longest day in the car (11+ hours) with a quick break in Corvallis to see my niece, Danielle, who studies pre-vet at OSU. Probably the shortest visit in history, but worth it to get a quick hug and catch up on her busy college life. Back in car for the short drive to Portland, and getting to see Ashley and the city she calls home was well worth the day’s looong drive. Impromptu dinner & happy hour on the deck followed by some stellar (and not so stellar) Rock Band performances. Crashed early, as having done absolutely nothing all day is exhausting.

Saturday was beautiful and we spent late morning/early afternoon at the famed Saturday Market browsing wares. After a snack we headed to beautiful Multnomah Falls for a quick hike and stunning views of the falls. I love waterfalls (who doesn’t?) and Multnomah did not disappoint. Also saw gorgeous views of Columbia River. Easy to understand how settlers saw this place and stopped!

Another relatively quiet evening with Ashley, Mat, Kathy & Mason, and now en route to beautiful British Columbia. Looking forward to seeing Victoria again and figuring out what we want to do there!

Downtown Portland's Saturday Market

Multnomah Falls, Oregon's highest waterfall

Full bellies and satisfied that we had seen some of the sights in Monterey, we hopped on the road for the drive to Sacramento.   Traffic sucked and it took longer than we thought, but we made it safely to the Coopers’ house and got the tour before heading off to dinner.  Joe & Carrie have a beautiful home and they were very gracious hosts.   We told them that we were only in Sacramento for one night, so pick a good restaurant.  They came through in a big way, with a sushi restaurant called Mikuni.   We had a great time and had some good food (I would suggest the “Pimp my Roll”, “Kaiser Roll” and the “Pepperfin”….mmmmm, good).   We headed back to the house for a nightcap on the patio (thankfully they don’t have a Jacuzzi so there was no reason for Joe to get naked…this time.)

Off to bed and up early for our day of driving.   Follow along if you’d like – we are going from Sacramento, straight up I-5 for about 500 miles to Corvallis, OR for a quick stop, and then on for another couple of hours to Portland, OR.  Thankfully we got an early start – De Ann has first driving shift and I’ll be taking over once we hit the mountains.    Have a great Friday everyone and we’ll catch you up in a few days.   We are spending some fun time with Ashley, so blogging will just have to wait until our drive to Victoria, B.C. on Sunday.

Until then…

Last night we ate a highly recommended bistro, and if you read Ron’s summary of the experience you’ll wonder, too, if the folks recommending that place have actually been there. We had a great bottle of Monterey Syrah, though! Today we enjoyed the scenic 17-mile drive in Pacific Grove, and although I’ve been there once before I don’t remember it being that pretty. (I bet the drive doesn’t remember me being an 18-year twit with no appreciation for nature, either!) The iconic Lone Cypress has been there for roughly 250 years, and the contrast of huge pine and cypress trees against a stunning shoreline is just beautiful.

Later we headed back to Cannery Row for some touristy stuff and a tasty lunch overlooking Monterey Bay. Seagulls tried to steal our lunch (what is it with aggressive animals and Ron?) and I met a really nice sea otter, although he was a little handsy.

Now we’re heading to Sacramento to visit with Joe & Carrie Cooper. Happy travels!

Stuffed from the experience, it was back into the car for the drive to Monterey.   A quick wave of the hand as we passed by UCSB, my alma mater, and then a break in San Luis Obispo at the Foster’s Freeze.   Vanilla Malt and a Butterfinger Twister, and we continue on our healthy eating ways! J  We made it to Monterrey before 6, checked into our hotel (Deer Haven Inn).   Another Travelzoo special that appeared just as we were looking for a place.   Not the nicest hotel we will stay in this trip, but a decent room and a comfy bed.   A quick change and we grabbed a cab to downtown Monterey to have dinner at a well-regarded/rated restaurant – Montrio Bistro.

The restaurant had a nice environment, but was pretty dead.  Maybe 7 other tables occupied, so the staff on duty was pretty bored.   Which made them attentive to us.  Overly attentive, actually.    The food was good, but not great (our friends at Rioja and Vesta have raised the bar for us far too much.).   But because they had nothing else going on, our appetizer showed up quickly (good), but then the meals showed up before we were half way done with the app.   The app was pushed to the side to make room for the meal, at which point the waiter took away what was left of it and we were left wondering why we were being rushed out of there.   When the wait-staff wasn’t checking up on us, they were standing next to where our table was (as we were seated near the bar, though the restaurant was empty.)   The staff that weren’t busy were shouting at the TV as the Lakers were beating on the Nuggets, leading to quite the ambiance…    We finished our food, powered through our wine, and left for more of the nightlife. 

We found the Crown & Anchor, a nice little pub with a great selection of beer and wine.  We spent some time chatting and taking in the local scene, before heading back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.   Another great day of exploring and traveling, and we look forward to our time in Monterey and heading up to Sacramento next.   Check in with you later!

Until then…

Day 9 – Sunday

Woke up early and spent some time hanging out with Harold, Leena, Jen and De Ann at the house.    Harold, Jen and I headed out for an awesome lunch with Pam and her brother and dad at the Boiling Crab.  For those that have never been, check out the menu and see what there is to have.    You basically just order a bunch of food and tell them what kind of sauce and how spicy you want it.  We went with the Whole She-bang (a combo of a bunch of sauces) and Medium temp.    We had 4 lbs of shrimp, 2 lbs of crab legs, spicy sausage, corn on the cob, 2 lbs of crawfish and a ton of fun.   They dump all of the food in the middle of the table, put bibs on you, and then everyone just dives into to piles, eating with your hands.  The food is great and everyone had a great time.     Harold, Jen and I headed back to the house and then spent the afternoon lounging by the pool – good downtime.    Meanwhile, De Ann spent the day with her old friends from OC (I’ll let her tell you all about it.)

We all met up at the house, got cleaned up and then headed to the Auld Dubliner for a little music, a couple of drinks and a lot of laughing at people.  Good times!!   We took a cab back to the hotel and crashed out pretty quickly thereafter. 

Day 10 – Monday

Memorial Day… a great day for parties, bbqs and general merriment!   Today’s adventures took us to the home of Brandon and his 10 month old daughter Bella.   Brandon’s place in Huntington Harbor provided a great backdrop for general laughter and BBQ fun.   We got the opportunity to congratulate our friend Linda, who finished the LA Marathon that morning with a personal best time.    She celebrated by drinking all of the bubbly she could find! J   Various people fell asleep in the sun or on the couch and pictures were taken.   Much food, including  a great Bananas Foster courtesy of Greg, was consumed and then party moved into the house so that we could watch the Nuggets make fools out of the Lakers.     Born and raised in LA, I have a soft-spot for the Lakers, but now that I’m in Denver, I’m trying to get into the local spirit.   Good year for that with them… not so much with the Rockies.    What can you do, right?    After the beating, we headed back to the hotel and went to sleep early.   Long day on Tuesday….

Day 11 – Tuesday

Up early and getting a bit of work done before all of our meetings.  I wont bore you with the details (Nice change of pace, I know), but we ran from our lunch meeting with Mike Faddoul, over to visit with my good friends at Miramar Ventures (Patti, Bob and Bruce) and all of the H&S folks whom I haven’t seen in awhile.   Always great to catch up.   Then it was back over to South Coast Plaza for a quick drink with Greg Palme before he had a run out to catch his son’s playoff game (which they won 13-1 – kudos!!).  We headed south to spend time with Jennie and Michael Boyer and their 5, yes 5 kids.   3 2-month old triplets mean that they are always on their toes.   We were impressed with their calm demeanor, the relative ease with which they handle the trade-offs and taking care of the troop.   Total rockstars, and we were still able to polish off 2 or 3 bottles of wine and catch up on old times.  And then a surprise, late night visit next door brought us back in touch with the Tinseths.  Elena and Andrew and their son live right next door and graciously stayed up late so that we could spend a little time with them as well.    A long drive back to Irvine put us back at the hotel after midnight, in time for a few hours sleep before our next meeting and then heading out to Monterrey… but you’ll hear about that next time.

Have a great day and a great week everyone.   Cant wait for the next few days of adventures, and hopefully we’ll have time to tell you all about it!

Until then…