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Phil and I have found that with a little planning when traveling, it is possible to find some great deals that will completely beat the normal big chain hotel experience. The first time we ever did this was in Austin, TX. We had read about a place called the Hotel San Jose and so after a very unsatisfying stay at the Red Roof Inn, we headed across town to the Hotel San Jose. It was awesome! Plus we had a great time with our friends the Griffins. This time we stayed for a night at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. It was great! We eve got an idea for putting up a seasonal screen door over our french door to our back yard. Plus we got to have a great dinner with Joyce, Phil’s mom and then lounge around in front of the outdoor fireplaces and jump in the hot tub. Despite the cool look and and beautiful surroundings, this was a very reasonably priced adventure. If Phil and I do it, you know it can’t be too pricey. So for any of your SoCal folks who need a night or two away from home and work, I highly recommend Ace Hotel, Palm Springs.
First stop in Tacoma was the Museum of Glass. It was sweet – the cone thing below was a huge hot shop. A hot shop is a place where artists work with glass while it is hot. This one was complete with stadium seating so you could just sit back and watch the artist at work.
Phil loves the Museum of Glass.
Lastly in Tacoma, we got to visit with Aunt Frances and cousin Dean. It is always a blessing to get to hang out with family!
And also hello to my parents and the Middletons!
We had a great time in Seattle. We arrived on Friday night and had dinner with Kim and Zak, some of my friends from freshman year at Stanford in Larkin. It was so great to see them and catch up. They live in a cool neighborhood called Greenlake and just bought a place. Congratulations!
The next day got to hang out with my parents. We went to the Olympic Sculpture Park, right on the sound. It was just delightful. Our favorite part was getting to see a piece by Mark Dion there called Neukom Vivarium. From there we went down to Pike’s Place and the first-ever Starbucks.
Next we had a great opportunity to go on the Underground Seattle Tour organized by our friend Janice. Janice has a travel agency and has organized a cruise to Alaska out of Seattle (that was the reason my parents were coincidentally in town too!). We learned a ton about the history of the Seattle as a gold rush boom town.
We will post some more photos when we get a copy of my parents’ photos.
Before heading out for Seattle a few exciting things happened.
1. We went out for tea. Instead of going to a place that was heavily decorated in doilies, we found a little modernist house on a hill over looking some beautiful gardens. The couple who built the house met in 1926 and hit it off. However, they were separated by World War II during which they were each separately prisoners of war. They met again in 1946, got married and built a house! It was cool. And see, real men drink tea.
2. Phil was solicited to purchase marijuana. I ducked into a coffee shop to use the little girls’ room. Phil dutifully waited outside when some dude in a red hat says in Phil’s direction, “Bud?” Phil looked around. The guys says again, “Bud?” Phil says, “What?” Red hat says, “Ma-ri-jua-na. Do you want to buy marijuana?” Phil said, “No, my wife is going to the bathroom.” Red hat slunk off to a new block. Wow. I guess what we heard about British Columbia (pot is the third highest grossing industry there) it true.
3. One last trip to Spinnaker’s Gastro Brew Pub.
Victoria and Vancouver Island are beautiful. And truthfully, things are much more our style here than in Vancouver. Victoria is much more walkable than Vancouver. Victoria is not as crowded as Vancouver. Victoria is cheaper than Vancouver. Sweet.
We have made an outstanding discovery since we arrived here. We found Spinnaker’s Brew Pub. Now, living in Northern Colorado, we like to think we are some kind of amatuer experts in the realm of beer. The wait staff members we encountered in Vancouver did now know what hops were. This is a major oversight when it comes to beer. Imagine our delight when we saw that Spinnaker’s not only brews their own, delicious beer, but they also pair it with locally made cheeses and (and!) they pair it with house-made chocolates. That’s right: beer and chocolate.
Our hotel is right around the corner from the local fisherman’s wharf. There were some cool floating houses there and a great fish and chips place: Barb’s. Above, Phil is about to enjoy this tasty treat and the local harbor seals are also hoping for a munch. These fish and chips were second only to the place that our taxi driver in Dublin told us about around the corner from our hotel.
Today, we are off to have tea, make our last trip to Spinnaker’s and who knows what else. We’ll tell you all about that, our museum adventures, and some local sights here in Victoria. We head back to the States in the morning for a few day romp around Seattle!
We have arrived in Vancouver safe and sound. To our surprise, British Columbia looks just like northern Washington. Who would have guessed it? What is even more surprising is that other than socialized medicine and an odd affection for the moose, Canadians look and act much like Americans. And much like the vatican Starbucks seems to be a country that extends beyond all political, national and moose loving boundaries. There are a staggering 60 Starbucks in Vancouver, 90% of them are with in a three block radius… I can not substantiate that last statistic, this is my first time here and I haven’t looked around much. But as far as I can tell from my brief hours here, it is absolutely true.
We are off to explore Canada,
Phil
It really is a city of glass. We are staying on the 19th floor of one of the many high rises downtown. One of our walls is entirely windows and the urban landscape framed by mountains make for a killer view. A great escape from Loveland.
Tonight, we ate crab. We took a water taxi across a fjord to the restaurant called The Sandbar. It was the best crab I have ever tasted. While we ate the crab, we got to look at the fjord from which it came. Sweet!
We also made it to the Vancouver Art Gallery today. It was filled primarily with an overwhelming exhibit on animae, video games and cartoons. I did get to play a little old school pac-man though. It was more exciting than you’d think. The most interesting exhibit detailed the career of Chinese performance artist/sculptor Zhang Huan. It was really interesting as he really worked in a way that considered the meaning of his works and their position in relation to traditional art and craft making.
Tomorrow we are looking forward to going to the aquarium and I am looking forward to buying Nutella. (I’m going to get Canadian Pepperoni! I thinks it’s made out of killer whales or something. - Phil)
We will see you all oot and aboot.
Sarah
Post Script: After exploring Vancouver for a day… I was wrong about the whole Starbucks thing. – Phil
