So it was time to leave Canada after a wonderful 17 days and head back to the USA for the last few days and the flight home. Still we were looking forward to a return visit to Seattle were we had spent two nights (three days) in 2009.
Today's Route
Today's journey is shorter than usual - a gentle tootle from North Vancouver to Seattle. But first let's talk about Breakfast.
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| North Vancouver to Seattle |
Breakfast
I woke this morning at 4.15am and began drafting a blog post. Drew woke at 5:00am and I made Coffee for us both.
I completed the blog post about Saturday, a short and easy one. Then we headed to breakfast at 7.00am. We thought we would be clever and go early to breakfast to avoid the crowds we had faced yesterday. This didn't work out as 30 members of the Trinidad karate team were staying in our hotel for a competion here. They were all young, fit and hungrey, so had arrived at breakfast as it opened at 6.30am and filled the breakfast room.
We got our breakfast and sat outside and eat it in the atrium of the hotel.
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| Sausage Meat and Eggs |
Drew managed two Danish with this morning's breakfast
After breakfast we went back to the room, and I began the blog post about Sunday. We don't want to leave to early and get caught up in the Vancouver rush-hour.
We left the hotel at 9.30am and visited a Car Wash. Captain Jack has given a full account of this here. Though it is worth pointing out that the wash was - $10.40, Captain Jack doesn't account for tax as he doesn't believe it applies to a Pirate.
We left Mr Wash at 9:45am and arrived at the US Border at 10.40am. There was, as there always is these days, a queue at the border, but by 11.22am we got to the border guard and by 11.26am we had been waved past the border and were back in the USA.
We travelled straight down the I5 from the border at Blaine, Washington State towards Seattle.
We stopped at Everett Mall, just outside of Everett for a Starbucks, a snack and for petrol, so the car was full on its return in Seattle.
Our snack in Starbucks was a Chicken sausage biscuit for me and a Double Chocolate Brownie for Drew. We both had Venti Americano coffees.
From Everett we went back onto the I5, an accident further down the route caused us a 30 minute delay. The traffic was slow moving but not stopped all the way into Downtown.
We turned off the Interstate at junction 165b for Union Street, then it was return turn onto 7th avenue, right on to Pike and left onto 8th Avenue. The Google Map didn't say drive up six floors of a multi-story car park, but that's what we did to get to Hertz. We parked in a Hertz bay and a staff member turned up, takes down our details and we hand over the keys and say goodbye to the car which has been almost our home for the last 17 days.
We walk the four blocks to our hotel, The Westin, Seattle, arriving at 4.05pm by 4.11pm we had checked in and were up in our room which is in the South Tower on the 23rd floor in room 56.
The Westin is the place we stayed when we visited Seattle in 2009, The views across the City are busy and charming, we treated ourselves to a little luxury at the end of the trip by staying here.
Drew decided to go for a run in the fitness centre here. He came back talking about the advanced facilities of the machines. I'll hand over to him for a while:
<<Co-pilot's note:
I, dear readers, am a simple kind of person as well you may know. The scurrying machines here are anything but simple. They have USB ports, so you can download your data (heart rates and wot nots), but they also have huge screens on them, where you can watch videos on Netflix or BBC World. Now, dear readers, as much as I value the efforts of Mr Clive Myree as a news reader, having him gurn at me 6k into a 10k scurry is not my idea of fun and so they were out (we don’t do Netflix).
Instead I did my scurry whilst listening to the Who on my headphones and watching videos of runs around ‘National Parks’ around the world. They have had somebody go running, or possibly walking whist holding a camera in front of them, so for the first 4K of scurrying I was talking in from a first-person perspective the sights of Sequoia National Park, complete with hikers coming in the opposite direction.
It’s all very odd dear readers, very odd indeed. My natural reaction when I see a dirty great big bolder in front of me is to take evasive action (a lesson I learnt the hard way when I ran into a Gate and broke my little nose). And so that’s I was doing, boulders = avoid. Seems perfectly rational until a microsecond later you realise you are one a treadmill.
In short, the lunatic who decided to put that feature in to the scurrying machines should also have included a damn trip hazard warning!!!. I tell you dear readers, it is not easy being me 😀. If I go scurrying later Mr Myree will have an extra viewer.>>
While Drew was running I transferred the photos of today to the PC and updated our accounts spreadsheet and other information while taking in the views.
At 6.45pm we left to walk to our restaurant for the night. This was the lovely Tamarind Tree in Vietnam Town.
We arrived to find the restaurant packed, mainly with Vietnamese people, but we had reserved, so were seated soon after arrival. The restaurant is a lovely setting with small trees in the building including next to me as I write this note.
Drew decided to try one of their exotic cordials, which was Lime with sugar cane over ice water (Đá chanh), the sharp lime and the sweet sugar worked well for Drew, who had another before the meal was over.
We opted for the menu that Drew had spotted when we first identifed this place. It was simply called: Seven Courses of Beef
We began with Gỏi Bò - Beef Salad of shredded Cabbage, Carrot, and Green Herbs with House Dressing. This was tasty with a chilli warmth. Even eating noodles with chopsticks, something I've been doing for years, didn't faze Drew who was committed to make the most of this meal.
Our second course was Bò Nhúng Dấm - Beef Vinegar - Thin Slices Of Beef And Vinegar Broth. The vinegar was sharp and pungent, we cooked our own meat in it, as well as some of the lovely vegetables that formed the Green Vegetables, Herbs, Pickles, Rice Noodles and Roasted Peanuts. We may never know if that was what we were supposed to do, but it worked for us, and in such a full resteraunt, nobody else noticed or suggested we were doing it wrong. The rice paper was on the side and we had a bowl of warm water in which this was placed to cook.
The next four items came together:
Bò Nướng - Grilled Marinated Beef Slices Rolled With Vietnamese Bacon.
Chả Đùm - Steamed Ground Beef Marinated With Spices, Egg, And Vegetables
Bò Lá-Lốt - Grilled Marinated Ground Beef Wrapped In La-Lot Leaves;
Bò Mở Chày - Fatty Beef - Grilled Marinated Ground Beef Wrapped In A Thin Sheet Of Fat.
(From left to right in the photo below). Each had a different texture and flavour. Drew preferred the Bò Nướng while my favorite was the Chả Đùm, but they were all very nice indeed.
The meal was brought to a fitting crescendo by the Cháo Bò Beef Rice Soup - Rice Soup made with Ground Beef Broth Topped with coriander, spring onions and pepper.
We had finished the whole meal by 8.50pm and walked back to the Hotel. Arriving at 9:30pm.
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| Drew's Danish |
After breakfast we went back to the room, and I began the blog post about Sunday. We don't want to leave to early and get caught up in the Vancouver rush-hour.
Washing the Hire Car and Heading for the Border
We left the hotel at 9.30am and visited a Car Wash. Captain Jack has given a full account of this here. Though it is worth pointing out that the wash was - $10.40, Captain Jack doesn't account for tax as he doesn't believe it applies to a Pirate.
We left Mr Wash at 9:45am and arrived at the US Border at 10.40am. There was, as there always is these days, a queue at the border, but by 11.22am we got to the border guard and by 11.26am we had been waved past the border and were back in the USA.
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| Blaine, Washington |
The Road to Seattle
We travelled straight down the I5 from the border at Blaine, Washington State towards Seattle.
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| I5 - South |
We stopped at Everett Mall, just outside of Everett for a Starbucks, a snack and for petrol, so the car was full on its return in Seattle.
Our snack in Starbucks was a Chicken sausage biscuit for me and a Double Chocolate Brownie for Drew. We both had Venti Americano coffees.
 |
| Chicken Sausage Biscuit |
From Everett we went back onto the I5, an accident further down the route caused us a 30 minute delay. The traffic was slow moving but not stopped all the way into Downtown.
We turned off the Interstate at junction 165b for Union Street, then it was return turn onto 7th avenue, right on to Pike and left onto 8th Avenue. The Google Map didn't say drive up six floors of a multi-story car park, but that's what we did to get to Hertz. We parked in a Hertz bay and a staff member turned up, takes down our details and we hand over the keys and say goodbye to the car which has been almost our home for the last 17 days.
 |
| Our faithful car - clean, but for new kill today |
We walk the four blocks to our hotel, The Westin, Seattle, arriving at 4.05pm by 4.11pm we had checked in and were up in our room which is in the South Tower on the 23rd floor in room 56.
The Westin is the place we stayed when we visited Seattle in 2009, The views across the City are busy and charming, we treated ourselves to a little luxury at the end of the trip by staying here.
Running Man
Drew decided to go for a run in the fitness centre here. He came back talking about the advanced facilities of the machines. I'll hand over to him for a while:
<<Co-pilot's note:
I, dear readers, am a simple kind of person as well you may know. The scurrying machines here are anything but simple. They have USB ports, so you can download your data (heart rates and wot nots), but they also have huge screens on them, where you can watch videos on Netflix or BBC World. Now, dear readers, as much as I value the efforts of Mr Clive Myree as a news reader, having him gurn at me 6k into a 10k scurry is not my idea of fun and so they were out (we don’t do Netflix).
Instead I did my scurry whilst listening to the Who on my headphones and watching videos of runs around ‘National Parks’ around the world. They have had somebody go running, or possibly walking whist holding a camera in front of them, so for the first 4K of scurrying I was talking in from a first-person perspective the sights of Sequoia National Park, complete with hikers coming in the opposite direction.
It’s all very odd dear readers, very odd indeed. My natural reaction when I see a dirty great big bolder in front of me is to take evasive action (a lesson I learnt the hard way when I ran into a Gate and broke my little nose). And so that’s I was doing, boulders = avoid. Seems perfectly rational until a microsecond later you realise you are one a treadmill.
In short, the lunatic who decided to put that feature in to the scurrying machines should also have included a damn trip hazard warning!!!. I tell you dear readers, it is not easy being me 😀. If I go scurrying later Mr Myree will have an extra viewer.>>
While Drew was running I transferred the photos of today to the PC and updated our accounts spreadsheet and other information while taking in the views.
Dinner
At 6.45pm we left to walk to our restaurant for the night. This was the lovely Tamarind Tree in Vietnam Town.
We arrived to find the restaurant packed, mainly with Vietnamese people, but we had reserved, so were seated soon after arrival. The restaurant is a lovely setting with small trees in the building including next to me as I write this note.
Drew decided to try one of their exotic cordials, which was Lime with sugar cane over ice water (Đá chanh), the sharp lime and the sweet sugar worked well for Drew, who had another before the meal was over.
We opted for the menu that Drew had spotted when we first identifed this place. It was simply called: Seven Courses of Beef
We began with Gỏi Bò - Beef Salad of shredded Cabbage, Carrot, and Green Herbs with House Dressing. This was tasty with a chilli warmth. Even eating noodles with chopsticks, something I've been doing for years, didn't faze Drew who was committed to make the most of this meal.
Our second course was Bò Nhúng Dấm - Beef Vinegar - Thin Slices Of Beef And Vinegar Broth. The vinegar was sharp and pungent, we cooked our own meat in it, as well as some of the lovely vegetables that formed the Green Vegetables, Herbs, Pickles, Rice Noodles and Roasted Peanuts. We may never know if that was what we were supposed to do, but it worked for us, and in such a full resteraunt, nobody else noticed or suggested we were doing it wrong. The rice paper was on the side and we had a bowl of warm water in which this was placed to cook.
The next four items came together:
Bò Nướng - Grilled Marinated Beef Slices Rolled With Vietnamese Bacon.
Chả Đùm - Steamed Ground Beef Marinated With Spices, Egg, And Vegetables
Bò Lá-Lốt - Grilled Marinated Ground Beef Wrapped In La-Lot Leaves;
Bò Mở Chày - Fatty Beef - Grilled Marinated Ground Beef Wrapped In A Thin Sheet Of Fat.
(From left to right in the photo below). Each had a different texture and flavour. Drew preferred the Bò Nướng while my favorite was the Chả Đùm, but they were all very nice indeed.
The meal was brought to a fitting crescendo by the Cháo Bò Beef Rice Soup - Rice Soup made with Ground Beef Broth Topped with coriander, spring onions and pepper.
We had finished the whole meal by 8.50pm and walked back to the Hotel. Arriving at 9:30pm.
I have never got on with scurrying machines - they throw me off or I can not get the right rhythm so it is always roads for me or pavements after some near misses with machinery!
ReplyDeleteI am afraid a chicken sausage biscuit was just too horrifying a concept! Chicken and pig in a biscuit??? Whatever next?
he American idea of a Chicken Sausage and a Turkey Sausage doesn't involve pig at all - but Chicken or Turkey meat made the way you would make a sausage in beef or pork. Still an odd idea, and not one for a vegetation to be focussed on ☺
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