Saturday, June 30, 2012
Day 106 - Shower on Ferry, Arrived in Juneau in the Afternoon, Walked Around Downtown/Shops, Slept at Walmart
Day 106 - Shower on Ferry, Arrived in Juneau in the Afternoon, Walked Around Downtown/Shops, Slept at Walmart
Day 105 - Dolly's House, Return to Creek Street, Alaskan Canopy Adventures Walk/Lumber Mill/Reindeer/Raptors/Totem Carver Tour, Ferry to Juneau (Met a Californian Couple The Boarded in Wrangell)
Day 105 - Dolly's House, Return to Creek Street, Alaskan Canopy Adventures Walk/Lumber Mill/Reindeer/Raptors/Totem Carver Tour, Ferry to Juneau (Met a Californian Couple The Boarded in Wrangell)
Day 104 - Met Bob and His Wife (Arrived on the Same Ferry) at Walmart, Totem Bight State Park, Lunch Falls Loop Trail, Drove Full Length of Ketchikan to Beaver Falls Power Plant and George Inlet Cannery, Checked out Alaskan Rainforest Adventures Complex, Saxman Totem Park, Walked Around Downtown, Late Lunch at Annabelle's Famous Keg and Chowder House, Walked Around Creek Street, Dinner at Good Fortune Restaurant, Walked to Totem Heritage Center, Slept at Walmart
Day 104 - Met Bob and His Wife (Arrived on the Same Ferry) at Walmart, Totem Bight State Park, Lunch Falls Loop Trail, Drove Full Length of Ketchikan to Beaver Falls Power Plant and George Inlet Cannery, Checked out Alaskan Rainforest Adventures Complex, Saxman Totem Park, Walked Around Downtown, Late Lunch at Annabelle's Famous Keg and Chowder House, Walked Around Creek Street, Dinner at Good Fortune Restaurant, Walked to Totem Heritage Center, Slept at Walmart
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Day 103 - Completed Drive to Prince Rupert, Travelled by Ferry to Ketchikan, AL, Slept at Walmart
Day 103 - Completed Drive to Prince Rupert, Travelled by Ferry to Ketchikan, AL, Slept at Walmart
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Day 102 - Driving day - From Abbotsford to Rest Area about 30 min from Terrace, Tried Canadian Candy Bars, Ate at Tim Horton's
Day 102 - Driving day - From Abbotsford to Rest Area about 30 min from Terrace, Tried Canadian Candy Bars, Ate at Tim Horton's
Monday, June 25, 2012
Day 101 (Day 100 Continued) - No Sleep - Walked most of Downtown Victoria, 2:30 (AM) Snack at McDonalds, Walked to Fisherman's Wharf, Walked to Craigdarroch Castle (4:30 AM), Breakfast at McDonalds, Toured Parliament Building, Checked out Royal B.C. Museum, Lunch in Chinatown, Bus to Craigdarroch Castle for tour, Bus to Swartz Bay, Ferry to Tsawwassen, Slept at Comfort Inn in Abbotsford
Day 101 (Day 100 Continued) - No Sleep - Walked most of Downtown Victoria, 2:30 (AM) Snack at McDonalds, Walked to Fisherman's Wharf, Walked to Craigdarroch Castle (4:30 AM), Breakfast at McDonalds, Toured Parliament Building, Checked out Royal B.C. Museum, Lunch in Chinatown, Bus to Craigdarroch Castle for tour, Bus to Swartz Bay, Ferry to Tsawwassen, Slept at Comfort Inn in Abbotsford
Day 100 - Ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay (Vancouver Island), Butchard Gardens, Bus to Downtown Victoria, West Coast Waffles, Empress Hotel, Parliament Buildings at Night, No Sleep
Day 100 - Ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay (Vancouver Island), Butchard Gardens, Bus to Downtown Victoria, West Coast Waffles, Empress Hotel, Parliament Buildings at Night, No Sleep
Day 99 - Laundry Day #8, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Public Park, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Watched "Brave" in 3D at Cineplex Entertainment Colossus in Langley, Slept at Walmart in Langley
Day 99 - Laundry Day #8, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Public Park, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, Watched "Brave" in 3D at Cineplex Entertainment Colossus in Langley, Slept at Walmart in Langley
Friday, June 22, 2012
Day 98 - Grouse Mountain - Grouse Grind, Lumberjack Show, Views of Mt. Baker, Grizzly Bear Exhibit, Birds in Motion Show, Met an Aussie and a Canadian at the Grizzlys, Chair Lift, Dinner With New Friends at Altitudes Bistro, Gondola Down the Mountain, Camped at Dogwood Campground in Surrey
Grouse Mountain
Grouse Grind
I wanted to explore some of Vancouver and get away from the frustrations of the previous day, so I decided to spend the day at Grouse Mountain, and give the Grouse Grind a go. The Grouse Grind is a 1.8 mile hike up Grouse Mountain - a 2800 foot elevation gain to the 3700 foot summit, which, due to the elevation gain is mostly stairs - 2830 of them. It's truly a grind to get up. It doesn't offer a whole lot of scenic views, as it is mostly through the forested mountain side, but there are ample opportunities to talk to the other hikers along the way. The average time to complete is about 1.5 hours, with a record of just about 23 min. One person has completed over 1600 ascents, and on the day I hiked, a 70 year old man did it 3 times.
After going through the visitor center, I looked around for the trail, and ended up on a small trail that takes you to a timber wolf habitat. Unfortunately, I didn't see any of the wolves, but I know some were there, since the friends I met up top saw them. After locating the correct trail, and going back to my car for my hiking poles (not necessary, but I found them very helpful), I started the climb.
I was wearing jeans, a quick drying t-shirt, hiking boots, my DSLR, and my hydration backpack which had 3L of water, a few snacks, and some miscellaneous survival gear. I don't recommend hiking with this much weight strapped to you. If you are going to do this hike, you should wear shorts (athletic preferred, though cargo could help eliminate the backpack if you plan to stay up top for a while), a quick drying shirt, and light weight trail runners. Bring a water bottle, and try to bring nothing else. The less weight you carry, the easier it will be, but keep in mind, it was around 13*C (~55*F) up top, so you might be chilly up top if you find that sort of temperature too low. If you enjoy that temperature, you will find it refreshing after the grueling hike up. As I was equipped, and at my fitness level (which isn't great despite the number of hikes I've done throughout my trip), and with a number of breaks along the way, it took me just over 2 hours.
The only other way up the mountain is a gondola, which has a minimum cost of $40 Cn, including descent (descent only ticket for those that do the grind is $10 Cn). There are also other types of passes available for people that want to do ziplining, the Eye of the Wind - a massive windmill that has an observation deck, paragliding, helicopter tours, etc.
Lumberjack Show
The Lumberjack Show is a comedy lumberjack skills presentation that is free to anyone on top of the mountain. It puts two lumberjacks in head to head competition doing various lumberjack activities, like a three board springboard chop (lumberjacks have to cut notches in a tree to place platforms in it, so they can progress to the top in that fashion), axe throwing, a couple of saw competitions, 60 foot tree climb, log rolling, etc. They fill the show with many of the expected cracks on each other and their activities, and a pretty good looking hostess emcees the show. I was very happy that I made it to the top in about the perfect time to see the last show of the day.
Views of Mt. Baker
From the top of Grouse Mountain, you have great views all around you, including Vancouver, surrounding mountains, and even the mountains in the North Cascades of washington, including Mt. Baker. I had a half hour before the Birds in Motion show, so I went to a nice spot to look at these mountains for a little while.
Grizzly Bear Exhibit
After looking at the mountains, I walked over to the grizzly bear habitat, which houses two rescued grizzlys - Grinder and Coola. They were fun to watch, but by this time, the Birds in Motion Show had started, so I decided to come back to the bears after the show.
Birds in Motion Show
The Birds in Motion Show is another free show on top of the mountain, and features raptors from around the area (most of which can be found throughout the continent), including red tailed hawk, great horned owl, turkey vulture, and bald eagle. The host describes the birds and their differences while handlers encourage the birds to fly from perch to perch around the area so spectators can watch them in flight. It is much like other bird shows, but animals are always interesting to watch, and some of these birds aren't always shown in motion.
Met an Aussie and a Canadian at the Grizzlys
After the bird show, and taking a few close-ups of the bald eagle, I went back to the bear habitat. When I got there, it was feeding time, and the bears were making their way into their den to eat. I stayed around for a while, talking to some of the other people watching them and waiting for them to emerge. After a few minutes, their noisy eating stopped, and they did come out of the den, lapped up a long drink of water from a nearby pool, then proceeded around the side to a snow bank. The first one there - Grinder (the smaller of the two, but most dominant) found a nice comfy spot on the snow bank and sat down.
When Coola came around the corner, he checked out the spot, and seemed like he was going to go find one for himself, when Grinder decided to tease Coola by sticking his tongue out at him (something most people didn't see, but I have photographic evidence of). This started a little play fight, which Coola won, dethroning Grinder, though it didn't seem to matter much, since after the victory, they both started to walk around toward the top of the hill in their habitat.
About the time that they started fighting over the comfy chair, I met an Australian guy and his friend, a local Canadian girl (Sorry guys, I am horrible with names - I think his is Steve, and I'm completely drawing a blank on hers, so please remind me when you get a chance to check the blog, and you can find me on Facebook by searching my full name, which is my user name on there.). We talked about my trip, and I gave him a card so he could have access to some of my bear pictures, since his camera and her phone had both died. We continued talking for a while while we watched the bears, then they decided they wanted to go to the summit of the mountain (most of the things to do on the mountain are around the chalet area, which is located on a false summit).
Chair Lift
There is a road that can be walked to the top, but I had already decided not to bother with it, since I had done the grind, and it's a steep raod, but they weren't thinking about the road either - they were planning to take the chair lift, which operates year round, even when skiing isn't open, so people can go to the Eye of the Wind turbine. We walked around the corner to the lift entrence, and they pulled out their tickets, which didn't cover the chair lift, as they had the $40 basic ticket, and I hadn't bought any ticket yet, so none of us were ticketed to go. The ticket checker told us she didn't care about us not having tickets, and let us go up anyway.
At the top, we walked to the Eye of the Wind, hoping to bribe them into letting us go up, but they were shutting down for the day, so we just took in the nice views, and talked a little more. Here, I found out that they had met on a trip through Europe, encompassing 22 countries. I found out later that Canada is his 34th country, which is quite impressive to me. We headed back down the chair lift, and by this time it was around 7:30, and all of us were hungry (I had eaten an apple during the hike, two granola bars and a bunch of yogurt covered raisins during the lumberjack show to help recover energy, but hadn't had any real lunch), so we headed to the Peak Chalet.
Dinner With New Friends at Altitudes Bistro
Many of the restaurants were closed at this time, but the Altitudes Bistro was open, so we went up stairs to dine there. It was a very comfortable environment to dine in, and we talked at length about many different subjects while drinking beer and eating our sandwiches. While this is the type of place I often take pictures of, I normally haven't had the pleasure of dining with friends on this trip, so I have no pictures, but the salmon salad sandwich and seafood chowder (which cost an extra $1 as a substitution, which the waitress failed to mention - not a big deal, but probably would have gone with a different soup or salad instead), and the Whistler Powder Lager were all very tasty.
Gondola Down the Mountain
After eating, and talking for a while, it was time to leave. We headed to the gondola, where I was hoping I could buy a ticket down, but unfortunately they don't sell tickets there, so my new friends and I parted company as I went back inside the chalet to buy my gondola ticket. After a short wait, I boarded the next gondola, and headed back to my car, extremely satisfied with the day, and much happier with my second day's experience of Canada than my first.
Camped at Dogwood Campground in Surrey
I returned to the Dogwood Campground in Surrey (which didn't take as long to get to, since much of the construction around it's exit wasn't being done that night, though I did make the mistake of allowing my GPS to make me take a turn that forced me to go over the bridge an extra time. I spent a little while catching up with emails and downloading the pictures from my camera, then went to my campsite to go to sleep.
Grouse Grind
I wanted to explore some of Vancouver and get away from the frustrations of the previous day, so I decided to spend the day at Grouse Mountain, and give the Grouse Grind a go. The Grouse Grind is a 1.8 mile hike up Grouse Mountain - a 2800 foot elevation gain to the 3700 foot summit, which, due to the elevation gain is mostly stairs - 2830 of them. It's truly a grind to get up. It doesn't offer a whole lot of scenic views, as it is mostly through the forested mountain side, but there are ample opportunities to talk to the other hikers along the way. The average time to complete is about 1.5 hours, with a record of just about 23 min. One person has completed over 1600 ascents, and on the day I hiked, a 70 year old man did it 3 times.
After going through the visitor center, I looked around for the trail, and ended up on a small trail that takes you to a timber wolf habitat. Unfortunately, I didn't see any of the wolves, but I know some were there, since the friends I met up top saw them. After locating the correct trail, and going back to my car for my hiking poles (not necessary, but I found them very helpful), I started the climb.
I was wearing jeans, a quick drying t-shirt, hiking boots, my DSLR, and my hydration backpack which had 3L of water, a few snacks, and some miscellaneous survival gear. I don't recommend hiking with this much weight strapped to you. If you are going to do this hike, you should wear shorts (athletic preferred, though cargo could help eliminate the backpack if you plan to stay up top for a while), a quick drying shirt, and light weight trail runners. Bring a water bottle, and try to bring nothing else. The less weight you carry, the easier it will be, but keep in mind, it was around 13*C (~55*F) up top, so you might be chilly up top if you find that sort of temperature too low. If you enjoy that temperature, you will find it refreshing after the grueling hike up. As I was equipped, and at my fitness level (which isn't great despite the number of hikes I've done throughout my trip), and with a number of breaks along the way, it took me just over 2 hours.
The only other way up the mountain is a gondola, which has a minimum cost of $40 Cn, including descent (descent only ticket for those that do the grind is $10 Cn). There are also other types of passes available for people that want to do ziplining, the Eye of the Wind - a massive windmill that has an observation deck, paragliding, helicopter tours, etc.
Lumberjack Show
The Lumberjack Show is a comedy lumberjack skills presentation that is free to anyone on top of the mountain. It puts two lumberjacks in head to head competition doing various lumberjack activities, like a three board springboard chop (lumberjacks have to cut notches in a tree to place platforms in it, so they can progress to the top in that fashion), axe throwing, a couple of saw competitions, 60 foot tree climb, log rolling, etc. They fill the show with many of the expected cracks on each other and their activities, and a pretty good looking hostess emcees the show. I was very happy that I made it to the top in about the perfect time to see the last show of the day.
Views of Mt. Baker
From the top of Grouse Mountain, you have great views all around you, including Vancouver, surrounding mountains, and even the mountains in the North Cascades of washington, including Mt. Baker. I had a half hour before the Birds in Motion show, so I went to a nice spot to look at these mountains for a little while.
Grizzly Bear Exhibit
After looking at the mountains, I walked over to the grizzly bear habitat, which houses two rescued grizzlys - Grinder and Coola. They were fun to watch, but by this time, the Birds in Motion Show had started, so I decided to come back to the bears after the show.
Birds in Motion Show
The Birds in Motion Show is another free show on top of the mountain, and features raptors from around the area (most of which can be found throughout the continent), including red tailed hawk, great horned owl, turkey vulture, and bald eagle. The host describes the birds and their differences while handlers encourage the birds to fly from perch to perch around the area so spectators can watch them in flight. It is much like other bird shows, but animals are always interesting to watch, and some of these birds aren't always shown in motion.
Met an Aussie and a Canadian at the Grizzlys
After the bird show, and taking a few close-ups of the bald eagle, I went back to the bear habitat. When I got there, it was feeding time, and the bears were making their way into their den to eat. I stayed around for a while, talking to some of the other people watching them and waiting for them to emerge. After a few minutes, their noisy eating stopped, and they did come out of the den, lapped up a long drink of water from a nearby pool, then proceeded around the side to a snow bank. The first one there - Grinder (the smaller of the two, but most dominant) found a nice comfy spot on the snow bank and sat down.
When Coola came around the corner, he checked out the spot, and seemed like he was going to go find one for himself, when Grinder decided to tease Coola by sticking his tongue out at him (something most people didn't see, but I have photographic evidence of). This started a little play fight, which Coola won, dethroning Grinder, though it didn't seem to matter much, since after the victory, they both started to walk around toward the top of the hill in their habitat.
Chair Lift
There is a road that can be walked to the top, but I had already decided not to bother with it, since I had done the grind, and it's a steep raod, but they weren't thinking about the road either - they were planning to take the chair lift, which operates year round, even when skiing isn't open, so people can go to the Eye of the Wind turbine. We walked around the corner to the lift entrence, and they pulled out their tickets, which didn't cover the chair lift, as they had the $40 basic ticket, and I hadn't bought any ticket yet, so none of us were ticketed to go. The ticket checker told us she didn't care about us not having tickets, and let us go up anyway.
At the top, we walked to the Eye of the Wind, hoping to bribe them into letting us go up, but they were shutting down for the day, so we just took in the nice views, and talked a little more. Here, I found out that they had met on a trip through Europe, encompassing 22 countries. I found out later that Canada is his 34th country, which is quite impressive to me. We headed back down the chair lift, and by this time it was around 7:30, and all of us were hungry (I had eaten an apple during the hike, two granola bars and a bunch of yogurt covered raisins during the lumberjack show to help recover energy, but hadn't had any real lunch), so we headed to the Peak Chalet.
Dinner With New Friends at Altitudes Bistro
Many of the restaurants were closed at this time, but the Altitudes Bistro was open, so we went up stairs to dine there. It was a very comfortable environment to dine in, and we talked at length about many different subjects while drinking beer and eating our sandwiches. While this is the type of place I often take pictures of, I normally haven't had the pleasure of dining with friends on this trip, so I have no pictures, but the salmon salad sandwich and seafood chowder (which cost an extra $1 as a substitution, which the waitress failed to mention - not a big deal, but probably would have gone with a different soup or salad instead), and the Whistler Powder Lager were all very tasty.
Gondola Down the Mountain
After eating, and talking for a while, it was time to leave. We headed to the gondola, where I was hoping I could buy a ticket down, but unfortunately they don't sell tickets there, so my new friends and I parted company as I went back inside the chalet to buy my gondola ticket. After a short wait, I boarded the next gondola, and headed back to my car, extremely satisfied with the day, and much happier with my second day's experience of Canada than my first.
Camped at Dogwood Campground in Surrey
I returned to the Dogwood Campground in Surrey (which didn't take as long to get to, since much of the construction around it's exit wasn't being done that night, though I did make the mistake of allowing my GPS to make me take a turn that forced me to go over the bridge an extra time. I spent a little while catching up with emails and downloading the pictures from my camera, then went to my campsite to go to sleep.
Day 97 - Oil Change #2 in Bellingham, US Customs Car Search on I5, Canada Customs Car Search on I5, GPS Mishap Resulting in Canada Customs Car Search in Tsawwassen, Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver, Camped at Dogwood Campground in Surrey
Day 97 - Oil Change #2 in Bellingham, US Customs Car Search on I5, Canada Customs Car Search on I5, GPS Mishap Resulting in Canada Customs Car Search in Tsawwassen, Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver, Camped at Dogwood Campground in Surrey
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Day 96 - Voula's Offshore Cafe, Follow-up Camera Repair (Update at McDonald's While Waiting), Snoqualmie Falls/Snoqualmie, Slept at Walmart in Mount Vernon
Day 96 - Voula's Offshore Cafe, Follow-up Camera Repair (Update at McDonald's While Waiting), Snoqualmie Falls/Snoqualmie, Slept at Walmart in Mount Vernon
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Day 95 - Scenic Drive #2 - Rainy Pass Area, Cutthroat Trail/Lake (Met Aussie Couple), Winthrop, Lake Chelan, Cashmere - Aplets and Cotlets, Leavenworth, Wenatchee River, Motel 6 in Everett
Day 95 - Scenic Drive #2 - Rainy Pass Area, Cutthroat Trail/Lake (Met Aussie Couple), Winthrop, Lake Chelan, Cashmere - Aplets and Cotlets, Leavenworth, Wenatchee River, Motel 6 in Everett
Day 94 - Scenic Drive #2 - North Cascades National Park - Newhalem Power Station, Shelter Rock, Skagit River, Gorge Powerhouse, Ladder Creek Falls, Gorge Lake, Diablo Lake Overlook, Diablo Dam, Diablo Powerhouse, Ross Dam Trail, Slept at Easy Pass Trailhead
Day 94 - Scenic Drive #2 - North Cascades National Park - Newhalem Power Station, Shelter Rock, Skagit River, Gorge Powerhouse, Ladder Creek Falls, Gorge Lake, Diablo Lake Overlook, Diablo Dam, Diablo Powerhouse, Ross Dam Trail, Slept at Easy Pass Trailhead
Day 93 - Scenic Drive #2 - Deception Pass, Fort Casey, Admiralty Head Lighthouse
Day 93 - Scenic Drive #2 - Deception Pass, Fort Casey, Admiralty Head Lighthouse
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Day 92 - Exploring Seattle - Pike Place Market, Steelhead Diner, Space Needle
Pike Place Market
Pike Place Market is world famous, largely because of it's appearances in movies, but also because it has a reputation of being a very large market that has a wide diversity of products, most of which are of some of the best quality you can buy the world over. I don't concern myself with shopping very much, and, though I have spent a lot of money on this trip, very little of it has been on souvenirs or other items to take home, but on food, transportation, and lodging expenses. I've even walked through a number of other world famous markets, and been quite unimpressed with most of the items they were peddling. Still, I wanted to see Pike's, and in particular, the fish tossing that is so often featured in movies and food tv shows.
I drove into the heart of the city of Seattle (though I had been at the Safeco Stadium the night before for the Mariners-Padres game, there are no Walmarts or truck stops in Seattle proper, so I had to stay the night in one of the suburbs), and located a parking spot on the street that was relatively close to the Pike Market (south of it, on University). The machine there wanted to charge me $8 for a maximum of 2 hours, and I didn't want to pay that much, so I paid more. I drove around the corner to a parking lot that seemed smaller than the number of car that were already in it, and found a spot. The lot had an "early bird" rate before 10 A.M. that was listed as $10 for the day, but the machine decided $10 wasn't enough, so it charged me $12.50 for up to 7:00 P.M. I figured that should be fine, and it would give me enough time to check out the market, then move on to something else. It turned out to be a good thing I moved to a cheaper spot that allowed me to park longer. Had I found the Pike Place Market parking garage, though, it would have been $8 for anytime before 9:30-9:30pm, which would have afforded me an extra 2.5 hours at a savings of $4. Wish I had realized that sooner!
I walked a few blocks north to the market, and turned the corner to a magazine stand, followed by a few small food vendors. Typical for a market. Then I got to Pike Place Fish (http://www.pikeplacefish.com/) - THE famous fish tossing fish mongers. The market got more impressive really fast, but they weren't throwing any fish - probably because they weren't getting many orders at that point, since it was only around 9:30, and the market was still mostly asleep. Still, the array of fish, crabs, shrimp, oysters, mussels, and other seafood they had out was beautiful and mouth watering.
Though I had looked up the name of the fish tossing mongers, I couldn't remember for certain that this was the one, though I was falsely under the impression that the whole market was filled with fish tossing mongers, but unfortunately it isn't. I continued walking along the upper level of the three story market, and found a variety of restaurants, bakeries, and flower vendors selling some of the nicest looking and fragrant flora I've seen. Continuing along the main walkway, there are many fruit vendors offering some rare and tasty fruits, mushrooms (including $40 morels), and nuts. They were offering samples of some of the tasty fruits, and I was more than happy to try them!
Occasionally, I had passed a stairwell or ramp leading down to the next lower level of the market, and near this point, I decided to go down and check out the shops down there. None of them were selling unprocessed foods, though there were a couple of restaurants, but the lower levels are dominated by specialty shops. I walked around, checking out the occasional shop, but these are more of the thing I usually don't like, as many of them sell things I can find anywhere. Some were of interest, though - one selling antique ivory carvings and other native made goods, another selling original and reproduction posters and magazines (not an extremely rare type of shop, but this was a pretty good iteration of one), and a few others, in this "Down Under" section.
Returning to the main aisle, as I continued further down vendors were starting to set up their booths of various craft items. After a while, the building ended, but the vendors setting out their wares didn't - they lined the street, extending the market well beyond the building. There is a road that runs behind part of the market, down to the water for ferry access. Across this street is the parking garage, and at the north end of it there is a small park by the water that offers some good views of Puget Sound. After meeting a family from Lakeland, FL who were going on a cruise, I crossed one of the pedestrian bridges, which took me back into the Down Under area, but this time, I walked through the lower level, which is only half fully empty, and the shops weren't as interesting.
I made my way back to the street level, and crossed over to the other side, where there are tons of restaurants, wine shops, trinket shops, and a cheese shop called Beecher's Handmade Cheese that had a very long line in front of it. I was curious why there would be such a substantial line for a cheese shop, so I went in for a closer look. The line was actually for a cafe section of the shop that sold sandwiches, so I usurped the line, and went over to the cheese case to look at the important stuff. They didn't have much out to sample, but the sales people were all very helpful, and allowed me to sample a few of their cheeses. I chose the balance of their Maker's Choice sample (just over 1/4lb), a double cream Monterey Jack, which was extremely tasty.
After walking for a while, and having discussed pricing with some of the people there, I decided to do what I had planned to do in Alaska - send some fish to my mom, so I called her, then went back to Pike Place Fish, which was now extremely crowded, and fish were flying on a regular basis. Mind you, I didn't go back to them simply because they were the most famous fish vendor, but they had a little better pricing on most of what I wanted to order.
Steelhead Diner
After submitting my order, I decided to have lunch (may as well spend some more money!), so, at the recommendation of one of the fish mongers, I headed to a restaurant called the Steelhead Diner. I ordered the Grilled Copper River Sockeye Salmon with Port Soaked Cherries, Smokey Almond~Rosemary Brown Butter, & Creamy Hominy Polenta. It was very tasty - which is great, because the only whole fish I ordered is a CR Sockeye!
The whole market isn't full of fish mongers throwing fish, but it was still a joy to walk through. Only one of the four fish companies there throw fish, but the others, including the oldest one of the market - City Fish Company (http://www.cityfish.com/), feature some additional offerings, often including more prepared cocktails, or even offering chowders and fried fish and chips. There are also some great shops and restaurants, street entertainers all over, and lots of great things to see and people to watch.
Space Needle
Because I had explored pretty much the whole market, I decided to walk to the Seattle Space Needle. I didn't know exactly where it was, but I had seen it when I was at the baseball game the night before, and it didn't look like it would be too far of a walk. Turns out it is about 1.2 miles from the market - a little further than I thought it was, but it wasn't too bad of a walk, and it was pretty easy to locate a few blocks into the walk. When I got there, the line to buy tickets was about a 30 min wait. I had forgotten to buy something at one of the shops at the market that I intended to buy, and didn't know when the shops close, so, since it was 4:30, and shops like these often close at either 5 or 6:00, I decided to hustle back to the market.
After I bought the forgotten items, I decided I should unload my backpack and the stuff I'd bought at my car, since it was getting heavy, and I wasn't needing any of the additional stuff I had put in the backpack (rain gear, shirt-jacket, hat, dried fruit, etc.). By the time I got to my car, it was nearly 5:30, leaving me with a 1.5 hours to walk back to the Space Needle (now 1.4 miles away), wait in a potentially 1/2 hr line, and go up and observe the city, and walk back to my car. I decided it was worth trying because I really didn't want to forfeit the remaining time on my parking spot and pay to park in a closer location, so I set out on a brisk walk to the Needle.
When I got to the Space Needle, the line had significantly diminished, and it ended up being about an 8 minute wait. I bought my ticket ($19), and headed up to see the city from the elevated perspective. It was a really nice view all around the Needle. Behind the downtown area, Mt. Rainier was well visible - much better so far away than it had been 9 days ago when I was actually there! the other mountain ranges, including the Northern Cascades and the Olympic Range were also visible, but not quite as much as Rainier. I really enjoyed the views from the observation platform, and would have really liked to stay up there to watch the sunset, and then to take some night time shots of the city, as I had done in San Antonio.
Unfortunately, it was now 6:40, so I made my way to the elevator down and glanced around the gift shop on my way out. At this point, I had 15 minutes to walk the 1.4 miles back to my car. I did so hurriedly, though some of the crosswalks didn't cooperate, and a couple I passed asked me if I knew where a Japanese Restaurant was around there. I ended up getting back to my car at 7:05, and it was in the process of not being towed or having a ticket written for it's expired parking permit. Still, it was time to go, and I still didn't want to pay to park anywhere else, so I knew it was time to get out of the downtown area. Also, throughout the course of the day, the mirror on my camera had stuck intermittently (a problem that didn't manifest during the baseball game, but that was getting frustrating).
I decided I should stay near town so I could take it back to the camera repair shop the next morning, which resulted in me heading back to the Walmart I had slept at the night before. What I forgot until I had almost arrived, is that it was Friday, and they don't work on weekends. I decided I'd go ahead and stay there, but instead of staying around Seattle, the plan was to move on with the route of the North Cascades, and if the camera kept acting up during that time, I could return to Seattle to have them check it out after I finish the loop.
Pike Place Market is world famous, largely because of it's appearances in movies, but also because it has a reputation of being a very large market that has a wide diversity of products, most of which are of some of the best quality you can buy the world over. I don't concern myself with shopping very much, and, though I have spent a lot of money on this trip, very little of it has been on souvenirs or other items to take home, but on food, transportation, and lodging expenses. I've even walked through a number of other world famous markets, and been quite unimpressed with most of the items they were peddling. Still, I wanted to see Pike's, and in particular, the fish tossing that is so often featured in movies and food tv shows.
I drove into the heart of the city of Seattle (though I had been at the Safeco Stadium the night before for the Mariners-Padres game, there are no Walmarts or truck stops in Seattle proper, so I had to stay the night in one of the suburbs), and located a parking spot on the street that was relatively close to the Pike Market (south of it, on University). The machine there wanted to charge me $8 for a maximum of 2 hours, and I didn't want to pay that much, so I paid more. I drove around the corner to a parking lot that seemed smaller than the number of car that were already in it, and found a spot. The lot had an "early bird" rate before 10 A.M. that was listed as $10 for the day, but the machine decided $10 wasn't enough, so it charged me $12.50 for up to 7:00 P.M. I figured that should be fine, and it would give me enough time to check out the market, then move on to something else. It turned out to be a good thing I moved to a cheaper spot that allowed me to park longer. Had I found the Pike Place Market parking garage, though, it would have been $8 for anytime before 9:30-9:30pm, which would have afforded me an extra 2.5 hours at a savings of $4. Wish I had realized that sooner!
I walked a few blocks north to the market, and turned the corner to a magazine stand, followed by a few small food vendors. Typical for a market. Then I got to Pike Place Fish (http://www.pikeplacefish.com/) - THE famous fish tossing fish mongers. The market got more impressive really fast, but they weren't throwing any fish - probably because they weren't getting many orders at that point, since it was only around 9:30, and the market was still mostly asleep. Still, the array of fish, crabs, shrimp, oysters, mussels, and other seafood they had out was beautiful and mouth watering.
Though I had looked up the name of the fish tossing mongers, I couldn't remember for certain that this was the one, though I was falsely under the impression that the whole market was filled with fish tossing mongers, but unfortunately it isn't. I continued walking along the upper level of the three story market, and found a variety of restaurants, bakeries, and flower vendors selling some of the nicest looking and fragrant flora I've seen. Continuing along the main walkway, there are many fruit vendors offering some rare and tasty fruits, mushrooms (including $40 morels), and nuts. They were offering samples of some of the tasty fruits, and I was more than happy to try them!
Occasionally, I had passed a stairwell or ramp leading down to the next lower level of the market, and near this point, I decided to go down and check out the shops down there. None of them were selling unprocessed foods, though there were a couple of restaurants, but the lower levels are dominated by specialty shops. I walked around, checking out the occasional shop, but these are more of the thing I usually don't like, as many of them sell things I can find anywhere. Some were of interest, though - one selling antique ivory carvings and other native made goods, another selling original and reproduction posters and magazines (not an extremely rare type of shop, but this was a pretty good iteration of one), and a few others, in this "Down Under" section.
Returning to the main aisle, as I continued further down vendors were starting to set up their booths of various craft items. After a while, the building ended, but the vendors setting out their wares didn't - they lined the street, extending the market well beyond the building. There is a road that runs behind part of the market, down to the water for ferry access. Across this street is the parking garage, and at the north end of it there is a small park by the water that offers some good views of Puget Sound. After meeting a family from Lakeland, FL who were going on a cruise, I crossed one of the pedestrian bridges, which took me back into the Down Under area, but this time, I walked through the lower level, which is only half fully empty, and the shops weren't as interesting.
I made my way back to the street level, and crossed over to the other side, where there are tons of restaurants, wine shops, trinket shops, and a cheese shop called Beecher's Handmade Cheese that had a very long line in front of it. I was curious why there would be such a substantial line for a cheese shop, so I went in for a closer look. The line was actually for a cafe section of the shop that sold sandwiches, so I usurped the line, and went over to the cheese case to look at the important stuff. They didn't have much out to sample, but the sales people were all very helpful, and allowed me to sample a few of their cheeses. I chose the balance of their Maker's Choice sample (just over 1/4lb), a double cream Monterey Jack, which was extremely tasty.
After walking for a while, and having discussed pricing with some of the people there, I decided to do what I had planned to do in Alaska - send some fish to my mom, so I called her, then went back to Pike Place Fish, which was now extremely crowded, and fish were flying on a regular basis. Mind you, I didn't go back to them simply because they were the most famous fish vendor, but they had a little better pricing on most of what I wanted to order.
Steelhead Diner
After submitting my order, I decided to have lunch (may as well spend some more money!), so, at the recommendation of one of the fish mongers, I headed to a restaurant called the Steelhead Diner. I ordered the Grilled Copper River Sockeye Salmon with Port Soaked Cherries, Smokey Almond~Rosemary Brown Butter, & Creamy Hominy Polenta. It was very tasty - which is great, because the only whole fish I ordered is a CR Sockeye!
The whole market isn't full of fish mongers throwing fish, but it was still a joy to walk through. Only one of the four fish companies there throw fish, but the others, including the oldest one of the market - City Fish Company (http://www.cityfish.com/), feature some additional offerings, often including more prepared cocktails, or even offering chowders and fried fish and chips. There are also some great shops and restaurants, street entertainers all over, and lots of great things to see and people to watch.
Space Needle
Because I had explored pretty much the whole market, I decided to walk to the Seattle Space Needle. I didn't know exactly where it was, but I had seen it when I was at the baseball game the night before, and it didn't look like it would be too far of a walk. Turns out it is about 1.2 miles from the market - a little further than I thought it was, but it wasn't too bad of a walk, and it was pretty easy to locate a few blocks into the walk. When I got there, the line to buy tickets was about a 30 min wait. I had forgotten to buy something at one of the shops at the market that I intended to buy, and didn't know when the shops close, so, since it was 4:30, and shops like these often close at either 5 or 6:00, I decided to hustle back to the market.
After I bought the forgotten items, I decided I should unload my backpack and the stuff I'd bought at my car, since it was getting heavy, and I wasn't needing any of the additional stuff I had put in the backpack (rain gear, shirt-jacket, hat, dried fruit, etc.). By the time I got to my car, it was nearly 5:30, leaving me with a 1.5 hours to walk back to the Space Needle (now 1.4 miles away), wait in a potentially 1/2 hr line, and go up and observe the city, and walk back to my car. I decided it was worth trying because I really didn't want to forfeit the remaining time on my parking spot and pay to park in a closer location, so I set out on a brisk walk to the Needle.
When I got to the Space Needle, the line had significantly diminished, and it ended up being about an 8 minute wait. I bought my ticket ($19), and headed up to see the city from the elevated perspective. It was a really nice view all around the Needle. Behind the downtown area, Mt. Rainier was well visible - much better so far away than it had been 9 days ago when I was actually there! the other mountain ranges, including the Northern Cascades and the Olympic Range were also visible, but not quite as much as Rainier. I really enjoyed the views from the observation platform, and would have really liked to stay up there to watch the sunset, and then to take some night time shots of the city, as I had done in San Antonio.
Unfortunately, it was now 6:40, so I made my way to the elevator down and glanced around the gift shop on my way out. At this point, I had 15 minutes to walk the 1.4 miles back to my car. I did so hurriedly, though some of the crosswalks didn't cooperate, and a couple I passed asked me if I knew where a Japanese Restaurant was around there. I ended up getting back to my car at 7:05, and it was in the process of not being towed or having a ticket written for it's expired parking permit. Still, it was time to go, and I still didn't want to pay to park anywhere else, so I knew it was time to get out of the downtown area. Also, throughout the course of the day, the mirror on my camera had stuck intermittently (a problem that didn't manifest during the baseball game, but that was getting frustrating).
I decided I should stay near town so I could take it back to the camera repair shop the next morning, which resulted in me heading back to the Walmart I had slept at the night before. What I forgot until I had almost arrived, is that it was Friday, and they don't work on weekends. I decided I'd go ahead and stay there, but instead of staying around Seattle, the plan was to move on with the route of the North Cascades, and if the camera kept acting up during that time, I could return to Seattle to have them check it out after I finish the loop.
Friday, June 15, 2012
Day 91 - Kits Camera in Covington, Drive Through Kent, Photo-tronics Camera Repair Shop in Seattle, Baseball Tonight!, Pickup Camera, Mariners vs. Padres
Kits Camera in Covington
I got to Covington, and the people at the "Kits" camera store (equivalent of Ritz) told me they didn't do cleanings in house, and wouldn't sell me the supplies, but they did refer me to a repair shop in Seattle called Photo-tronics. I called them up, and they said they could get my camera done by the 5:30 if I got it to them quickly.
Drive Through Kent
The fastest route according to my GPS took me through Kent, so I technically went there, but very briefly. I had planned to visit the city that shared my name. It is actually the 6th largest city in the state, and was originally called Titusville, but in the late 19th century, the town became the largest supplier of hops to England, whose crops had been dessimated by aphids. During this time, it changed it's name to Kent, after Kent County in England. I actually had thought it might have been related to one of the codevelopers of Kenworth - one of the largest semi truck producers based out of the Seattle area - which was founded by the Gerlinger brothers, but bought out and developed by Edgar K. Worthington and Captain Frederick Kent.
Photo-tronics Camera Repair Shop in Seattle
I dropped off my camera around 3:30. Since I had 1.5-2 hours to wait, I decided to drive to Safeco Field to get a ticket for the night's Mariners Game.
Baseball Tonight!
This should have been easy, but the interstate that runs along Seattle is being re-reouted, so exits don't exist where they should, but I managed to find my way there. One of the businesses near the main box office that charges $25 to park allowed me to park there for free long enough to run across the street to buy a ticket. When I got to the box office, I asked for the cheapest ticket they had, and it was $6 because they were having a special tonight to celebrate the 6-pitcher no-hitter they had last week. Score!
Pickup Camera
I went back to pick up my camera, and they gave me the news that the ribbon cable in the lens is for the VR (vibration reduction), and that for them to repair it, it would take 2 weeks and $289. They said as long as I leave the VR mode off, it shouldn't degrade any more. I'll try to keep using the lens until the end of the trip, then send it to Nikon for repair (I hear they often repair for free, even out of warranty). $100 for the cleaning, and I was on my way back to the stadium.
Mariners vs. Padres
The guy that let me park near the stadium had told me that you could bring food in, so when I got there, I wanted to find out exactly what was permitted and what wasn't, so I went down to the right field gate (I parked in the Quest Field - home of the Seattle Seahawks - parking lot across the street).
I talked to a few of the gate keepers/ticket scanners for a while about my trip, and they told me I could bring any food in, but no liquids (an empty flexible plastic water bottle is acceptable, but I didn't feel like emptying one just to take it in). They also told me about the street at the center field gate that has vendors lining it, selling cheaper food that can be brought in.
I headed back up to my car, and decided to bring a backpack in so I didn't have to wear a jacket unless I wanted to (my ticket was in section 318, and the temperature was around 55*), and so I could bring in some food - I tossed some yogurt covered raisins and dried fruit in it. I knew no weapons are permitted in the stadium, and though I only use them as tools, I wanted to remove my pocket knives and folding trowel from the backpack. While I was emptying the unnecessary items from it, I opened one of the pockets and found my missing lens filters! $50 I didn't lose permanently! I swapped the now found UV filter onto the camera, since it would be mostly low light in the stadium, took some pictures from the top of the parking garage, then headed back to street level.
I walked the street the vendors were on, and walked into one of the several sports shops on it. They had a sale on a lot of Mariners clothing, and also had some hats on sale from other teams including the Bucs. I asked if they had anything from the Rays, and they didn't, but I talked to the sales person for a while, then walked back toward the stadium, and around it, to the home plate entrance, where I entered the stadium. They barely glanced at my backpack as I went in. As I entered the gate, I looked up, and there was a chandelier constructed of 1000 bats.
Safeco field has a retractable roof, which was open for the game, and is built to offer good views of the field and the surrounding skyline from almost anywhere in the park. It didn't disappoint.
I walked around the main concourse, participated in the National Anthem (no one else around me was singing along with the operatically trained singer (no, I wasn't trying to sing like him)), and watched the first inning from the edge of the concourse.
I lapped the home plate entrance, then checked out their hall of fame, which is an outer hallway lined with some of the more unusual food vendors in the park, including sushi, thai, and gourmet pizza vendors.
Walking into the team store from the main concourse, you enter a cylindrical room filled with signed limited edition photographs and memorabilia.
The sales attendant here put my drink aside, since food and beverages aren't allowed in the store, and I spent a while talking to him before heading downstairs to check out the main store. The main store has a door with direct access to the outside that was being guarded by a couple of attendants. One of them asked me about my camera and my Rays shirt, so we spoke at length about photography, baseball, and my trip. He told me that the retractable roof on Safeco doesn't actually fully close in the stadium, but only serves as an umbrella over it when closed - it's the only such stadium in the US - all the other retractable roof stadiums seal when closed, allowing for climate control.
After talking to him and looking around the rest of the store, I went back to the main concourse, then headed up the series of escalators to the 300 level. At the top, I checked out the skyline from some of the scenic viewpoints around the upper concourse. I continued watching the game from different vantage points, then decided I'd check out the game from my seat, since it was already the top of the 7th, and I hadn't actually been to my seat yet.
I stopped and bought a fish and chips platter, then headed to my seat.
I never actually got there. I ended up in a nearby section, in a slightly lower row, because I didn't want to disturb too many people, and there were plenty of open seats around the stadium. Here, I watched the remainder of the game while eating my cod and fries (which was o.k., though I've had better - and worse - stadium food).
John Jaso (formerly a Rays player) was got the Mariners their first RBI of the night. It was nice to see him playing, and doing ok in the DH role.
Rally time in the ninth?!?
No rally came to fruition. The Mariners ended up losing to the Padres 6-2, but I thoroughly enjoyed checking out the stadium and getting to watch only the second game I've seen this season, since I started my trip just before the season started, so the only other game I've seen was the Astro's starter in Houston. I would have liked to see more of this game, as I normally watch 90% or more of a game, and only watched about 50% of this one, but it was a very good night at the ballpark.
I got to Covington, and the people at the "Kits" camera store (equivalent of Ritz) told me they didn't do cleanings in house, and wouldn't sell me the supplies, but they did refer me to a repair shop in Seattle called Photo-tronics. I called them up, and they said they could get my camera done by the 5:30 if I got it to them quickly.
Drive Through Kent
The fastest route according to my GPS took me through Kent, so I technically went there, but very briefly. I had planned to visit the city that shared my name. It is actually the 6th largest city in the state, and was originally called Titusville, but in the late 19th century, the town became the largest supplier of hops to England, whose crops had been dessimated by aphids. During this time, it changed it's name to Kent, after Kent County in England. I actually had thought it might have been related to one of the codevelopers of Kenworth - one of the largest semi truck producers based out of the Seattle area - which was founded by the Gerlinger brothers, but bought out and developed by Edgar K. Worthington and Captain Frederick Kent.
Photo-tronics Camera Repair Shop in Seattle
I dropped off my camera around 3:30. Since I had 1.5-2 hours to wait, I decided to drive to Safeco Field to get a ticket for the night's Mariners Game.
Baseball Tonight!
This should have been easy, but the interstate that runs along Seattle is being re-reouted, so exits don't exist where they should, but I managed to find my way there. One of the businesses near the main box office that charges $25 to park allowed me to park there for free long enough to run across the street to buy a ticket. When I got to the box office, I asked for the cheapest ticket they had, and it was $6 because they were having a special tonight to celebrate the 6-pitcher no-hitter they had last week. Score!
Pickup Camera
I went back to pick up my camera, and they gave me the news that the ribbon cable in the lens is for the VR (vibration reduction), and that for them to repair it, it would take 2 weeks and $289. They said as long as I leave the VR mode off, it shouldn't degrade any more. I'll try to keep using the lens until the end of the trip, then send it to Nikon for repair (I hear they often repair for free, even out of warranty). $100 for the cleaning, and I was on my way back to the stadium.
Mariners vs. Padres
The guy that let me park near the stadium had told me that you could bring food in, so when I got there, I wanted to find out exactly what was permitted and what wasn't, so I went down to the right field gate (I parked in the Quest Field - home of the Seattle Seahawks - parking lot across the street).
I talked to a few of the gate keepers/ticket scanners for a while about my trip, and they told me I could bring any food in, but no liquids (an empty flexible plastic water bottle is acceptable, but I didn't feel like emptying one just to take it in). They also told me about the street at the center field gate that has vendors lining it, selling cheaper food that can be brought in.
I headed back up to my car, and decided to bring a backpack in so I didn't have to wear a jacket unless I wanted to (my ticket was in section 318, and the temperature was around 55*), and so I could bring in some food - I tossed some yogurt covered raisins and dried fruit in it. I knew no weapons are permitted in the stadium, and though I only use them as tools, I wanted to remove my pocket knives and folding trowel from the backpack. While I was emptying the unnecessary items from it, I opened one of the pockets and found my missing lens filters! $50 I didn't lose permanently! I swapped the now found UV filter onto the camera, since it would be mostly low light in the stadium, took some pictures from the top of the parking garage, then headed back to street level.
I walked the street the vendors were on, and walked into one of the several sports shops on it. They had a sale on a lot of Mariners clothing, and also had some hats on sale from other teams including the Bucs. I asked if they had anything from the Rays, and they didn't, but I talked to the sales person for a while, then walked back toward the stadium, and around it, to the home plate entrance, where I entered the stadium. They barely glanced at my backpack as I went in. As I entered the gate, I looked up, and there was a chandelier constructed of 1000 bats.
Safeco field has a retractable roof, which was open for the game, and is built to offer good views of the field and the surrounding skyline from almost anywhere in the park. It didn't disappoint.
I bought an all-you-can drink souvineer cup (many of the stadiums I've been to offer these, which save you money if you get a few refills, over the cost of buying drinks each time), then watched another inning of the game from the standing area over the bullpen, while finishing off the remaining yogurt raisins.
I lapped the home plate entrance, then checked out their hall of fame, which is an outer hallway lined with some of the more unusual food vendors in the park, including sushi, thai, and gourmet pizza vendors.
Walking into the team store from the main concourse, you enter a cylindrical room filled with signed limited edition photographs and memorabilia.
The sales attendant here put my drink aside, since food and beverages aren't allowed in the store, and I spent a while talking to him before heading downstairs to check out the main store. The main store has a door with direct access to the outside that was being guarded by a couple of attendants. One of them asked me about my camera and my Rays shirt, so we spoke at length about photography, baseball, and my trip. He told me that the retractable roof on Safeco doesn't actually fully close in the stadium, but only serves as an umbrella over it when closed - it's the only such stadium in the US - all the other retractable roof stadiums seal when closed, allowing for climate control.
After talking to him and looking around the rest of the store, I went back to the main concourse, then headed up the series of escalators to the 300 level. At the top, I checked out the skyline from some of the scenic viewpoints around the upper concourse. I continued watching the game from different vantage points, then decided I'd check out the game from my seat, since it was already the top of the 7th, and I hadn't actually been to my seat yet.
I stopped and bought a fish and chips platter, then headed to my seat.
I never actually got there. I ended up in a nearby section, in a slightly lower row, because I didn't want to disturb too many people, and there were plenty of open seats around the stadium. Here, I watched the remainder of the game while eating my cod and fries (which was o.k., though I've had better - and worse - stadium food).
John Jaso (formerly a Rays player) was got the Mariners their first RBI of the night. It was nice to see him playing, and doing ok in the DH role.
Rally time in the ninth?!?
No rally came to fruition. The Mariners ended up losing to the Padres 6-2, but I thoroughly enjoyed checking out the stadium and getting to watch only the second game I've seen this season, since I started my trip just before the season started, so the only other game I've seen was the Astro's starter in Houston. I would have liked to see more of this game, as I normally watch 90% or more of a game, and only watched about 50% of this one, but it was a very good night at the ballpark.
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