August 28- September 7, 2015
Around the world (part one)
With one week off of work, I ended up traveling 11,315 miles, visiting 3
countries (yes, USA is included), visiting my brother, eating some amazing
foods, and spending time with lovely people. While the trip extremely deviated
from its original plan, Mom and I decided to make our own “Amazing Race”
experience. Good thing she has the spirit of creativity!
One week with Mom…
Back in March, I won a raffle at work that gave me 2 free
roundtrip tickets on Harbour Air—an airline that flies seaplanes in western
Canada (Vancouver, Whistler, Victoria, etc). I decided that Mom would be my
lucky partner. We had the tentative plans set out—the dates, destinations,
activities…--with the intentions of going where the wind takes us.
Friday evening, we met at the airport and boarded the plane
to Seattle. Saturday morning, we finally decided the necessary layers of
clothing for a day in the odd Seattle weather and boarded the metro-train for
downtown---
PIKE’S PLACE MARKET! This has been a dream of mine ever since my
brother told me about the dreamy spot with a variety of food and life. There is
no better market buddy in the world than Mom. Walking up to the market, Mom and
I were distracted by every cool, shiny thing that describes the awesome hippie
food scene—vegan pastry shop, pickle shop, ginger beer, mmmm… When we got back
on track, we were next mesmerized by the huge, vibrant, yellow sunflowers just
flamboyantly waiting for attention, the table full of lavender that just
transported me back to the countryside of south France, and the rows of bright,
plump berries just waiting to be devoured. We had landed in heaven. Luckily,
the market wasn’t too crowded, so it wasn’t a problem that we slowly walked
through the market in a daze of happiness. This morning, we ate: Indian food,
crumpets with honey, homemade pickles, raspberries… and then took the train to
another part of town to sample some local (Portland) kombuchas in a trendy
Whole Foods. Scrumptious!
Next was Chinatown. We explored the large Asian supermarket
in town and then ate dinner in a Korean tofu restaurant. Mom picked out a dish
that she has had before- “bibimbop stone bowl”. It came out steamy and was
delicious (but burnt my tongue)! The meal was accompanied with four small
plates of kimchi, pickles, and other cool new bites. As we rode the train back
to the hotel, we passed a huge industrial looking brewery building and a car
mechanical shop that repairs hippie vans. For a gloomy city, there still seems
to be some awesome life here!
The next morning, we rode the train to Chinatown for a
breakfast of tea and a Chinese bun with a clump of raisins inside (kind of a
sad surprise when we were expecting magic little raisin men to jump out of the
bun as we ate it). We went back to the large Asian supermarket to buy two
bottles of kombucha to sample on the bus ride up to Vancouver (soooo much
kombucha in this place. It was so exciting). We caught the bus at the Amtrak
station before noon and picked the front seat with a great view.
When riding
out of the city, we passed villages of tents. This is something I’ve vaguely
heard of, but never really expected. Throughout the trip, as we tried to find
last minute hotels/hostels, all of the places had to make sure that we were
from out of town. They mentioned that there is a large problem with locals (or
nomads) trying to stay in hostels around town.
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| Mom's first hostel |
About 4 hours later, Mom and I arrived at the Vancouver
Amtrak station with our backpacks, some Canadian dollars, and no clue of what
we were going to do or where we were going to sleep. After finding a map and
the general direction that we should head, we stopped in a nearby hostel to see
if we could book a room for the night. To our misfortune, the man said there were
no room and the city was pretty booked for the remainder of the week so it
would be hard to find a place to sleep. Somehow, Mom was very patient and,
within a couple of hours, we found a hostel with 2 beds left near the center of
town. This was going to be Mom’s first (and maybe last) time sleeping in a
hostel. I’d say she was a pretty good sport!!
After dropping our bags, we explored on foot and search for
the Olympic Village. Many miles (and map-checks) later, we visited the
apartments area of the Olympic Village. We never found the Olympic rings. L The evening dinner was
the highlight of the trip. We entered a Japanese restaurant hungry and hoping
to try some of Vancouver’s famous food. We ate some fancy sushi bites and a
delicious teriyaki salmon! MMMM.
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| Vancouver, BC |
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| Granville Market |
Monday morning, we woke up to some pretty heavy rain. I
called the airline to discover that they cancelled the day’s flights due to
poor weather. We decided that flying on a seaplane out of Vancouver was a
highly improbable event, so we tried to do some planning. When planning failed,
we explored the Granville Market across the bridge. We walked in the rain (in
panchos) to find the market. At the market, we planned some more. We came to a
decision to visit Scott in Wisconsin! (I’ll fast-forward many hours due to some
unglamorous travel details….) and then we ended up at a fancy seafood
restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel. Wet and tired, we took a seat at the
fancy table, ordered some fancy drinks, and ate some fancy meals while watching
fancy people. With all of the mild misfortunes of the weekend, we soaked up the
comfort of the moment and lingered at the restaurant longer than any waiter
would prefer.
Many unglamorous hours later, we were in Scott’s car driving
past green parks in a homey town. That evening, Scott took us to a Pakistani
restaurant for some new food and a view of spirited college kids enjoying the
simplicity of the sidewalks in a college town.
The next two days were comforting with a homey apartment,
our own kitchen, and fresh laundry. Mom and I hung out all day and sipped
kombucha in the evening on Scott’s apartment roof. What a vacation!! J Thursday evening, we
watch Scott and his Frisbee team cream their opponents. Friday morning, Mom and
I packed up for the next adventure—getting back to Florida.
