My Canada - US Travels |
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Cross Canada
BC - Winnipeg
North West Drive
Washington
BC Interior
Langley Detour
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WashingtonMonday October 16thTime for our Summer holiday in October - a month long drive around the Northwest (and a bit further). We leave the Sunshine Coast the only way you can, by ferry, for Vancouver. From there we drive straight to Seattle. It's a "Pain free" border crossing and we arrive in Seattle early evening, before chaos gets going on the roads. Only 2 1/2 hours after leaving Vancouver. We stay at a small boutique style inn in the trendy area of Belltown. The Inn, El Gaucho, is better known for being a great steak restaurant with an amazing atmosphere. Before we set off from Sechelt we checked TripAdvisor. People liked the place, but not the steps up to the second floor! The Inn is above the restaurant (no, you can't really hear it). Don't let a few steps put you off, the Inn does have doormen to carry your luggage if you need. We go out for dinner to a japanese restaurant in the neighbourhood, called Umi. Wow, up there with Tojo's of Vancouver, but a different style and cheaper. Tuesday 17th El Gaucho does do a room service breakfast, but with so many interesting cafe type places nearby, why not explore? We go for breakfast just down the road at a french style bistro, called Le Pichet. Great food and atmosphere, the type of place you expect to see any time of day old frenchmen standing at the bar drinking a pression or cafe noir, smoking their gauloises (except obviously that's illegal). But to bring us back to North America, just ridiculous portions, we end up splitting one breakfast. We ask the waitress to box up an untouched brioche. We ordered 2, not realizing they were the size of a newborn’s head, explaining to the waitress as Canadians, we are not used to American portions. Her response: You shouldn’t get used to it, no one needs that much food. We walk up to the central part of town, so M can do the compulsory shopping. We wander by Pike Place Market. No fish are flying unfortunately, just a big crowd gathered waiting for someone to buy. One fish stall is known for throwing the fish from the display out front to the packers behind the display, you gotta see it, to think this isn't dumb. In fact they're used as an example for team training by some major US corporations. Then it's a short walk northwest back to Belltown, it's a fun area with lots of interesting restaurants and trendy shops. We don't mind this walk during the day, but Seattle becomes deserted downtown at night and we find the walk can be a little unsettling after dark. Dinner was so good the night before, we decide to go back to Umi, always a little dangerous but it lives up to expectations. Wednesday 18th Breakfast is the doggy bagged breakfast from yesterday. We wander around in the morning and return to Le Pichet for lunch. It's great, especially since we have learned our lesson about portions. Rather than carry on down to Portland as planned, we have to return to Vancouver for an appointment tomorrow morning! We stay at the Metropolitan, a fun boutique hotel, in downtown Vancouver. We get a great rate booking through an english website - skoosh.com
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