We have returned home at last, tired but refreshed. My near-constant eye twitch even stopped a few days into the trip! Undoubtedly it will return, but I'm enjoying its absence while it lasts.
After my last post (which was mysteriously deleted but was undoubtedly a brilliant piece of writing so just remember it that way), the trip continued on in full steam. I meant to post again during the trip instead of waiting until returning home, but when I was too busy doing all the things and eating all the food, I was too tired from doing all the things and eating all the food to think about putting together a coherent post. So here it is, I'll try to not be TOO long-winded (I said I'd try, not that I'd succeed).
On my birthday we took an early ferry over to Salt Spring Island where we explored the market, ate some delicious food, visited some shops (yes, including some that sold yarn), and took a drive up to the top of Mount Maxwell. From there we took in the view, which didn't suck.
After heading back to Victoria we went for dinner with an old friend of mine, who surprised me with the best cake of all time! It was also delicious.
Early Monday morning we caught the ferry to Vancouver, rented a car, and drove down to Everett in Washington so the Enabler could start doing his business-y things. While he was busy, I amused myself by wandering around the Future of Flight museum. One of the most interesting things I learned is that the carbon fiber parts used in airplanes are basically made of yarn. Well ok, thread. Carbon thread that gets layered into a mold and filled with epoxy and baked or something, but it still starts out as thread on a spool! I think it would be fun to try to knit something with it.
After he was done we headed into Seattle and checked into our hotel downtown to freshen up before walking around downtown a little and having a delicious dinner at the Metropolitan Grill. (Dinner not pictured because we were too busy eating for me to remember to take a picture).
The next day I struck out on my own to Bainbridge Island. When I was trying to take a picture of the Seattle skyline, I got photobombed by a seagull.
I wandered around the island, which included a visit to another yarn store. I also explored a number of the other shops and stopped for lunch at the Madison Diner (which was featured on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives a number of years ago. It was delicious).
Once I had pretty much exhausted things to do on foot on the island, I started to head back to the ferry, but got sidetracked by an art gallery on the way. Admission was free, so obviously I had to stop and check it out. After exploring the whole gallery and the gift shop, I headed back out to the ferry. Unfortunately I hadn't bothered to check the schedule at all, and got there when the ferry was still there, but about a minute too late to actually get on it.
Back in Seattle (after a 45 minute wait for the ferry and a 30 minute ferry ride), I learned the hard way about cities built on hills. I, of course, have lived on the prairie my whole life, and have come to take the flatness of the place I live for granted. After getting off the ferry and taking the pedestrian overpass which goes over the road that is closest to the waterfront, I was on 1st Ave. My hotel was on 4th Ave. Only 3 blocks up, and a few blocks over. The blocks over only had a slight incline, however each of the blocks up climbed between 3 and 4 stories. A building built over the whole block would start on the 1st floor on one side, and the 4th or 5th floor on the other side. I can still hardly believe it. I honestly couldn't figure out how people survive it.
I did make it back to the hotel in one piece (albeit a rather sore and tired piece), and after changing and a short rest, the Enabler and I headed out to find dinner, and ended up in the Pike Place Market area. This is when I realized that the climb from the ferry terminal to the hotel was far steeper than the one from the market to the hotel, even though they were both on 1st Ave. I made a mental note of the blocks that had the worst climbs and decided to avoid them in the future.
In wandering around the market to find our dinner destination, we came across the Gum Wall in Post Alley. I still can't wrap my head around this one. It was kind of neat, but also really gross. It smelled of artificial fruit flavour.
The next day I wandered around downtown Seattle. I visited the Olympic Sculpture Garden, another yarn store, and took in the views on Pier 66.
I explored Pike Place Market a bit and saw the long line of people waiting to get into the original Starbucks, but passed it all by. I was tired and hot by that time, so I went to a (much quieter) coffee shop near my hotel and recharged a bit.
That evening after dinner, we went to check out the Seattle Central Library, which was the inspiration for the Koolhaas hat pattern by Jared Flood.
On Thursday we made our way back to Vancouver where we visited another yarn store, and had a lovely visit and dinner with my uncle and cousin. Then Friday was the flight home, snuggling with kitties, and unpacking.
Unpacking was a bit... surprising. I did mention that I visited a few yarn stores, didn't I?
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