We were up bright and early this morning to get downtown to the Port of Seattle. We took the Victoria Clipper (a high-speed ferry) up to Victoria, British Columbia for a day trip. The ferry departed at 7:30 a.m.! Ooof!
The ride was about 3 hours each way, so it was a lot of time on the boat. The nice thing was that since it’s not an airplane, we were able to use our “electronic devices” the entire way. Lots of texting, twittering, etc. Nice!
Here I am, showing off my Sea Bands. I’m not especially prone to motion sickness, but I have experienced a bit of it (mainly headaches) on boats before, so I wore them as a precaution. I was fine, except for when the boat was bobbing up and down while we were waiting for everyone to board and depart. Ick. Once the motor was running and we were moving, I was fine.
We arrived in Victoria around 10:30 a.m., and stepped out into the glorious sunshiny day. Here’s a photo of the Clipper and all of the passengers waiting in line to get through customs. But we were outside, so who cares?
As I said: Glorious.
We made it through customs really quickly, actually. We did have a casualty, though. The customs officer confiscated our two wonderfully tasty, sweet Fuji apples we had picked up from Safeway the day before. :( Bastards. Those guys probably ate them for lunch!
Once through customs, we set off on foot to go find the scooter rental place. We figured it would be a fantastic way to learn our way around Victoria, so riding the scooters was first up on our agenda. We found it quickly, and within 20 minutes, we were off!
Neither of us had ever driven scooters before, so it was interesting at first. Due to my questionable turning capabilities (at first), I almost ran into a car during my “practice run” around the parking lot. Thankfully, the learning curve was short and I figured it out quickly.
Since we really had no idea where we were going, we just started driving aimlessly. Then, we decided we wanted to drive to the outer coast (not far, but definitely not within walking distance). Before we knew it, we found an area on the coast that had a fantastically long pier to walk down. We parked the scooters and took a stroll.
View from the pier, looking inland. There was a cruise ship docked there.
Once we were done there, we got back on the scooters and headed back to downtown Victoria.
We stopped in Chinatown for a bit…
And even stopped for a quick jaunt (mostly just to take pictures) down the world’s most narrow street (Fan Tan Alley).
It really is a “street.” There are shops and restaurants back there!
Then we just drove… and drove… and drove. We ended up in some suburbs, and got a little lost finding our way back. It was fun, though. We eventually tired of riding on the scooters (we had them for 3 hours!), and decided to return them.
By this time, we were starving, so we walked up to a pub (Darcy’s Pub, to be specific) we had seen during our travels. The food was delicious, the beer hit the spot, and the view was fabulous.
While eating, we were sitting down in that little table area on the left. We got to watch sea planes take off and land throughout our meal.
After lunch/dinner, we decided to just walk around, explore, and take photos.
We eventually ended up at “The Original Christmas Shop,” which was literally chock-full of Christmas stuff. Heaven on Earth, if it wasn’t JUNE. But hey, it was still kind of cool to see.
I managed to snap a couple of photos before we were informed there are “no photos allowed” in there.
We spent the last hour or so sitting on a park bench overlooking the water. We were exhausted. We had to head back to the Clipper at around 6:00 p.m. to check in, and the boat left at 7:00. We didn’t get back to Seattle and through customs until after 10:00! Needless to say, we need sleep. We’re totally sleeping in tomorrow!
This morning, we woke up to overcast weather. Welcome to Seattle!
Of course, we spent a good chunk of time standing at the fish market, watching dudes throw fish. If you’ve never been, you’d be surprised at what a crowd smelly fish guys attract. It’s quite entertaining. I got a couple of good “catch” photos, but didn’t get any decent ones of the actual throwing. With so many people, it was difficult to get good angles. Up above, see that blurry fish flying through the air?
And here’s a good one of a catch.
The fish guys hard at work. They were go-go-go the whole time.
It was supposed to burn off in the afternoon, but we saw very little sun today. Bummer. But you know… it wasn’t raining. For that, we are grateful.
After a little breakfast and showers, we headed right on down to Pike Place Market to wander around.
I’ve been before, but Pike Place is a must, no matter how many times you’ve been to Seattle!
Everything is just so amazing. Especially the flower and produce displays.
Check out all of those colorful fruit and vegetables!
Of course, we spent a good chunk of time standing at the fish market, watching dudes throw fish. If you’ve never been, you’d be surprised at what a crowd smelly fish guys attract. It’s quite entertaining. I got a couple of good “catch” photos, but didn’t get any decent ones of the actual throwing. With so many people, it was difficult to get good angles. Up above, see that blurry fish flying through the air?
And here’s a good one of a catch.
The fish guys hard at work. They were go-go-go the whole time.
After Pike Place, we drove down the street a little ways and decided to check out the Seattle Underground Tour.
But first, we took pics of this cool-looking building. So… green!
One of the original sewer pipes. Yes, they used wood. You can imagine how effective that was. Sure, elevation played a role, but the wood pipes were certainly a factor in their sewage issues as well.
I was born in Seattle and lived here until I was 6 years old. And this was my house. My mom and dad bought it without the top floor on it. My dad (I believe he had some help) built the addition (the entire top floor) on it after they moved in, among other work he did to it. The house looks a lot different now. The deck used to be enclosed with lattice, and the siding used to be a different color. And the current landscaping is pretty amazing (no offense to my parents!).
This is technically the front of the house. This is one part of the house that looks wayyyy different from when my family lived there. That small deck/porch wasn’t there. And um, again… the landscaping. Not there. In fact, there was a pretty big incline right around this area that my brothers and I used to ride our bikes down. We’d fly down it on our Big Wheels. It doesn’t look like that would be NEARLY as much fun now. :)
We arrived at the Underground Tour headquarters just as a tour was about to start. Perfect timing on our part. If you’re unfamiliar with the “Seattle Underground”… basically, Seattle used to be about 20 ft. lower than it currently is. Back in the 1800s, because of its elevation, the city apparently dealt with a number of problems, including sewage issues (ewwwww). When the city burnt to the ground due to a large fire in the late 1800s, the decision was made to “raise” the city before it was rebuilt.
All of the buildings in this historic area of Seattle have these really old basements that used to be the first floors of all the buildings. Some of the underground areas beneath the streets and buildings have essentially been kept “as is” and are open for tours. The tour was pretty cool, but I was sort of disappointed in what there is to actually see. I’m not sure exactly what I was expecting; I just know I was expecting a lot more. Most of the stuff under there was lacking in authenticity, I thought. There are several signs, rooms, etc. set up and I just didn’t quite believe that all of it was real. The tour guides are really knowledgeable, though, and the story-telling part of it was pretty fascinating.
Here’s Michael at an old bar area that is set up underground.
One of the original sewer pipes. Yes, they used wood. You can imagine how effective that was. Sure, elevation played a role, but the wood pipes were certainly a factor in their sewage issues as well.
After the Underground Tour, we decided to drive to my house. Well, it’s not mine anymore.
I was born in Seattle and lived here until I was 6 years old. And this was my house. My mom and dad bought it without the top floor on it. My dad (I believe he had some help) built the addition (the entire top floor) on it after they moved in, among other work he did to it. The house looks a lot different now. The deck used to be enclosed with lattice, and the siding used to be a different color. And the current landscaping is pretty amazing (no offense to my parents!).
But you know what? My dad’s name is still carved into the cement slab outside of the garage. It was filled with dirt and is faded (I’m sure the cement has eroded a bit), but I found it.
The house is now owned by a retired couple, and they were both out working in the yard (hence the amazing landscaping). We talked to them for a while about the house and the area. It was pretty cool. They even let us walk through the bottom level real quick, and it was weird! I was young, but I have plenty of memories of that house. It’s strange to see the inside as someone else’s home.
This is technically the front of the house. This is one part of the house that looks wayyyy different from when my family lived there. That small deck/porch wasn’t there. And um, again… the landscaping. Not there. In fact, there was a pretty big incline right around this area that my brothers and I used to ride our bikes down. We’d fly down it on our Big Wheels. It doesn’t look like that would be NEARLY as much fun now. :)
Anyway, this wasn’t my first time back at the house (I visited once before, about 10 years ago), but it’s always interesting to visit the past. We haven’t lived in that house since 1988!
The only level of elementary school that I attended in Seattle was kindergarten. And I used to walk (yes, as a kindergartner. this was the 80s, people!) to school with a bunch of neighborhood kids. I was pretty sure I remembered how to get there. So after we left the house, we drove in the direction I believed the school was in. Turns out I was right, and we found it.
Sadly, it’s now closed. I guess they do hold some sort of preschool/special ed classes there, but it’s no longer an elementary school. It looked rundown. But I was able, again, to do a bit of reminiscing. My dad took my training wheels off my bike and taught me how to ride a 2-wheeler on the paved part of that playground.
After the blast from the past, it was about dinner time, so we headed back to the house to have dinner with Mike, Christy, and Cameron. We spent the evening relaxing with a few beers and watching a movie (Gran Torino, which was good, but I did fall asleep for a while in the middle of it. I was still adjusting to the new timezone!).
Tomorrow, we’re getting up really early to get down to the Port of Seattle. We’re off to British Columbia for the day! We’re taking the Victoria Clipper up there. It should be another day full of activity…
Today was our travel day.
Our flight didn’t actually leave home until 5:00 p.m., so we had much of the day to get things done. We even went over to Michael’s parents’ for a while to see his sister and our nephews, who had driven in for a visit.
The flights were on time and uneventful, which was nice. We landed in Seattle at around 9:30 p.m., which was after midnight “our” time. Unfortunately, the rental car line was ridiculously long, and then we got caught in some ridiculous traffic. Just what we were looking forward to after long flights, right?
But of course, we eventually made it, and Christy and Mike (our lovely hosts here in Seattle!) were kind enough to have wine, crackers, and cheese waiting for us. It was nice to kick back, relax, and catch up with them a little bit instead of heading straight to bed.
We’re excited about our time in Seattle!
24 hours from now, we’ll be on a plane, officially starting our vacation!
This week has been pretty crazy. I’ve just had a lot of stuff going on, in addition to preparing for our trip. I can’t even believe we’re leaving tomorrow. It seems like we’ve been talking about this for so long, and it’s finally here!
What’s funny is that this morning, I realized that I was actually in Seattle this same weekend three years ago. I was out there for work the second weekend of June in 2006. Weird. Also, that just so happens to be the trip during which I had the worst traveling experience of my entire life. I’ve written about it before… you can check out the story here. Let’s just hope that doesn’t happen again, eh? Really, though, that situation was like a perfect storm of events and conditions… I don’t think I could recreate that stress if I tried.
We also made a pit-stop in Seattle both on the way to and on the way back from our honeymoon in Hawaii. But aside from those lovely visits to Sea-Tac Airport, I haven’t been back since that trip in 2006. I’m looking forward to it.
We haven’t really planned too much in advance, but on Monday, we’re going up to British Columbia to spend the day in Victoria. At some point, we may try to see my uncle (my dad’s brother) that I literally have not seen since I was a baby. I don’t even really know him, so it’s kind of a weird situation for me, but maybe we can meet up for a drink or dinner or something. We’ll see.
Then, on Thursday, we’ll head to San Francisco!
Today, I spent the afternoon shopping with Kara and baby Hunter. I realized last weekend that a lot of my t-shirts are starting to look a little ratty, so I wanted to get some new ones (along with some other odds and ends) before vacation.
I was thinking earlier… it’s a good thing we go on vacation every once in a while. Otherwise, I’m not sure when I’d be motivated to go shopping for new clothes. You may recall that I hate shopping. I honestly think that the last time I bought clothes was before our trip to Vegas in February. So, um, yeah… 4 months ago! Whoops!
I’m going to try to blog during our vacation like I did in Hawaii, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m sure you’ll at least get some random posts from my BlackBerry!
Until then… adios, amigos!
OK, so I am a little late posting this. Sorry about that.
As it turns out, someone did get the correct answer. I laughed out loud when it came through on my BlackBerry. Why? Well, because it was the very first guess. Way to go, Music! :)
Looking back, it was probably way too easy, since the Jessie-gets-addicted-to-caffeine-pills-and-has-nervous-breakdown episode is probably the most famous Saved by the Bell episode EVER. But, whatever… it was fun to make you guess anyway! Thanks to all those who participated.
So yes, we condensed the script (and cut scenes) and translated it into Spanish. One of the highlights was the exercise video that the girls did–“Go For It!” (or whatever it was actually called). Because OF COURSE we recreated it. It’s funny, because I still know the chorus in Spanish. I was walking around last night singing it to myself. Amazing what the mind remembers, huh?
Here’s a crappy-quality YouTube video of the original SBTB video:
And yes, most of you guessed correctly that I played Jessie Spano. My other two group members had to play both a guy AND a girl role. Kristen played Slater and Kelly, Krista played Zack and Lisa. Screech wasn’t in our version of this episode. Since Jessie had such a central role, I couldn’t play any more than the one role since Jessie was in practically every scene! Hilarious memories. I so wish I had photos and/or video to show you guys. Or, actually, I guess I’m grateful I don’t, because I’m sure it’s pretty damn embarrassing.
Here is the famous “I’m so excited!! I’m so excited!!” scene, aka the “THERE’S NEVER ANY TIME!!” scene:
Also done in Spanish, of course. I think my “pills” were tic tacs or something. :)
When we presented our video in class, everyone loved it. After the projects had been presented, we had a ballot we all filled out to pick our favorites in a number of categories–sort of like a classroom version of the Oscars or something. We won in several categories, including “Best Picture.” :)
And to think, Spielberg never called. Huh. Imagine that.
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
