Catch Post - Victoria to Seattle in Three Days

January 31, 2009 - It is hard to believe but we are already done with month one in 2009. To that end I am going to wrap up the last three days in one post. As you all saw from my last post on Wednesday Sarah and I ventured across the boarder to Canada to visit my cousins and my Grandma. To get to Victoria, where my Grandma lives, one has to take the BC ferries.

This was a shot I took from the car deck as we passed through the different islands on our way out to Vancouver Island.

I call this shot the "double espresso". It really captures my figure. I am so hot right now!

Once we got to Victoria we zipped over to my Uncle's house where we stayed for the next few nights. My Mom had flown in to spend the week with my Grandma (her mom), it was really nice having her in town with us. The next morning the three of us walked down to the harbor for some exercise and to see some of the houses along the way. If you didn't know where I was when I took this shot you would think it was New England/Greenwich, what a house!

The Parliament building is the the building with the green roof. I liked this particular picture because of the "Welcome to Victoria" flower beds cut into the grass hill. Later that afternoon Sarah and I walked by the flower beds and the spring flowers were just starting to pop. The climate in Victoria is very mild. My Mom told us that spring comes about mid February and she couldn't be far off because buds were beginning to pop through the beds. Vancouver Island has become a bit like Florida in the sense that many of the country's older citizens have moved there because of the climate. I would love to come back in the summer time to see everything in bloom.

Frontal and side shot of the Parliament building. The stone work on the building was amazing.

The Empress Hotel was the western most stop for the Canadian Pacific Steamship line (CPR). Around the turn of the century (1880's - 1900) many wealthy English families undertook world tours. Beginning in London with a cruise across the ocean passengers would board a train in eastern Canada and begin the long trek west. Along the way beautiful rail stations, like the Empress, were built to house the passengers. After the CPR stopped service for rail passengers in the 1920's the hotel was re-branded as a destination spot and became purely a hotel. Walking through the lobby was like going back in a time machine, very cool.

We spent the afternoon in the Royal Museum of BC. Out front was this funny picture opportunity, try and find me.

This car was built in 1942 by a local resident. It could reach speeds of 140mph and looked like a rocket ship. The same guy also built his house on a rotating platform so the view never was the same. Kind of crazy if you ask me, but cool nonetheless.

Inside the museum they had their largest exhibit focused on the native cultures of British Columbia. I like the totem pole room the best, hence the picture.

Three generations of the Goldsworthy family. Unfortunately the Goldsworthy clan is not good at smiling for pictures, oh well.

This picture is really all about SP's (self props). I am a master packer. One thing I will not miss from this trip is having to pack, re-pack, and then pack the car again. It is my least favorite chore of the day.

Our trip back home was much less eventful than our trip to Canada. We crossed the border in about 10 minutes only having to answer one question, why were we in Canada. Sarah and I both looked at each other and said thank god we are home. As the post says "Canada - It's Just a Little Different". The drive to Seattle took about 2:30 hours from the ferry port in South Vancouver. We are staying in the Grand Hyatt right downtown. Our room is overlooking Elliot Bay form the 28th floor. I took the following picture as I was uploading all of these pictures to the blog. As far as weather goes we couldn't have been more lucky. We pulled into Seattle not having seen the sun for nearly 12 days and low and behold the sun was shinning. We walked all around the city today and it was near picture perfect. As far as I am concerned the weather in Seattle is great!

Our first night in Seattle we walked down from the hotel to Pier 57 to a great restaurant called Elliot's Oyster House. To date this was by far the best meal of the trip, it even beat our all you can eat crab feast at The Lodge in Whitefish (MT). On the walk back to the hotel we stopped into this local blues bar to listen to some local music. The act's were decent but the venue was great. If you are in Seattle and you don't have anything better to do go check out Highway 99 Blues Bar.

We woke up this morning to blue sky's and 50 degree weather. We were going to head down to Pike's Market first but the weather was so nice we bee lined it over to the space needle (15 minute walk from hotel) and climbed/elevatored right up.

There were some clouds in the sky but for winter Seattle we were told today was pretty special.

The requisite "couples" shot. Too bad our photographer was a french girl who didn't understand lighting.

The old home of the Super Sonics, Key Arena. It looked as crappy as people said it was. Too bad the city of Seattle couldn't figure out a way to build a new stadium. Go OK City Thunder! What a load of crap.

After the Space Needle we walked across the street to the Museum of Music and Science Fiction. The building was designed by Frank Gehry and is as cool as some of his other work. As you walk along the building it changes colors and tones in different light. I really liked it.

Very cool!

The entrance to the Science Fiction Museum wing. That is a monorail track above and to the left.

If you are in Seattle and you are a music fan then this museum is a MUST. They have a few permanent exhibits (Hendrix, History of the Guitar) and some traveling (Hatch Show Printing). The following picture is of this electronic guitar sculpture. It actually plays the different guitars electronically with robot arms that pick the instruments. It was VERY cool.

The featured traveling exhibit was the Hatch Show Printing exhibit. It traced the history of American movie/music posters. This was one of the coolest museum exhibits I have ever seen. Modern art in the rawest form. Each of the posters is made using the movable type printing technique invented by Johannes Gutenbery. http://www.empsfm.org/exhibitions/index.asp?categoryID=164&ccID=245

I would have loved to have some pictures from the Hendrix exhibit but photography was not allowed. If you are a music fan you will enjoy this museum, if you are a Hendrix fan you will LOVE this museum. I wish I could have spent all day there listening to the different interviews with musicians who played with him and watched all the concert/studio footage.

Once we finished up in the music section of the museum we walked over to the Science Fiction exhibit. There was all kinds of cool movie memorabilia in the museum that was worth seeing like this RJD2 that Sarah loved.

I like so many guys my age was a HUGE fan of the Teenage Mutant Turtles and guess what they had the original movie robot used for my favorite turtle. Which one is he is the trivia of the day?

The original T-800 form T2. Much smaller in real life, I could take this thing down.

After we were done with the museum we walked along the water past all the piers. As you can see the weather was fantastic today.

After the stroll along Elliot Bay we made our way up to Pike's Market. I was surprised by the steep hills that the city is built upon. When you walk up to the market from the bay you have to climb the equivalent of 4 flights of stairs. Food for thought.

This picture is of the main corner in the market. The famous fish throwing stand is just to the left of the Farmers Market sign.

Tourists!

Just another beautiful fish stand with every kind of seafood under the sun for sale. Prices were decent even for being such a tourist trap esq place.

These King Salmon were about 36+ inches long.

Caught in the act. Contrary to what you may think these guys don't stand around all day throwing fish back and forth. To get a "flying" fish one needs to purchase the product. This is obviously the most "tourist" of all destinations but a must if you go to the market.

The first Starbucks ever. There was a great duop group standing out front singing songs. When we walked by they were singing one of my favorite Jackie Wilson songs, it was really great.

This guy was totally amazing. Four hoolahoops around the waste, four hoops on his chin, playing the guitar, and singing all at the same time. All in all the market was a great experience. It was different from Granville Island (Vancouver) in that it was more about the experience than the food. That being said we did find a great little lunch spot tucked away deep in the market that had some of the best seafood we have eaten so far and the best part was that it was cheap. Great deals to be had.

That's it for now. Hoped you enjoyed the pictures and stories. Hope all are well.