Quick visit to Vancovuer

So having arrived back in Seattle we did some more bookings and caught up with the boring admin jobs like checking back our credit card statements, then we walked down to the waterfront to have a beer and watch our ship load its supplies lined up on the dock for the next bunch of passengers. It was good to see it sail but we would have liked to have been on it again !

Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle

Being in the centre of the downtown area we spent some time exploring on foot, seeing Pioneer Square where the city was founded in 1852, and walking a good length of the historic waterfront including the Olympic Sculpture park, past the many seafood outlets and the Seattle Aquarium. Close to the new landmark Seattle Wheel is the landing site of the steamship "Portland" which in 1897 arrived carrying a ton of gold from Alaska, kick starting the Klondike gold rush and the rush of Stampeders to Alaska

For such a young city there is a lot to take in, and no visit would be complete with riding the ducks, a whacky city tour on land and water in a rebuilt WW2 amphibious truck complete with a crazy captain and a party atmosphere. Its a great way to see the city and have fun.

Finally we took a bus ride uptown to see the Fremont neighborhood, originally a separate city but now annexed to Seattle. It is home to much counterculture and locally known as the centre of the universe, among other things sporting a statue of Lenin salvaged from Slovakia, and an 18 foot tall concrete sculpture of a troll under a road bridge, created in 1990 and crushing a full size VW Beetle.

The Fremont Troll, note the VW - its a real one !

 Back to reality and we collected our pre-booked rental car and drove up to the US/Canadian border, where after a slightly difficult time with an inexperienced and young Canadian immigration officer we were admitted, continuing up to Vancouver, B.C. for a whistlestop tour to meet our friend Nikki and her husband Taymour. Nikki used to live in Jersey and although they have only called this city home for a few months, we were treated to a great tour both of downtown Vancouver and some of the outlying areas like Deep Cove, plus some great food in this coastal sea port. Although it was a very brief visit its not hard to see why Vancouver is consistently voted in the top five cities worldwide for liveability and quality of life, and we are sure you have made a great choice. Hope to see you there again one day once you are properly settled in !

Sunset from Kitsilano Beach Park, Vancouver

Returning to the USA, the border crossing was slow but trouble free, and we quickly turned East through the State of Washington which has recently been battling enormous wildlfires. The devastation was very clear to see, with huge swathes of blackened and burnt land, bare tree trunks and charred fence posts testifying to the force and ferocity of fire that has swept through this region very recently. We passed a huge fire camp, a field full of tents and gazebos, livestock trailers and vehicles, where tired and hungry firefighters are fed and watered, and can shower and sleep. Local farmers who have lost their fences to fire have also corralled their livestock here in makeshift pens. Listening in to local radio news told us that the firefighters have been reduced to around 500 in number as many fires have now been extinguished, but the state has another problem with flash floods in the last 24 hours which have taken out roads and left many homes without electricity. We were diverted twice today due to road closures but were grateful that we weren't here a day earlier when several vehicles were wrecked on these very roads during mudslides. Sorry no pictures as were were driving most of the day, and for longer than we expected !

The next few days are mainly going to be on the road too as we have a lot of miles to cover to get to Chicago, though we have a few places to visit along the way. Fortunately we had a pleasant surprise with our rental car, having booked and paid for a compact but been upgraded free to a fullsize special - a Dodge Charger. Its bigger than what we are used to and a bit heavier on gas but lovely to drive and will make the 2000+ mile journey a little more comfortable.