The last leg of our travels - Sacramento to Vancouver

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San francisco
While in San Fran we walked to Pier 59, enjoyed the atmosphere, watched street performers and indulged in good seafood. There is an arcade full of all the old machines so using up our quarters we got our fortunes told, arm wrestled to test our strength. There was one that was a scene from a crack den, designed to put children off drugs.

We walked up multiple steps to see the Colbert tower and admire the long stretch of views. In the evening we headed to a bar with live music and had fun talking to a few Americans and making song requests.

The next day we window shopped a long an art district before making it to golden gate park. A huge park with museums and art galleries in. We enjoyed people watching as we saw two weddings being photographed with the stunning flower gardens.

Later, Lucille's cousin, his wife and 2 girls came to pick us up. They took us across the golden gate bridge to a small town on the other side where there were literally houses that were a float - new boat house concept. We enjoyed strolling along the waterfront before stopping at a beautiful restaurant for dinner. After which we stayed with them a night before joining lucille's uncle and aunty.

Tracy to north Carolina
Lucille's uncle and aunty live in Tracy but are in transition to moving to North Carolina. For a week we helped them build upon their new home from adding shims and siding to building a small side door. The weather was hot but it felt good to do some hard grafting (and getting home cooked food!) During our stay we also visited a local national park, a millionaires house with his huge beautiful land and played with a homemade bowls set.  

Sacramento
In Sacramento we had a BBQ with some of lucille's cousins. After which we were given a night drive by tour of the key attractions. In the morning we arranged to join a lift share to Portland saving us 100s in transport costs. We stopped at a strange diner full of memorabilia about the wars. We all jumped when we went to the bathroom as they had a mannequin waiting and staring as you walk in. The driver was very nice and the other passenger, Krissie offered to put us up in Portland for the night.  

Portland
With our lift share Krissie we went with her and her mate to a bar for food and drinks before heading to Fun Day Monday. A free event that takes place every Monday in a park, there's a big game of dodgeball, people practicing poi, and bikes that have been adapted to be twice the height.

The next day Lucille and I headed into the centre, walking around taking in the city atmosphere before grabbing our train to Seattle. It was so nice to have the comfort of large seats and space to move after our months of coach/bus journeys.

Seattle
We went to the famous fish market, strolled around the city, saw the first Starbucks shop. We had lunch at a sports bar which gave us free credit to use in an arcade so after eating we raced motorbikes and shot zombies. It wasn't long before we were heading to the greyhound station to take us to our last destination after 6months of travelling, Vancouver.

Vancouver
The border crossing was unbelievably smooth, I collected my work permit with barely a question asked. Although I knew the chances were I hadn't forgotten something, it's always the small fear they wouldn't let me in.

We arrived in the evening so walked around the central street, Granville St and grabbed some tasty Thai food on Davie St. The next day we walked along English Bay and around Stanley Park. It was beautiful and I was pleased I decided to stop in Vancouver to work. We enjoyed a drink on the sun deck of a restaurant while toasting our good fortune and making it to our final destination in one piece!

Sent from my iPod

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