Day 46 - Seattle - Vancouver

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Before we left Seattle, Steve, Annabel, Kylie, Scott and I headed over to the Pike Place Market mainly to look for the very first Starbucks shop in America, but having failed to find it, settled for a cooked breakfast in one of the cafes in the market.
The weather was really overcast, and so foggy that the tops of wethe buildings around us are covered.

Today’s drive was only a short one, 3 hours in all. Our destination was Vancouver, but before that, we had a slight detour in the shape of Todd’s folks.
There has been talk over the past few days that his mum wanted to meet the Group and that Todd was trying to arrange a visit as we pass through.

Todd’s parents met us at the door, and after being welcomed into their house, and given a pen to write our names colourfully on sticky labels for show, we made our way through the house to the back door where some nibbles had been put out for us.
Mark may have been the most excited out of all of us, as we were being treated to a Dutch lunch, and with every passing second, his eyes seemed to look hungrier!

We were finally called to the dining table, where 13 places and chairs had been set for us. For some reason I was given one end of the table, which meant the ‘power’ went to my head briefly. Head of the group, I liked it!
On the menu were two types of soups, which I had 3 bowls worth of, and some delicious Dutch desserts, which went down a right treat!

A few weeks back, Todd, Scott and I had decided not to shave again on the entire trip, and so by now our beards had really grown in and taken effect. We asked Steve and Zach if they wanted to join in with us, which they did, but Steve had only been able to go a few days before he had to shave.
So with Todd’s beard in full bloom, it was funny to find a college photo of him all cleaned shaven and so baby face.
After the lunch, Todd’s folks take us on a tour of the house. We have already seen the front room, kitchen and dining room, so next was the corridor and rooms downstairs.
Up the stairs to the first floor of the house, we find Todd’s room directly ahead of the stairs. Obviously Todd no longer lives at home, so it is kept in good condition, with a bed, wardrobe and a desk. On one wall is an antique looking map of the world, and another wall has a map of China on there. There are a few mementos from his time at Oklahoma State and working in China as well. It gives me slight inspiration to have my room look like this back home. Fairly neat, no clutter and some mementos from this trip.

Sadly it was time to go, much to Todd’s mum’s sadness. She had thoroughly enjoyed meeting the Group, and showing Todd up in the process, so we all made our way out the front door, before posing for some group shots on the front porch.
We then made small talk with the family as we said goodbye to each member, before finally all reluctantly climbing back into the van. When we think Todd wasn’t looking, his mum smuggled herself into the van and onto the spare seat right at the back. As Todd climbed into his seat, without looking he called for his mum to get out, sparking a small funny argument.

Finally we left them behind and turned our attention to our next destination – Vancouver – and more importantly the next stage of our Tour – Canada (or Canadia, which Todd was trying to get us to say to see how well it was picked up! It’s stuck with me!).
First of all we stocked up on plenty of alcohol before the border as we were not be able to get any in Canada, and then headed to the border. There was no telling how long this would take us to get through, so when we entered the building, we all queued up getting our passports and forms ready. I was first in line and quickly get called forward.
After a quick check of the form and the passport stamp, I was then let into Canada before stepping into the ‘waiting area’ for the others.
When everyone was allowed through, we all climbed back into the van and headed on our way once more.

We finally reached our site which was on the outskirts of Vancouver itself. The grounds were quite closed in with RVs everywhere. We made our way round the back of the large building that carried the washrooms, upstairs gym, indoor pool, front office and shop. I ended up picturing this building as an old style cruise ship, as the resemblance was almost uncanny. There was even a deck on top for sun bathing and observation.
In fact our site was the kid’s playground directly behind the building. It looked to be the only place with any green on it on the entire site, and as we started unloading the trailer, there were kids playing on the swings, before they were carried away by a woman.
On one side of the area was the small playground, with a small pavilion with benches all around the inside and a sink. This looked to be some sort of eating area, and would do nicely for those not sleeping in tents that night. Opposite the playground was an area big and long enough for the tents to go up before there was a small container which would be used for the rest of our stuff.
After the tents were put up and enough time for everyone to get ready, we headed into Downtown Vancouver for a quick look around and dinner.

Our first stop was a small park area right by the water that gives a wonderful view of Vancouver, whilst a small walk away and passed some totem poles, there was another view of the surrounding area around Vancouver.
We then headed back into Downtown Vancouver and parked up. After walking several blocks, Todd suddenly wondered if he had properly locked the van and trailer. As I had my trainers on I offered to run back and check, checking before I go back what everyone’s plans were. I then sprinted back to the van, not given much regard to the streets between each block and also running across the main street opposite the car park. Only a red light for pedestrians stopped me from being run down.
Turned out everything was properly locked up, so I sprinted back to try and catch up with the others, and managed to join up again before they went their separate ways.
Kylie and Scott went off on their own to find an Aussie bar or restaurant, so we left them to it. The rest of us headed off together to Gastown and the famous Steam Clock, which was an engineering feat to witness. Some of the tourists shops nearby were then looked through before we headed to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, not before enduring a delay in getting a reservation.

When we did get in, we walked past an old street car that has been converted into booths to sit in and dine. The place was giving out an old style vibe and enthusiasm, and I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when we discovered our waiter is from England as well.
During what was a fantastic dinner, in which we try out some cocktails, in my case a piña colada. No guessing that I was slightly tipsy after dinner, as we then headed to another bar nearby, having lost half of the group.

As Jess and Sarah could actually drink in Canada they were still out with us and Jess was making up on all the times she couldn’t drink previously on the Tour. Opposite the bar was a pool table, where Steve, Zach and I made our way for a few games.
After a while everyone else decided to leave, leaving just the 3 of us to experience a night out on our own. It has been a long time on this Tour since that had happened.

After I won all the games played, we looked to move to another bar, and as soon as we found one, ordered drinks and sat down, the other two decided to head outside for a smoke.

We finally decided to call it a night around midnight and called a cab to took us back to the site. Unfortunately he was not a local and didn’t seem to understand the address we gave for the site.
In the end we drived around on the highway out of Vancouver, having passed the turn off for our site twice.
When we finally did reach the site, Steve sended the cabbie on his way with a little flea in his ear, and we quietly tip toed past the building into our site. Fortunately for Steve and Zach, their tent was already up, but mine wasn’t, so none of my stuff was out.
So I had to head to the container, whilst trying to remain as stealth as possible, finding my sleeping bag in the dark, and rolling it out onto one of the side benches in the pavilion before climbing into it, still trying to remain quiet enough as to not wake any of the others.
As soon as I was able to do all this successfully, I then realised that I had no roll mat underneath and discovered that the bench was quite hard, feeling it on my hip and rib cage especially. It was not going to be a comfortable sleep that night!

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