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Published: January 9th 2007
Vancouver
Snow topped mountains towards North Vancouver.. no 'white outs' today. Damn we missed it!!Snow, 4c
What’s worse than saying goodbye to someone you love? Doing it twice and knowing how much it’s going to hurt the second time.
That’s the sad bit. The happy bit is xmas and new years eve. Despite all my moving around in the past and traveling I’ve never spent xmas away from family. This was a first, not only were we far from home but it was also my first xmas with Marg. There were no complaints, it was just different and would be xmas to remember for a long time.
How often do you wake up xmas eve and watch sea lions on the beach?? On our way from Cambria to San Francisco we stopped at a quite unassuming beach expecting to see one sea lion on the shore. We didn’t. Instead we saw nearly 2 dozen of them spread out on the beach making noises, fighting, swimming, sleeping and just lazing about. I was amazed by it all and I think after close to 40mins Marg suggested we should leave. I quietly wished there was more sea lion fighting going on! It was awesome.
The drive from Cambria to San Francisco was breath-taking and the small
Lions Gate Bridge
Sun setting on the last night Marg & I spent in Vancouver.. one lane highway jutted around cliffs surrounded by violent ocean swells. It was like one of those horror movies you see where the car drives around windy bends before falling into the ocean (thankfully my driving didn’t kill us!). We wondered how many celebrities were hidden away in their ocean mansions celebrating xmas behind the massive gate entrances on the highway. Quite a few I reckon.
If the drive didn’t kill us than maybe ‘the sickness’ would. San Francisco was the start of the cold from hell for Marg (later named ‘Matt’s cold from hell’). We arrived late in the afternoon and immediately called Australia to wish everyone Merry Xmas. There is something very strange about celebrating xmas on a different day to everyone else we knew. That night was spent bed-ridden flicking between the 70 or so cable channels on offer. Thank God for HBO and MTV.
Xmas day we woke up fashionably late and exchanged presents. Normally this process would take ages with my family around. My brother would normally insist on opening his presents first and annoying everyone with what he received. Not this time around. Within 5mins the present exchanging thing was over and done with.
Cambria Sea Lions
An amazing sight.. hundreds of sea lions rolling around on the beach outside of Cambria. Nesting, fighting, swimming and smelling REAL bad Merry xmas!!! It was strange that we received no calls or xmas wishes. The time difference meant everyone in Australia was asleep and it was Boxing Day anyway. Before thinking we were the only people in the world celebrating xmas we decided to go for drive.
Driving around San Francisco is a pleasurable experience. You feel like you’re on a rollercoaster ride, going up and down the steep streets. I think Marg was holding on for dear life as a passenger, but hell I was having fun! We took photos of Lombard Street which is ‘the most crooked street in the world’, it zigs and zags down a steep hill. Surprisingly there were tourists everywhere who had the same idea as us and there was massive line up to drive down the street. We did it anyway and the brakes got a work out.
Xmas afternoon we got a close up view of a very foggy Golden Gate Bridge before deciding to go for a stroll around downtown San Fran. It finally felt like xmas - walking around streets surrounded by giant xmas trees with decorations everywhere. You gotta give it to the Americans, they know how to do good
World's Most Crooked Street - San Fran
Xmas Day was spent driving down the world's most crooked street and taking photos... as you can see we weren't the only ones! xmas decorations.
After being told there would be no restaurants open xmas day, we were quite surprised to find quite a few open on the same street as our hotel. Greek or Italian, maybe American cuisine?? We settled on big fat steaks at the Italian place with some red wine and desert. Yum!! We were surrounded by diners who were away from home like us. It was a small cosy restaurant and within a few minutes there were conversations between everyone. “Where are you from?”, “What are you doing here for xmas?”, “Wow, it’s hot in Australia right now ha?”. It was the kind of conversation you’d have with less familiar aunts or uncles you hadn’t seen in ages… so it kinda felt like xmas even more!! We were not alone, there were lots of people away from home.
You can’t visit San Francisco without visiting ‘the rock’ - the world famous Alcatraz Prison. I know now why they call it the rock, it’s so bloody small! It was interest roaming around the cells with our self guided mp3 tour. Made the place come alive with stories and would have been pretty boring without it. My highlight was being locked
San Francisco Street Scene
Full House buildings everywhere! in a solitary confinement cell for 1 min (which is more than long enough). It was completely silent and dark, not to mention freaky as hell! Not surprisingly I was on my own for that and Marg waited outside.
Our time in San Francisco went fast, and while we would have liked more time we felt we’d ‘seen’ everything. We rode on the historic street cars (trams to South Aussies!), visited the sites and saw pretty much everything. I liked San Francisco and it had a completely different feel to anywhere I’d visited in the US.
Next stop was a non-descript town between San Fran and Seattle. I’d tell you the name (Roseburg) but it doesn’t mean much, it was just a highway stop. Dinner which was spent at a funny little restaurant called ‘Elmers’. Imagine a nursing home dining room and food that you can easily chew - that was Elmers. Marg & I had the pot roast and decided we were the youngest people by about.. ohhh.. 40 years!
The drive to Seattle would have been great if I hadn’t have caught ‘the cold from hell’. We passed through magnificent scenery and snow covered mountains. Portland was the
Xmas Day/Night
Xmas Day in San Francisco... in front of a giant xmas tree with my beautiful fiance' Marg first big city we came too and we both decided it looked nice (and reminded us of Adelaide). We continued through the centre of town and onto Seattle where I collapsed on the bed and slept for 12 hours. Boring!!
Dr Evil lives in Seattle and Starbucks was born there. We made the pilgrimage to ‘the coffee shop’ where Marg paid her respects via a mocha and cappuccino (for me). It was a small store in the centre of town filled with people. Seattlites are addicted to coffee and there are coffee houses that just do drive thru - Marg felt at home. Next stop was the Seattle Space Needle, home to Dr Evil in Austin Powers. It was great view and very cold up the top (where you could walk outside). The lift operator asked if we had any questions about her job on the way down and Marg suggested I ask “how boring is your job stuck in a lift all day?” I didn’t. I did wonder if there were any adverse health effects from going up and down all day.
When I have a cold I’m dumb (yes I mean dumber than I normally am dumb). After
The Rock
I always wondered why they called Alcatraz 'The Rock'.... now I know why leaving Seattle we crossed the border into Canada. We had to see immigration to get my work status approved and were interviewed by your average i-hate-my-job-don’t-mess-with-me government official. Me being dumb didn’t make it much easier. I hadn’t thought that I’d be asked questions like “what makes u want to drive to Toronto?”. Even worse I didn’t think when I replied “I dunno.. I kinda like it there”. Not the official answer they were looking for, but I got a stamp in my passport anyway.
Vancouver was spent relaxing and enjoying good beer. If you ever get the chance to try Molson Canadian than do it!! Marg and I wondered around downtown and relaxed a little more. We chose probably the worst day possible to ski Mt Grouse which is 10mins away from downtown. It was snowing very heavily, windy and ‘white out’ conditions which made it hard to ski. Not good for a first timer but Marg braved the conditions and fell on her ass more times than I remember. Well done babe!! I promise next time we go skiing we’ll both enjoy it. Very hard to do that when you’re struggling to see.
Marg’s xmas present to me
Golden Gate Bridge
The view from the ferry on the way to Alcatraz was a hockey match and I’ll admit I’m addicted now. Hockey players make footballers seem like pansies. The real action is the players getting slammed into the walls and the atmosphere is amazing. We drank beer, ate hotdogs and enjoyed the came. Go Giants!! They won by 9 points.
New Years was approaching and we started asking ‘what to do’. Everywhere we asked the question got throw back at us. Yes.. ‘what to do’ exactly. One of the tourist mags suggested staying in a hot tub for the night. Turns out Vancouver doesn’t really do a big new years, they just watch it on the TV from Toronto or Montreal where they party. We headed out for some Indian before spending the final hours in the dodgiest karaoke bar I’ve ever seen. Sounds like a crap time but it was so much fun!! Just being there with Marg was awesome and our time was coming to an end.
The final days in Vancouver are all blurry. We did stuff like visit Stanley Park which just re-opened after the storm (amazing massive park next to the harbour), go shopping, catch a movie but it all went too fast and underneath it
Trapped In Jail
On the audio tour at Alcatraz (Marg sporting the orange mp3 player) all we knew there wasn’t much time left. Our final day is Vancouver was surreal. It was snowing!! It never snows in Vancouver and to make it more interesting the roof of the BC Centre collapsed due to weather (opposite our hotel). I secretly hoped Margs flight would get delayed or cancelled.. but no luck there. We said our sad goodbyes and I watch my fiancée walk away from me towards the gate.
I made a decision to leave Vancouver asap. I’d seen enough with Marg and I felt very lonely on my own surrounded by places we’d been. Besides, I needed to score a job and Toronto was a long long way away. I hadn’t counted on things not running so smoothly the next few days. More about that in my next blog, but needless to say the adventure never ends and the unexpected is always to be expected.
Apologies about the length of the blog entry. A lot has happened in two amazing weeks and I feel privileged to be able to share that with my friend, my partner and my soul mate. Goodbye Marg and thanks for coming.
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Marg
non-member comment
Good times & miss you like crazy
Wow, that was so surreal reading that about myself! The best 3 weeks of my life. It brought tears to my eyes reading that. Awesome blog, if only it ended with you coming home with me babe... All in time - I know. I LOVE YOU!!