Pacific Northwest

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The decision to explore this part of the world was determined in part by our Air Miles - this was the farthest we could go at the time we wanted to travel. We settled on Seattle and then investigated our other options. Although it was tempting to include a trip to the Rockies, we decided we wouldn't have time to do it justice. Some research led me to fall in love with Vancouver Island and thus it become part of our itinerary. And since Vancouver was just an hour or so away, that went on the list too. Our itinerary was as follows: 3 nights Seattle, 6 on Vancouver Island (3 centres), 3 in Vancouver, 2 back in Seattle. 

5th July 2005 

We had flights with BA at a civilised time so had a stress-free start to the trip. Our tickets were for World Traveller plus, so we were looking forward to having a little more legroom on the long flight. It must have been our lucky day, because we found we had been upgraded to Club World, which proved to be extremely comfortable, not to mention the good food and wine. We even managed to get a little sleep in the reclining bed seats. Despite departing a little late, we arrived on schedule at SeaTac airport at 4.30pm local time (GMT - 8 hrs). It took a while getting through customs as everyone was fingerprinted and photographed. We took a taxi to the Belltown are of Downtown where our home for the next 3 nights would be the Warwick. Our room was spacious with a good view of the Space Needle.

It was fairly cool and a bit drizzly but we went out for a walk, to avoid falling asleep, down to the waterfront, where we had excellent fish & chips & beer at Anthony's Fish Bar. After a further walk, we went back and were asleep by 9pm.

6th July 

We breakfasted in the hotel and walked to the Westlake Centre to take in a few shops. From there we took the monorail to the Seattle Centre, home of the Space Needle and the Experience Musical Project (EMP). First we went to the top of the Space Needle, with incredible views. The weather was wonderful, getting sunnier throughout the day. After that we took a ride with the Duck Tour, a WW2 amphibious vehicle. Great fun, but you have to get into the American loud participatory mood, quacking at strangers and generally making a fool of yourself! The tour was very informative and a good introduction to the city, both on land and on water in Lake Union.

Our next visit was to the EMP, an extraordinary building by Frank Gehry, first envisaged as a tribute to Jimi Hendrix, who came from Seattle, but now being so much more. As rock music fans, it was impossible for us to resist, and we loved the place. It is full of musical memorabilia, an exhibition dedicated to Hendrix (and one on Bob Dylan while we were there), and many others, taking in all types of modern music. There was an opportunity to try out instruments and even to record a CD or DVD. We watched a couple of films, including a one of a Beatles gig in 1964. We had a drink at the Liquid Lounge when it opened at 4pm - in memory of Hendrix, I went for a Purple Haze, which was delicious. Too tired to walk much further, we dined that night in the hotel's restaurant, Brasserie Margaux, enjoying a lovely meal, before retiring at 9pm. A fantastic start to the holiday. Seattle is a lovely city, very laidback and friendly with so much to do. 

7th July

It was another beautiful day so we went out early, stopping for coffee and a scone in 'Seattle's Best' coffee shop. Seattle being the birthplace of the coffee shop revolution, there are so many coffee shops, it's hard to know which to pick, but this was a good choice. We explored Pike Place Market but in fact were a bit too early and much of it hadn't yet opened up. It's a great place though - especially if you live there. The food and flowers were amazing and so cheap - huge bouquets for $5 or $10. The choice of seafood was astonishing. Then we walked along to Pioneer Square, stopping for stamps at the Federal Post Office. Security was astonishingly high, with Martyn unable to enter as he didn't have his photo ID on him. So it was up to me to go through to the post office to get the stamps. A bit intimidating getting there, although the counter staff were much friendlier than the guards. Once in Pioneer Square, we phoned home, to be given the terrible news of the London bombings. We hadn't watched TV or seen a paper that morning so it was a big shock. We found that throughout our trip, everyone was extremely solicitous towards us on hearing our English accents.

Next we went on the Underground Tour, amazed to find there were about 120 people on it (split between 3 guides), and it was running hourly! A fascinating 90 minute trip, during which we learned a lot more of Seattle's dubious history - built by crooks, apparently. As we didn't have a proper breakfast, we lunched at McCormick & Schmidt, a lovely fish restaurant, and very reasonably priced. After lunch we visited the Seattle Art Museum, which has free entry on the first Thursday of each month. We didn't look at everything, just selecting the galleries of most interest to us, namely the displays of Native American, aboriginal and Far Eastern art. We had to be back at the Warwick in time to get ready for our night out at Teatro Zinzanni, tickets for which we'd bought the day before.

Teatro Zinzanni is an experience like no other. It has been described as being like "the Kit Kat club on acid," and "the place where the Moulin Rouge meets Cirque du Soleil," and that sounds a fair enough description! It's set in a big circus tent and on entering, you feel as if you have been transported into a 19th century Parisian nightclub. We were seated right next to the performance area , with a Seattle family celebrating the daughter's birthday. There was a 5 course meal served throughout the show, and we accompanied it with the 'wine flight', a small glass of different wine with each course. It was a fabulous night out, with a mix of comedy, juggling, acrobatics, trapeze, opera, dancing, audience participation.......... Very highly recommended and a fitting finale to our first stay in Seattle.

8th July

We awoke to rain and after checking out, took the hotel shuttle bus down to Pier 69 where we boarded the Victoria Clipper, bound for Victoria on Canada's Vancouver island. The boat was very fast and very smart, taking a couple of hours. Unfortunately, we couldn't appreciate the scenery as it was too wet and misty. Our hotel, the Laurel Point Inn, was only a few minutes walk from the terminal so we didn't get too wet. Our room was lovely, overlooking the harbour and with a Japanese feel about it. We went for a walk to the Inner Harbour, a very pretty place with a backdrop of Victorian buildings and flowers everywhere. Victoria is said to be a little England, rather genteel, and the sort of place to take tea. In fact, much like Funchal in Madeira. It reminded me of Funchal, but not England! We had an Italian lunch at Julia's Place and the explored the streets before visiting the Royal British Columbia Museum - a great place to go when the weather isn't so good. In fact, a great place to go anytime, this was one of the best museums we've ever visited. There are galleries devoted to First Peoples, Modern History and Natural History and we also visited a temporary exhibition devoted to Tibet. We only had a couple of hours, but managed to see most of the exhibits. That evening we dined in the hotel's restaurant, enjoying a lovely dinner and a few chats with other guests. The Canadians seem to be even more friendly towards us than the Americans. We were entertained by a young lady playing piano and singing, which was lovely. We had a magical moment when we looked out the window as she sang 'Over the rainbow'. A beautiful one was hanging in the sky - leading to a bank! We strolled around the gardens after dinner before retiring for the night.

9th July

Our good sleep was ruined when the clock alarm went off at 3.15 am. Adding insult to injury, a second alarm sounded at 6am. Some joker must have thought it a hilarious prank to play on the next unsuspecting guest. At least the weather was warm and sunny. You can guess what was the first thing I did in every hotel room from that point on.  After an excellent breakfast, we went off to book a whale watching trip with Prince of Whales. There are three resident pods in the area, but one had gone off to Vancouver and two had gone missing but we hoped at least one would be back, or we'd come across a lone whale. Sadly, it was not to be and we had to content ourselves with bald eagles, an elephant seal and lots of harbour seals. But we were very disappointed, although we did enjoy the trip and found it very informative. We could have had a free trip another time, but were leaving the next morning so were unable to do so. 

After a light consolation lunch, we went to Chinatown, very small, not very interesting, and then a craft market which was very busy and with much more to see. The weather was gorgeous and there were lots of people out and about, lending the place a lovely atmosphere. Next we walked up to and around Beacon Hill Park, which is very pretty with a lake and many trees and flowers.  Then back to the hotel where we were picked up for our night out at the Butchart Gardens. We'd booked a tour which included dinner on the way and the Butchart Saturday night firework show at the end of the evening. We ate outside at The Fireside Grill, which made a very good start to the evening. Then on to Butchart Gardens, which are very beautiful - but extremely busy. The crowds are rather too large for one to fully appreciate the place but apparently it is busy at any time in the summer, although even more so on firework nights - around 20,000 a time! And it's not a very big place. The fireworks were scheduled for 10pm so we had found a spot in good time. It was rather like a music festival, with people picnicking, armed with chairs and blankets, but we settled for damp grass. The fireworks were incredible, by far the best display I've ever seen, be it 'live' or on TV. Accompanied by music, the display was continuous for half an hour and was truly spectacular, both at ground level and in the sky. There were dancing shapes, moving elephants, reflections in the lake, to mention just a few. The photos below are all from the evening spent there - not too many of the flowers due to the crowds.                    

10th July

No rogue alarms this time - we were instead kept awake by noisy revellers for a couple of hours from around 4am so I wasn't in the best of moods at having to get up at 8am. In the morning we went off to collect our rental car as we were to spend the next few days driving around part of the island. We'd planned to drive it back to the hotel top collect our luggage, but hadn't realised there was a vintage car rally, which meant many of the roads were closed. We didn't have time to stop & admire them but they were a lovely, colourful sight. Reunited with our luggage, we set off in our Mitsubishi Outlander, heading for the small resort of Tofino, 300 km away on the west coast. It was a long drive, made slow by low speed limits and traffic lights for the duration of Highway 1 and then by the road itself as we crossed from east to west. We finally arrived at the Tin Wis Resort (run by local First Nations People), a few kms south of Tofino and were rewarded by the loveliest environment we could have hoped for: a spacious and comfortable room overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We went for a walk along the beach and followed a walking trail for a while, happy to be away from the cities and crowds. We had a wonderful dinner in the hotel restaurant and an early night. 

11th July

Slept extremely well; it's very peaceful here. The weather wasn't too good - lots of rain - so we drove into Tofino to see what's there. It's a small town mainly servicing tourists: bear and whale watching. kayaking etc., art galleries and shops. It has a bit of an alternative, new-age feel about it, which we liked. After making a few purchases and having coffee and sharing a 'power biscuit' (very healthy, full of nuts and seeds) we drove to the Long Beach part of the Pacific Rim National Park and walked the rainforest trails. The walks are lovely, with boardwalks going through the forest. You'd get lost if you strayed from them. The rain added to the atmosphere: after all, what's a rainforest without rain? The rain didn't let up so we returned to Tin Wis a little earlier than anticipated and had an early dinner. The food here was extremely good.                

12th July

After another great sleep we awoke to yet more rain so after breakfast packed up and headed back into the National Park and did another the Schooner Bay walk. Although it was only 1km each way, there were a lot of steps - 323 each way, some up, some down. The beach was lovely and the tide was out so we were able to walk out to a pretty little island, where we spent a little time exploring. This was a very 'Enid Blyton' sort of beach with lots of rocks, pools and islands. Great fun but still raining hard. Then we drove on to Wickanninish Beach and looked around the interpretive centre. We had planned on taking another walk but the rain had got plain silly and we didn't fancy driving to our next destination in soaking wet clothes, so we reluctantly left this beautiful area. 

Our next destination was Parksville on the east coast of the island. The drive was very scenic and we were lucky enough to see a bear at the side of the road. We stopped in Port Alberni for a drink in a little café/bike shop. Once past there, the weather brightened and by the time we reached Parksville, it was beautifully sunny. We stayed in a log cabin at the Tigh-na-mara resort (I've always wanted to stay in one, near a lake or the sea) and this was perfect, overlooking the sea. The cabin was huge with a full kitchen, dining area, L shaped sofa, jacuzzi bath in the main room and a separate shower room. And wood everywhere. The resort has a lovely spa (but expensive) and excellent restaurant, but we decided to take advantage of the kitchen and went shopping for supplies. A week of superb restaurant meals was taking its toll on our wallet as well as our waists! So we bought food for 2 breakfasts and 2 dinners along with champagne, wine and raspberry wheat beer, the food being ridiculously cheap but great quality. The cabin was so comfortable, it was very relaxing to stay home that evening. 

13th July

A lovely sunny morning so we decided against spending any time indoors in the pool or spa so we went for a long walk along the beach and were rewarded with the sight of a bald eagle. The beach is vast and very safe. The tide goes out for miles and the beach was popular with families building sandcastles and moats, but there was masses of room for everyone. There are a number of resorts along the beach but ours looked the nicest, with the wood blending in with the trees very discreetly. We had a light lunch back at the cabin and then a look at the well-stocked shop before a walk along the beach in the other direction. The tide was still way out but there were lots of little pools full of seaweed and tiny crabs. We dined at 'home' again - and very well too. 

14th July

We were up early and I saw the sunrise which was beautiful and we were away soon after 8am. We drove into Nanaimo and dropped off the car at National and were given a lift down to the ferry terminal. We had messed up a bit on the ferry tickets, but to cut a long story short, there are several routes between the island and Vancouver and it depends on where you are staying as to which is the most convenient. Our best route was Nanaimo to Horseshoe Bay in Northern Vancouver, but that seems to be less well-known - but very cheap (Can$10 each) so it's not a disaster if you need to change routes. Our crossing was calm and uneventful and very comfortable and we found a taxi right away at the other end. 

Our hotel for 3 nights in Vancouver was the Pacific Palisades and we were lucky enough to be upgraded to a suite, which was a first for me. It is a very modern hotel with lots of modern art adorning the walls and even has its own gallery. It was a bit noisy, but that's inevitable in such a busy part of the city. After unpacking we walked to Canada Place overlooking the water and then on to do a little shopping. The city is huge and very attractive. We were back in time for the free glass of wine in the gallery before dinner. That night we ate in the hotel's restaurant, Zin and it was absolutely superb. Very imaginative cuisine and delicious. 

15th July

We breakfasted in Zin - I've never seen breakfasts like these, amazing. It was a bit rainy so we set off for Stanley Park and the Aquarium, which is within the park. It was very busy but a wonderful place. We watched beluga whales and sea otters as well as thousands of fish and other sea creatures, spending 3 hours there. Then we walked to the seawall and followed the walk - all 6 miles of it. The park is on a peninsula with coast all around, including beaches. The weather was much more comfortable for walking, with the odd spot of rain. We didn't have time to explore the interior of the park - another time perhaps. 

We'd enjoyed our dinner so much last night that we ate in Zin again. You can dine really early in Canada and the US which is good if you skip lunch, which we usually do after hotel breakfasts, so we had eaten and were back in our suite by 7.30pm! 

16th July

After another fabulous breakfast we walked to False Creek Harbour and took a mini ferry across to Granville Island, home to a massive market. These markets are wonderful but frustrating as we couldn't take the food home. We then went to Vanier Park via 2 more little ferries. We had tickets for The Bard on the Beach that evening, so had decided to make a day of it and visit all 3 of the park's museums. First we went to the Maritime Museum and had a tour of the old ship, the St Roch. The museum was very interesting and extremely quiet. Then we went on to the Space Centre which was great fun - very hands-on, although we were disappointed with the show at the planetarium show, which was aimed at children, unbeknown to us before it started. Our final museum was the Vancouver Museum, which had particularly interesting exhibitions on the 1950s and the hippies and protest movement of the 1960s.

The weather was glorious by now so we had a rest in the sun before looking for somewhere to have dinner before the play. We were a bit stumped as it's mainly a residential area but a passer-by pointed us in the direction of a couple of places to eat. They weren't very exciting looking but we plumped for 'Truffles' which turned out to be a rather strange place. It wasn't too clean and had the most odd paraphernalia all over the walls etc - some of them falling to bits and very tatty. The food was OK but not as good as Zin! After dinner we headed back to the tents where we were to watch Love's Labour's Lost. There were no reserved seats - first come, first served, stick your name on the back of a chair! The queue was huge and we were near the back so were seated at the far side but it wasn't bad (except as the sun set, dazzling us!). It's not a play we knew and the plot was pretty daft, as many of the comedies are, but it was very well done and we enjoyed it. Our tent held around 550 people and was full. We had been assured by the booking office that we would be able to get a bus or taxi back to downtown but it proved impossible and we had to walk all the way. It took an hour and we were pretty tired by the time we got back at midnight.

17th July

After another great breakfast we packed up and waited for the bus to take us back to Seattle. It was a long time before we really got going, having several other pick-up stops, but finally we were on our way and leaving Canada. Customs was easy enough but took a while. There wasn't much to see en route so I read a book. On arriving back in Seattle, we took a cab to our B&B, up in the University district. We thought it would be nice to see another part of the city. The Chambered Nautilus is a lovely old colonial house with a very welcoming hostess and has coffee, tea, cold water & cookies on tap 24/7. Our lovely room was right at the top, called the Crows Nest. We went for a walk in the nearby Ravenna Park and then dined at the recommended Thai Dusit restaurant. The food was excellent - but we forgot to allow for American sized portions so didn't really do it justice. We tried to walk home by a different route but our map wasn't right, showing roads that didn't exist, so we ended up having to retrace our steps and start again. 

18th July

After a good light breakfast, we walked up to the University shopping mall, a lovely open air place with a good selection of shops. Martyn's suitcase had parted company with its second (and final) handle the day before so we needed a new one. This place sold everything but. We bought a few things and had a fabulous smoothie at Jamba. We should have been better prepared and found out where the bus stops were but hadn't - and couldn't find the right one, so then caught a cab downtown to the Pier, just in time to take the Argosy Lock Cruise, which lasted 2½ hours. The weather was gorgeous so we thought it would be cooler out on the water. It was a lovely way to spend the time and the guide was very informative. We could even see Mt Rainier, which is quite rare as it's often too hazy to get a good view. We saw lots of different districts, heard some history, and the Lost in Seattle houseboat again (we also saw it on the Duck tour in our first week). The Hiram Chittenden locks divide the salt water of Puget Sound to the freshwater of Lake Union and are a tourist attraction in themselves. It felt quite odd having everyone watching us.

Afterwards, we resumed our suitcase hunt and found a good one in the Macy's sale - along with a few other items in Nordstrom. In the latter we were recommended a good fish restaurant, Flying Fish, and headed there for an early dinner. Despite it only being 6.30pm, it was extremely busy, but the service and the food was fantastic. 

19th July

Our last day, and we had an early evening flight so stopped at the Museum of Flight on the way to the airport. This was another great museum and we found it very interesting, particularly the Heroes of WWI and WWII galleries. We also saw Concorde, an old Air Force One plane and many others from all eras of flying. There were also simulators for war planes but we decided hanging upside down wasn't a good idea when we had a flight to look forward to!  After several enjoyable hours, we headed for the airport and were delighted to find we had been upgraded again. So we had a very comfortable flight home.    

Conclusions

This was a fantastic trip. We were very impressed with everywhere we visited and the high standard of everything, from the hotels to the museums to the food. The locals were all very friendly and helpful and there was so much to do. It's a shame Seattle is such a long way away as it's perfect for a short break. A lot of people visit Vancouver when holidaying in the Rockies, but Seattle is a bit far from any major US holiday areas. If you don't mind the extra few hours, it's every bit as good a destination as New York. I'd certainly recommend this sort of trip and would love to revisit Vancouver Island and explore it all. But that's a whole new holiday.