The ferry terminal is literally a stones throw away from the Empress, so we arrived with plenty of time. We claimed our reservation, got into line and waited for the CBP to come see us. It felt like crossing the peace bridge on a Monday morning. Citizenship? Canadian. Destination? Seattle tonight, hen down the coast to San Francisco. Purpose of travel? Vacation. Visiting family. Any alcohol, tobacco or firearms? Nope. Have a nice day. Thank you. We were directed to a building by the ferry ramp where one of us would have to take our passports and a small form. I waited in line of 10 minutes to have a nice lady swipe our passports through a sniper, and we were good to go. Now we had to wait for our boat to arrive, then to empty, then for us to get on board. We were careful this time, because you can't stay in your car on this ferry. Gord still managed to fall asleep as we waited, so we had to gingerly transfer him from car seat, to arms, to carrier without waking him. We're getting pretty good at this though, and it all went well. By 10:35 we were cruising past Victoria's outer harbour and across to Port Angeles WA.
The trip took 90 minutes and was quite a bit rockier than the trip from Vancouver to Nanimo, which drove anyone with a slightly unsettled stomach to the sun decks. Remember what happened to t driving through the mountains? No problem though, it was warm and sunny out on deck. As we walked towards the bow it seemed much too windy to stay, but to our surprise once we reached the very front the wind was nearly gone and the listing was also reduced.
Before we knew it Port Angeles was no longer a glimmer on the horizon. We made our way back down the narrow passages to the auto deck and waited patiently to drive off. We had one more stop in with the border patrol, and Gord got a kick out of the K-9 unit sniffing the passing cars.
Once ashore our first stop was for groceries. The plan involved two days of camping after Seattle and our grocery supplies had dwindled to nearly nothing. We stocked up on a few dinner as well as some picnic lunch supplies. There was a nice sheltered picnic area just outside the Safeway, so instead of buckling the boy back up again only to take him out soon, we decided to eat right there. It wasn't bad - Gord got his first taste of watermelon (loved it!) and befriended a pair of Tweens with a 3 month old Chihuahua (Precious). Before long we were ready to hit the road.
Unfortunately, it was a bad teeth day for Gord, which means that he isn't very happy when he isn't wither distracted (which must be full of shock and awe), sleeping or eating. And getting to sleep is harder, as well as staying asleep. T had her work cut out for her, and while we made our way towards Seattle she pulled out all the tricks in the book to get him to go down. She was finally successful just as we arrived in Kingston WA, the port for the ferry to Edmunds, a suburb of Seattle. He fell asleep just as we paid the toll, and I begged the attendant if we could stay in the car. He looked at me strangely until he saw the sleeping babe, and then whispered his consent and tiptoed away.
This was an impressive vessel, it had multiple levels and seemed inexhaustible in terms of the number of vehicles it could carry across. Luckily we fit on and the boy slept through the (relatively) short 20 minute crossing. 
I think there was even another level above that van. Wow!
So we were nearly there. The 'BnB' (more on the quotes in a bit) T booked was in Greenwood, a hip suburb of Norther Seattle. We were only 25-30 km from there, so why did it take nearly 45 minutes to get there. Traffic. Now we've been pretty lucky this trip (knocks head), but with a crying baby and a tired parental unit, we didn't feel lucky stuck in traffic so close to our destination. We persevered (what choice did we have) and found our home for the night. And here is where we came up against the strange world of Air BnB.
Air BnB is a new site/service that matches would be hosts with would be guests. You can find all manner of room on Air BnB, and it's relatively inexpensive. This is where we found our accommodations in Winnipeg, the self-serve breakfast. But at least we could get in there. When we arrived in Greenwood, no one was there to greet us. The doors were locked and there was no car. Gord and his parents were in a bad mood, we didn't need this. A friendly neighbour came out and asked us if Lisa (our host, if you can use at word) had given us the code. We didn't think so. Remember that this was our first day in the states, so we were being extra diligent with phone use. The horror stories we'd heard about roaming fees and data bills were keeping our phones firmly turned off, so that's why we didn't get the message telling is that Lisa would be out all afternoon, and that the code was... Luckily, it only took a message check to get that info., but for a few minutes it was looking interesting. But we got the code, we got into the rooms, and we got settled. It worked, it worked it ok. Here's the weird thing about BnB, it should 't really be called a BnB. These services (BnBs) are a well-established institution base on people welcoming people into their homes, becoming DIY inn keepers for a small time. Air BnB is for people with an extra room looking to make some money. And I have no problem with that, let me be clear. That's fine, and in some instances, perhaps preferable to the traditional BnB set up. I've always felt a little strange spending time in the home of a stranger, but at least with the old model you are welcomed in. Or two experiences with Air BnB has landed us two no-show hosts, and there's something even more strange about spending time in a stranger's home without first being welcomed in. Anyway, that was our last scheduled stay at a BnB for the trip, so hopefully no more awkward slinking around in a stranger's home.
This still left us with some empty stomachs and an unexplored city/neighbourhood to attend to. The original plan was to go to the Experience Music Project, and perhaps Pike's Place market in downtown Seattle...hahahahhahahaa. We had neither the time nor the energy to do any of these. Another time maybe, but what about the empty stomachs? We found the perfect place. Not 2 km away was a small Mexican eatery, Gordito's (little Gord's) - a "healthy Mexican reataurant, because we love you".
Perfect. The atmosphere was authentic, the food amazing - I had two veggie tacos and T had the Spinach Burrito. We left smiling, full and tired. Back to the mystery house and a sound night's sleep.
So what about Gizmo? Gizmo is a neighbour's cat, not a resident at the 'BnB' - but who tried to get in at every turn. So persistent was he that I actually had to close the windows because he was trying to get in through the screen. I looked out a couple times, and here's what I saw.
Tomorrow we're heading down the coast on the Pacific Coat Highway. Slow going, but reportedly beautiful. Wish us luck.
TOTAL FUEL FILL UPS: 6
DAILY WILDLIFE: Gulls on the boat, crows on the road, dogs at the Safeway, and of course, Gizmo.
No comments:
Post a Comment