Vancouver, et al.: Day 8: Lake Padden and Pike Place Market (again)

This day, the last of our trip, I took a smattering of pictures. The day roughly mirrored day one in reverse: Lake Padden, Pike Place, and flying.

Di Yin also took pictures. The link goes to her first picture from this day (picture #187), the last day of our trip. If you're in slideshow mode and see a picture of the large Pike Place Market sign, you've cycled back to the beginning of the album--day one of our trip--and are seeing pictures I already linked to.

First, we drove south from Vancouver/Richmond and went through customs (easy this time). Once in Washington state, although we'd planned to picnic by Lake Padden, we didn't see the highway exit for it. (We guessed the exit must've been only on the other side of the highway.) Instead we pulled over by Lake Samish and ate. After eating, we still had the time for and desire to walk around Lake Padden so we attempted to find it by getting back on the highway and driving north. (We didn't consider walking near Lake Samish--it's huge and mostly developed and therefore less pleasant.)

Lake Padden turned out to be the next northbound exit! (It's actually the same exit as for north Lake Samish.)

Because it was a cool day, we changed into warm clothes and hiked the 2.5 miles around the lake.

From Lake Padden, we went to Pike Place Market in Seattle, where we had lunch, bought snacks, and bought supplies for dinner. I purchased some overpriced dried cantaloupe, in the process taste testing dried apples, figs, and more. I also again tasted and contemplated buying the good balsamic vinegar I spotted on our last visit. As part of lunch, I was in the mood for raspberries, but I couldn't find any organically grown raspberries at the market. (This was especially important to me because I didn't have a place to wash them.) I guess the organic movement hasn't hit Seattle as much as the bay area.

Getting to the airport and home from Pike Place was dicey. We couldn't figure out how to get to the highway we wanted. (We forgot the rental car company gave us a map of the area.) Eventually, we made it to the airport, was about to return the car, then realized we forgot to refill the gas tank. We left the airport, filled the tank, and returned. Returning was made more complicated due to some minor damage to the vehicle. As I dealt with it, Di Yin went ahead as a precaution (just like our trip to Seattle) and checked our bag. Once we landed in the bay area, we learned our bag had been misdirected to southern California. It would be delivered the following day. I was quite concerned because my apartment keys were in my luggage. Happily, Di Yin had my backups in her carry-on, so everything worked out. Plus, she got $25 to spend on emergency clothes and toiletries to compensate for the day without the luggage. So, yes, getting home from Seattle involved a number of unusual occurrences.

Vancouver, et al.: Day 1: Traveling and Pike Place Market

Getting to my flight to Seattle was confusing. Though Di Yin and I took the bus I always take straight to the airport, we had trouble finding my flight. Apparently my domestic Virgin America flight was to depart from the international terminal! By the time we figured this out, it was too late for me to check our baggage; instead, Di Yin checked our bags for us. (She flew on a different flight which left slightly later.)

This was the first time I flew Virgin America. I enjoyed watching their safety announcement, done in the form of a wry cartoon. The flight itself was comfortable: the seats were leather; we each had a row to ourselves; every seat had a personal video screen.

Once Di Yin and I landed in Seattle and picked up our luggage and rental car, we drove to Pike Place Market. Seattle was overcast. On the way to the market, we got views of downtown. Also, we passed a harbor with many cranes that reminded me of hobby-horses and a literally countless number of shipping containers.

Once in Pike Place, I started taking pictures. Di Yin did too. The latter link goes to her first picture from this trip. When you see a picture of Di Yin with Hainanese chicken (picture #26), you're done with her pictures for the day. I'll link to the next day's pictures in the following post.

Pike Place itself was pretty impressive and similar to, though much larger than, I remembered. I like the plaques with old pictures of the market. I'd forgotten there were many additional stores underground. Admittedly, most of them sold clothing, or non-artisan and non-food products, so they interested me less than the part above ground. Incidentally, the area where we parked off a highway near the waterfront wasn't pleasant, but Pike Place is fairly insulated from the highway.

The fish-throwing stand was still there, exactly as I remembered. I spotted a variety of other neat items for sale at the market such as unusual vegetables like morel mushrooms and rhubarb. I also tried a variety of very good balsamic vinegars and vinegar-and-oil mixes from a place in Napa. Although I didn't buy any, partially because Di Yin thought the vinegars were too sweet and partially because I didn't want to buy a bottle of already mixed olive oil and vinegar, it got me in the mood to try more vinegars.

Done with Pike Place, we drove north on highway 5, heading to Canada. Highway 5 was often beautiful, driving between massive walls of pine trees. Because the area was so beautiful, we said, "we should find somewhere to stop and enjoy the sights." After the next bend in the road, we saw a sign for the Lake Padden recreation area and exited. It was nice. We walked around a bit. (See the pictures.)

Given the vast acres of forest we passed, I'm not sure what I think about the timber logging camps we saw at times on the drive.

The sun came out like blazes when we were a mile from the Canadian border. :) How's that for symbolism?

Once in Canada, we checked into our hotel, which was a traditional bed and breakfast (without breakfast). Located in a residential neighborhood, we stayed in a family's house (in their guest room) and paid in cash. Throughout the trip we always stayed in places like this. Not only was it cheaper than a regular hotel, we also had the added privilege of being able to use the fridge and utensils, handy for preparing for picnics.

We then had a pretty good dinner in Richmond at Top Shanghai Cuisine Restaurant, a restaurant I never heard mentioned during my previous reading about Vancouver. We were hungry.