I enter the beautiful King’s Street Station in Seattle with trepidation since I’m not familiar with train travel. Did I have everything I needed?
The process was simple, and I wondered, “Why don’t I travel by train more often?”
I had upgraded to business class for an additional $30. Business boards the train first, has assigned seats instead of first come, first served, larger, more comfortable seats and other advantages.
I work on my blog during the initial part of the trip as we travel through industrial Seattle. I planned to eat my cinnamon bun and hopefully finish it after four meals. They announce that breakfast burritos are on special at half price so the bun will wait until another day. It may live on into eternity like a fruitcake!
There is an extremely low tide along the coast revealing beds of shellfish. People are walking along and collecting clams and waving to the train. Multiple bald eagles dive and glide and others are perched on rocks. I believe many of the train passengers are heading to Vancouver for an Alaskan cruise. I want to say you will see LOTS of bald eagles there, but I am quiet and will let them discover that themselves.
Our conductor announces, “Well, there is Mudflat Marnie; we haven’t seen him in a couple of years but looks like he is alive and well.” Marnie is a clothing optional enthusiast walking along the shoreline, waving at the train, and providing us a full frontal view and today his clothing option is...Not!
I arrive in Vancouver at noon and clear customs easily. It takes over an hr to drive away with the ”Beast 2”...a Jeep Wrangler which definitely commands the road. I wanted something fun to drive through the Canadian Rockies.
It takes another hr to arrive at my hotel for the next 2 days. This one also doesn’t have AC and today is hot and muggy which is unusual for Vancouver. The person checking in ahead of me commented this was probably a great hotel in the ‘60s. I’m assuming he means 1960’s and not 1860’s!
Room 805 is mine, but both elevators are broken! I do not want to lug two heavy suitcases up 8 flights. Yes, I know, pack light, but I also have supplies for 7 nights in timeshares including laundry detergent and accessories and kitchen items. Plus, I am still holding on to that peanut butter and jelly!
Patience, remember? Miracle, they declare one elevator fixed, and I get to try it out!
I lived and agree the hotel is from the 60’s or maybe the 50’s, and rooms haven’t been redecorated or updated since!
It does look clean even though the indoor/outdoor carpet has lots of lumps and dips, the curtains are torn, and the nylon bedspread is frayed. The fabric sofa is so pilled I wish I had my fuzz remover!
Ahhh, I know; you still wish you were traveling with me!
The beauty of this place...if you can call it that...is that it is large with a separate sitting room and kitchen. I open sliding doors overlooking streets below for ventilation, and my curtains billow out to the tiny balconies. I wonder if I will be able to sleep with the city street noise. This is the west side of Vancouver and supposedly the posh area, but this place got missed!
I am hot and tired and not pleased with my current situation. I unpack and put my nightgown in the small frig hoping for some cool relief tonight. I decide to take a quick nap and re-evaluate. When in doubt, sleep on it!
Oh, and did I mention the room has a strange odor?
It is too late for a tour, and I decide to walk the streets to find dinner since my breakfast burrito is long gone. Cooler now and more pleasant, the sidewalks are filled with mostly young people who seem prominently Asian.
Multiple Asian restaurants line the street so I check out menus...chicken feet both fried and pickled, fried duck tongues, things I won’t even mention. I am adventurous with food, but maybe not this brave.
I settle on a dim sum restaurant..fried spring rolls and what I thought would be pork belly and duck dim sum but rather bao which is a round and folded black bun but surprisingly good. I love barbecue but decide to pass on the bbq eel!
Walking the other side of the street, I find a gelato store and walk out with a cone filled with scoops of in-store made blueberry and mango gelato. The evening is looking up!
I’ve noticed lots of shouting and cheering in restaurants and bars. People line the sidewalk watching TVs through windows, and I stop to chat with a parking meter reader. It is the last 9-seconds of the NBA finals, and the Canadian team may win for the first time ever.
We watch, Canada wins, and we all cheer!
I slept better than expected last night. Maybe I am exhausted from travel or maybe it was my pleasantly chilled nightie!
Sorry no photos today; you just have to use your imagination!
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