Blog entry mega update continues. Lets crack on!
The Greyhound bus was at 10ish, so we had to get up fairly early, to pack etc, we ate breakfast and Piers guided us to the Greyhound station. We got our tickets and boarded the bus. I spent the first 2 hours of the journey listening to music, and the rest stairing out the window. The view was fairly uneventful, but after a while we entered Savannah like grass land, with the occasion dilapidated American style wooden barn plonked on it. There were also a lot of cows. The grassland also looked a tad odd in that there were lots of rocks randomly sticking out of the ground, sharp pointy rocks. I assume they were probably dumped there by the Yosemite glacier back in the day. The hills gradually became larger, and were now covered in thick forest, and 5 hours later, we would stood outside the Yosemite bug hostel. After dragging our bags up a hill that never seemed to end, we finally signed in, got our room, and unpacked. It was now getting dark, and there wasn't to much to do. We had a quick look around, tried to find a board game to play, failed, me and Piers had laptop time, then we all went to bed. The next morning we got up fairly early as breakfast finished at 9:15... and you had to pay for it. The $5 continental breakfast turned out to be egg on toast, what a bloody rip off. We packed some stuff and set of for the park. IOur shuttle bus driver was a tad religious, and even those he kept going on about how the park was constantly eroding, he was sure it was the creation of god, and not a big fat glacier in the last ice age, each to there own. Soon the shuttle bus had deposited us in the park, squinting in the bright sun light. The park is massive, insanely big, incomprehensibly big, clouds float through the canyon. Water falls evaporate before they even reach the floor of the valley. Huge, smooth granite walls surround the park, its almost intimidating. We set of for our first walk, to mirror lake. Mirror lake turned out to be more of a pond, maybe even a puddle, and took about an hour to walk to. Obviously for the less adventurous tourist. Next we decided to head for the highest waterfall in the world, and took the scenic route along the north face of the park, part of the trail had a waterfall passing over it, and builders were trying to redirect it, I got the feeling that the park authorities are constantly battling to keep the park open as the waterfalls and rock slides constantly change the shape of the park. With slightly soggy feet, we arrived at the waterfall, it was of course, massive. The spray and wind in generated was massive, and surprisingly strong considering how far back from the waterfall we were stood, I still couldn't get the entire thing into a photograph mind. It was now starting to get a bit late, so we headed back to the park entrance and got our shuttle bus back to the hostel. We showered, and cooked a delicious meal of tinned chilli and rice. We met a couple of intresting people that night, an Australian girl who was here on a work meeting, and had used some time off work to travel afterwards, and an Irish guy who planned to travel for the next 5 years, he was really intresting, and gave me some good tips for were to head next, etc. Rosie later pointed out, this could be some kind of mid life crisis. We drank some of the beers we had bought at the park, then feeling lightly drunk, headed to bed.
Next Morning. We ate a quick breakfast we had made our self so we didn't have to pay for the crap hostel one, and Rosie got talking to the Ozzie girl again, who offered to drive us to the park. The weather had deteriorated a lot that evening, and it was now cold, wet and windy. The Ozzie lass drove us up to a look out point near the park entrance, we got a good view across the valley, and took some tourist snaps. Got back into the warmth of the car, and headed into the park. The problem was, it was now so horrible, that the more adventurous walks were off limits. So we walked over to Happy Island, this small island in the middle of the river that runs through the valley was the kids area of the park. It was alright, I guess, we climbed off the park to get some good photos of the rapids at the top of the island, then headed back to the park village, had a coffee, and some sweet American crap. We accidentally returned to mirror lake, then as the temperature started to drop, decided we should head back to base camp. We ate the remains of the Chilli, and discussed how we were going to escape from the park, down to LA the next day. There was a slightly akward moment, when it became clear that the Ozzie lady was doing the same things as us, but niether of us wanted to ask if we wanted to share a car. Not that it mattered, as she was getting up at some crazily early time. We drank some more beers, then headed to bed. Ready for the long drive tommorow.
Just a quick note to say that those Yosemite is huge and impressive, its not actually that pretty. I didn't like it all that much. The park I visited in Croatia, with its bright blue waterfalls contrasting with the yellow of the rock, was far nicer than Yosemite. Yosemite is just huge and grey, the waterfalls are massive, but the one's at Mount Hood were far more scenic. I guess I'm just not into the main stream waterfalls, I prefer the smaller indie one's.
Quotes.
Piers:- How was it Greg?
Me:- Excellent, no regrets!
*Rosie and Piers burst out laughing.*
So when the Ozzie girl stopped the car and me and her got out to take some photos of a cloud passing a cliff face, it turns out that Rosie and Piers were discussing if we were banging or not while they waited in the car. We weren't.
Sunday, 9 May 2010
Saturday, 8 May 2010
San Francisco! 1148 Miles down!
Me again. Sorry its been a while. I've been a tad busy, and when your traveling with others you get less time to yourself, and it makes doing blog entries a tad hard... plus I'm REALLY lazy. Anyhow, over the next few days I'm going to try and bang out an entry a day. So lets get started!
So as I said the drive to San Fran had been amazing, and the night we arrived, I was struggling to sleep. My brain just wouldn't shut up. It was like after I went snowboarding, my brain seemed preoccupied with what it had seen, and getting its driving mucles back. I got my eight hours, but the next day I felt shattered. Piers had been to SF before, so he was our tour guide for the day, so after our hearty breakfast (Croissants? Porridge? Toast? Proper hostel breakfast that) we hit the streets into beautiful sunshine. It was a little windy, but we didn't care. First stop China Town. It was basically a posh version of Vancouvers china town, but slightly bigger. I wasn't as impressed. No lizards on sticks. No dried jelly fish. No herbal medicine. Just lots of camera and souvenir shops. It didn't even have that many chinese people in it. Ah well. We popped out of china town and landed in the pier district. We sat on some lawn for a while, I became a bit obsessed with photographing some seagulls having a bath. We dozed a little bit, then headed down to Pier 39... which was a bit like a condenced and americanized version of blackpool. We hit up the arcade, but it was expensive and rubbish, so we didn't play any games, and ate an expensive hot dog to some how try and compensate. After that we decided to head downtown to have a look at the shops. We found an urban outfitters and looked at shoes and stuff in there, took a photo of the huge pyramid building thats downtown. Next I decided I wanted to look around Haight street, San Frans famous bohemian/hippy district. We started to walk down the road towards the street... and the streets started to get what you might call "dodgy". We walked by as a drunk guy pulled another very drunk guy of his chair and onto the floor, and Rosie got a few inappropriate calls... except they were so lame that they weren't offensive in the slightest. Piers thought they were shouting to him for some reason. After a while Piers wanted to turn back, so we went to a small park and decided what to do. Me and Rosie decided we wanted to continue onwards, and Piers headed back to the more commecial shopping district. We carried on our walk, found Haight street, and there was nothing on it. Just lots of houses. Confused we headed back, through another residential district of San Fran, to the hostel. Ate a delightful $5 meal that the hostel puts on, that evening we were all still shattered, so we stayed in, I wrote the previous blog entry, then we headed to bed fairly early, as Piers had booked tickets for Alcatraz the next day, and that involved an early start.
Up! Breakfast! Out the door by 9! Got outside, still sunny, but a lot more windy than the previous day. We headed back down to the Pier, found were the boat left for Alcatraz, collected our tickets and began the boarding for the 10am boat just in time. After having our photo taken behind a picture of alcatraz that they wanted to us to pay $20 to buy later (honestly, with modern cameras why would you do that? Your about to be on the bloody island that's in the picture, plus it makes it look like your hovering over the sea like a touristy version of Jesus.) The boat set off, and we could see the golden gate bridge clearly in the background, as we approached the island, and got a chance to get a few cracking photos of the island as we approached. On arrival we ejected ourselves from the boat and listened to a long lecture on the do's and don't's of the island... I was begginging to wonder if this would be any good. We headed up the slope towards the prison, and decided we should do the audio tour. We collected our hand sets, put on our trendy 90's style headphones and hit the prison. The tour was epically, intensely, good. Its full of interviews with the prison guards, and even more amazingly, some of the prisoners. As you walk through the prison the headset would play authentic sounding prison noises to give you the atmosphere, then would talk you though various parts of the prisons history, along with throat cutting sound effects and screams were necissary. I new about the attempted escapes on Alcatraz, what I didn't know about was when some prisoners took over the prison, which was followed by a 3 day stand off with the military, or the time the prisoners tried to revolt in the kitchen after they got fed of being served awful pasta 3 weeks in a row. Or how the prison guards families lived on the island. They are currently trying to raise money to fix Alcatraz, as its falling to pieces, but in a way I kinda hope that doesn't happen, all the rust, concrete walls falling to pieces, and seagull poop just give the place extra atmosphere. Also, I'm kinda embarissed to say that the place gave me flash backs of the prison level on computer game Half Life 2, which was obviously based on the prison. To the point that I told Piers I'd had a gun fight in that very recreational yard, ahhh happy memories. The rest of the prison was closed off because of the gulls breeding, so we returned to the boat and headed back to the main land. It was really starting to get VERY windy, and cold. Next we were heading to an outdoor pool, or at leasts that we thought it would be, it turned out to be a small harbour area, that looked very choppy. We defonatley weren't swimming in it. We sat on some grass for it a bit, but it was freezing, so we decided that the answer to this problem was to keep moving. Next we headed up Lafayette park to have a look around the famous tower. We climbed to the top of the hill and looked out over San Francisco, the view was pretty darn impressive, you could see downtown clearly, and out over the harbour, and most of the 4 miles of the bay bridge. We sat up at the tower for a bit, because the wind wasn't as bad, and we could actually feel the sun. After we had been up the tower we decided it was home time, and headed back to the hostel for another cracking $5 meal. Meal ingested we decided a cheap night was in order, and went to the hostels cheese and wine night, which turned out to be one glass of wine, and some humus. I watched a bit of a film, and I'll be honest, I can't remember rest of that evening, so it probably involved an early night, oh, let say I read a book.
Our final day in San Fran! :-( We got up fairly late, ate some Breakie, then decided to do the Hostels free tour. Our tour guide turned out to be an English girl, who was living in the country illegally, and getting paid cash in hand... I had reservations about this tour. But this was unnecessary, as the tour turned out to be really good. Maybe I should stop having so much reservations about stuff. She showed us some of the famous houses at San Frans central square.. well were they should have been, as they all burned down after the huge earthquake in 1906. Next she showed us the original Fairmont hotel, which was incredibly luxurious, and has its original 1900's decor. After that we headed to the tram museum, which houses the machine that makes the trams move, its essentially a giant motor that pulls the cable that is berried under the street. After that she took us to the Lavaett tower, and even though we had already been there, she improved things by actually knowing what we were looking at, and the history of the tower. Next stop China town, again she told us tons if interesting stuff about this China town, for example, its were all of the prostitution was centred, and a prostitute was expected to live no longer than 8 months, the people of San Fran treated the Chinese very badly, and the reason this China town looked so nice, was because they actively decided to make it a tourist attraction after the earthquake, as a way of repaying the Chinese for treating them like shit for the last 50 years. With the tour over, me and Rosie decided to head back to Haight Street, turns out we were going the right direction, it was just another mile down the road. This time we got the bus. The street was full of hippyish bohemian stuff as expected. I had been talking about getting my lip pierced for a while, and Rosie dragged me into a tattoo studio to get it done. Even then, I had reservations, so we decided to play a game of credit card roulette. If Rosies card accepted the $50 bill, then I had it done, if not we walked out... it only bloody accepted it. The gentleman who did the piercing was pretty good, the pain was minimal, it only was a bit like getting an injection. It really didn't hurt that much. After that we heade back for the final $5 meal, then it was time for the pub crawl organized by the hostel. :-D We donned our glad rags and met the others for the awkward first meeting outside the hostel. Pretty much everyone on the tour was English. We boarded a bus, and headed to the first bar... an Irish bar well away from the central district, it turns out our tour guide was Irish, and living here illegally, and trying to get in with the bar owners by bringing hostelers to the bars. The first bar was dead, we had our first drink, and got to know the other people, there were 3 lads from around Stockport, an Ozzie and German guy who had met in a hostel, and been traveling together since, and a random assortment of guys and gals from other minor European states. The second bar was a little busier, but had a DJ who was old enough to be my dad, but still thought he was "Cool" always a dangerous combination. I think he might have played Cotnie Joe. The drink was starting to take affect, and it was becoming even easier to talk to our new comrades. I don't remember much of the last bar, except the music was much better, Rosie was trashed, me and Piers had an epic heart to heart. We got the bus back, and after being fascinated by the twinkling of some paving slabs, ended up being sat in the hostel kitchen talking with the English guys for another hour. In bed by 3. Good times.
So as I said the drive to San Fran had been amazing, and the night we arrived, I was struggling to sleep. My brain just wouldn't shut up. It was like after I went snowboarding, my brain seemed preoccupied with what it had seen, and getting its driving mucles back. I got my eight hours, but the next day I felt shattered. Piers had been to SF before, so he was our tour guide for the day, so after our hearty breakfast (Croissants? Porridge? Toast? Proper hostel breakfast that) we hit the streets into beautiful sunshine. It was a little windy, but we didn't care. First stop China Town. It was basically a posh version of Vancouvers china town, but slightly bigger. I wasn't as impressed. No lizards on sticks. No dried jelly fish. No herbal medicine. Just lots of camera and souvenir shops. It didn't even have that many chinese people in it. Ah well. We popped out of china town and landed in the pier district. We sat on some lawn for a while, I became a bit obsessed with photographing some seagulls having a bath. We dozed a little bit, then headed down to Pier 39... which was a bit like a condenced and americanized version of blackpool. We hit up the arcade, but it was expensive and rubbish, so we didn't play any games, and ate an expensive hot dog to some how try and compensate. After that we decided to head downtown to have a look at the shops. We found an urban outfitters and looked at shoes and stuff in there, took a photo of the huge pyramid building thats downtown. Next I decided I wanted to look around Haight street, San Frans famous bohemian/hippy district. We started to walk down the road towards the street... and the streets started to get what you might call "dodgy". We walked by as a drunk guy pulled another very drunk guy of his chair and onto the floor, and Rosie got a few inappropriate calls... except they were so lame that they weren't offensive in the slightest. Piers thought they were shouting to him for some reason. After a while Piers wanted to turn back, so we went to a small park and decided what to do. Me and Rosie decided we wanted to continue onwards, and Piers headed back to the more commecial shopping district. We carried on our walk, found Haight street, and there was nothing on it. Just lots of houses. Confused we headed back, through another residential district of San Fran, to the hostel. Ate a delightful $5 meal that the hostel puts on, that evening we were all still shattered, so we stayed in, I wrote the previous blog entry, then we headed to bed fairly early, as Piers had booked tickets for Alcatraz the next day, and that involved an early start.
Up! Breakfast! Out the door by 9! Got outside, still sunny, but a lot more windy than the previous day. We headed back down to the Pier, found were the boat left for Alcatraz, collected our tickets and began the boarding for the 10am boat just in time. After having our photo taken behind a picture of alcatraz that they wanted to us to pay $20 to buy later (honestly, with modern cameras why would you do that? Your about to be on the bloody island that's in the picture, plus it makes it look like your hovering over the sea like a touristy version of Jesus.) The boat set off, and we could see the golden gate bridge clearly in the background, as we approached the island, and got a chance to get a few cracking photos of the island as we approached. On arrival we ejected ourselves from the boat and listened to a long lecture on the do's and don't's of the island... I was begginging to wonder if this would be any good. We headed up the slope towards the prison, and decided we should do the audio tour. We collected our hand sets, put on our trendy 90's style headphones and hit the prison. The tour was epically, intensely, good. Its full of interviews with the prison guards, and even more amazingly, some of the prisoners. As you walk through the prison the headset would play authentic sounding prison noises to give you the atmosphere, then would talk you though various parts of the prisons history, along with throat cutting sound effects and screams were necissary. I new about the attempted escapes on Alcatraz, what I didn't know about was when some prisoners took over the prison, which was followed by a 3 day stand off with the military, or the time the prisoners tried to revolt in the kitchen after they got fed of being served awful pasta 3 weeks in a row. Or how the prison guards families lived on the island. They are currently trying to raise money to fix Alcatraz, as its falling to pieces, but in a way I kinda hope that doesn't happen, all the rust, concrete walls falling to pieces, and seagull poop just give the place extra atmosphere. Also, I'm kinda embarissed to say that the place gave me flash backs of the prison level on computer game Half Life 2, which was obviously based on the prison. To the point that I told Piers I'd had a gun fight in that very recreational yard, ahhh happy memories. The rest of the prison was closed off because of the gulls breeding, so we returned to the boat and headed back to the main land. It was really starting to get VERY windy, and cold. Next we were heading to an outdoor pool, or at leasts that we thought it would be, it turned out to be a small harbour area, that looked very choppy. We defonatley weren't swimming in it. We sat on some grass for it a bit, but it was freezing, so we decided that the answer to this problem was to keep moving. Next we headed up Lafayette park to have a look around the famous tower. We climbed to the top of the hill and looked out over San Francisco, the view was pretty darn impressive, you could see downtown clearly, and out over the harbour, and most of the 4 miles of the bay bridge. We sat up at the tower for a bit, because the wind wasn't as bad, and we could actually feel the sun. After we had been up the tower we decided it was home time, and headed back to the hostel for another cracking $5 meal. Meal ingested we decided a cheap night was in order, and went to the hostels cheese and wine night, which turned out to be one glass of wine, and some humus. I watched a bit of a film, and I'll be honest, I can't remember rest of that evening, so it probably involved an early night, oh, let say I read a book.
Our final day in San Fran! :-( We got up fairly late, ate some Breakie, then decided to do the Hostels free tour. Our tour guide turned out to be an English girl, who was living in the country illegally, and getting paid cash in hand... I had reservations about this tour. But this was unnecessary, as the tour turned out to be really good. Maybe I should stop having so much reservations about stuff. She showed us some of the famous houses at San Frans central square.. well were they should have been, as they all burned down after the huge earthquake in 1906. Next she showed us the original Fairmont hotel, which was incredibly luxurious, and has its original 1900's decor. After that we headed to the tram museum, which houses the machine that makes the trams move, its essentially a giant motor that pulls the cable that is berried under the street. After that she took us to the Lavaett tower, and even though we had already been there, she improved things by actually knowing what we were looking at, and the history of the tower. Next stop China town, again she told us tons if interesting stuff about this China town, for example, its were all of the prostitution was centred, and a prostitute was expected to live no longer than 8 months, the people of San Fran treated the Chinese very badly, and the reason this China town looked so nice, was because they actively decided to make it a tourist attraction after the earthquake, as a way of repaying the Chinese for treating them like shit for the last 50 years. With the tour over, me and Rosie decided to head back to Haight Street, turns out we were going the right direction, it was just another mile down the road. This time we got the bus. The street was full of hippyish bohemian stuff as expected. I had been talking about getting my lip pierced for a while, and Rosie dragged me into a tattoo studio to get it done. Even then, I had reservations, so we decided to play a game of credit card roulette. If Rosies card accepted the $50 bill, then I had it done, if not we walked out... it only bloody accepted it. The gentleman who did the piercing was pretty good, the pain was minimal, it only was a bit like getting an injection. It really didn't hurt that much. After that we heade back for the final $5 meal, then it was time for the pub crawl organized by the hostel. :-D We donned our glad rags and met the others for the awkward first meeting outside the hostel. Pretty much everyone on the tour was English. We boarded a bus, and headed to the first bar... an Irish bar well away from the central district, it turns out our tour guide was Irish, and living here illegally, and trying to get in with the bar owners by bringing hostelers to the bars. The first bar was dead, we had our first drink, and got to know the other people, there were 3 lads from around Stockport, an Ozzie and German guy who had met in a hostel, and been traveling together since, and a random assortment of guys and gals from other minor European states. The second bar was a little busier, but had a DJ who was old enough to be my dad, but still thought he was "Cool" always a dangerous combination. I think he might have played Cotnie Joe. The drink was starting to take affect, and it was becoming even easier to talk to our new comrades. I don't remember much of the last bar, except the music was much better, Rosie was trashed, me and Piers had an epic heart to heart. We got the bus back, and after being fascinated by the twinkling of some paving slabs, ended up being sat in the hostel kitchen talking with the English guys for another hour. In bed by 3. Good times.
Friday, 23 April 2010
957 Miles down! Portland is as cute as a button! Onwards! To San Fran.
Evening, I'm currently sat in the seating area of the hostel in the Adelaide Hostel. Its very quiet, apart from the guy who just tripped over my internet cable trying to get to the loo, he was bloody noisy, but also apologetic. Its been a busy few days. So lets crack on!
So, the Greyhound jouney was intresting post the last blog update. The greyhound nutter drank a lot of vodka, tried to talk to me and Rosie, who tried our best to give one word answers to questions like "are you a photojournalist?" and "where you from?". Piers just slept through his ranting, but was woken up by him repeating "wake up, I won't hurt you". The bus pulled into Portland and the weather had improved significantly, giving us a beautifully clear evening, we found our hostel, which turned out to be a motel. But it meant we got a room to ourselves, which was nice. Portland is a beautiful city, it reminded me of Oxford a bit, as its a small University city, with a large youthful population for 8 months of the year. It had a tram system that was free to use downtown, with large modern cars, the kind of thing you might see in a small European city. Another thing giving it a European vibe was that every street was tree lined, and all the buildings looked to be at least 90 years old, which for youthful America is bloody old. The first evening me and Rosie decided we fancied a drink so headed downtown to see what offerings there were. We discovered a small bar that JP Shooter would have loved. It was essentially an arcade, with a laser quest look, that served ($1.50!) drinks. When we went there, a pinball tournament was in full swing, and a local news team had turned up to film the proceeded. After a couple of drinks we headed back to the hotel, and got a reasonable nights sleep. The next day we woke up fresh and ready for an exciting day in the sun... to find it was chucking it down. Feeling a tad downhearted we headed for the zoo. Our emotions soon flipped when we got to see a goat before we even entered the zoo entrance. We payed up, snapped a picture of the teaser goat, and started our trek around the zoo. We witnessed many marvels of nature that day. Some highlights:- An angry lioness pacing up and down the glass of a display. Getting licked by one goat, being rejected by another goat. Watching some sealions, and watching a bat commit several sex crimes in 5 minutes, while parents desperately tried to overt the eyes of there children. Just as we left the zoo, it started to chuck it down, so we ran to the tram, and headed of to the shopping mall, to do some tax free shopping. Because, for no apparent reason, Portland is tax free on all purchases. I bought a pair of jeans, which are tight fit, furthering my hipster vibe, and a stupidly loud hawaiian shirt, ideal for beach lounging, which I plan to do a lot of in LA, and Charleston. That evening we returned home, and felt pretty tired, so decided to have an early ish night, as we would be up early the next day.
Portland day II. We got up at a resonable time, and headed down to Budget rent a car, so we could head up to Mount Hood for a mooch around. Our friendly budget lady told us she was out of economy cars, so we had to rent some black sporty looking Nissan beast. This was good for me (driving) and Piers (Chief Navigator) but not so good for Rosie (Navigator, second order, and light to moderate rear tourist). Some brief last minute research informed us we couldn't go to the top of mount hood, as all the roads would be covered in snow, and a sporty Nissan is not ideal transport on snowy roads. So we decided to follow the river valley next to the mountain, which would give us cracking views of the valley, and lots of waterfalls. It was my first time driving in just under a year, so the car, combined with driving on the wrong side of the road led to heary driving at first, and a lot of wrong turns, but we were soon on the Columbia Highway, and 20 minutes later we were skirting the river. We turned of onto a 'historic highway' that would lead us past lots of waterfalls. We were soon ascending mount hood to ear popping heights, and the view across the valley was soon impressive. As we got to one of the highest points on the road, we saw a detour that would take us up to a trek up to 4000 foot. So we climbed an even narrower and windier road up into the mountains, which soon informed us the road would be impassable because of snow. Lies! The road was clear of snow right up to the point it closed. It was bloody cold though, and we found about 4 patches of snow, one of which I got a photo with Piers in, before returning to the scenic road above the valley. We continued along the scenic route until we came across our first waterfall, it didn't disappoint. The mouth of the river stopped at the edge of a shear cliff before crashing onto the rocks below. We were fascinated and climbed to the bottom of it, to be pounded by the spray and air it produced, then climbed to the top to watch the water disappear into the abyss. Good times. We got back into the car, and drove for a while, and there was an EVEN bigger waterfall. Again, we climbed to the top. Except, this time it took bloody ages, and the view from the top was rubbish because of all the cloud. So we hiked back down, got in our car and headed for the next waterfall. Which was crap. Back in the car, to the final, largest waterfall. We got out. Took a photo and left. We were cream crackered. The drive back was along a freeway, so we were back at our hostel in no time. That evening, me and Piers returned to barcode, were they were having a Guitar hero night, we got to listen to some cracking tunes, even if they were sung badly, by the Evening, I'm currently sat in the seating area of the hostel in the Adelaide Hostel. Its very quiet, apart from the guy who just tripped over my internet cable trying to get to the loo, he was bloody noisy, but also apologetic. Its been a busy few days. So lets crack on!
So, the Greyhound jouney was intresting post the last blog update. The greyhound nutter drank a lot of vodka, tried to talk to me and Rosie, who tried our best to give one word answers to questions like "are you a photojournalist?" and "where you from?". Piers just slept through his ranting, but was woken up by him repeating "wake up, I won't hurt you". The bus pulled into Portland and the weather had improved significantly, giving us a beautifully clear evening, we found our hostel, which turned out to be a motel. But it meant we got a room to ourselves, which was nice. Portland is a beautiful city, it reminded me of Oxford a bit, as its a small University city, with a large youthful population for 8 months of the year. It had a tram system that was free to use downtown, with large modern cars, the kind of thing you might see in a small European city. Another thing giving it a European vibe was that every street was tree lined, and all the buildings looked to be at least 90 years old, which for youthful America is bloody old. The first evening me and Rosie decided we fancied a drink so headed downtown to see what offerings there were. We discovered a small bar that JP Shooter would have loved. It was essentially an arcade, with a laser quest look, that served ($1.50!) drinks. When we went there, a pinball tournament was in full swing, and a local news team had turned up to film the proceeded. After a couple of drinks we headed back to the hotel, and got a reasonable nights sleep. The next day we woke up fresh and ready for an exciting day in the sun... to find it was chucking it down. Feeling a tad downhearted we headed for the zoo. Our emotions soon flipped when we got to see a goat before we even entered the zoo entrance. We payed up, snapped a picture of the teaser goat, and started our trek around the zoo. We witnessed many marvels of nature that day. Some highlights:- An angry lioness pacing up and down the glass of a display. Getting licked by one goat, being rejected by another goat. Watching some sealions, and watching a bat commit several sex crimes in 5 minutes, while parents desperately tried to overt the eyes of there children. Just as we left the zoo, it started to chuck it down, so we ran to the tram, and headed of to the shopping mall, to do some tax free shopping. Because, for no apparent reason, Portland is tax free on all purchases. I bought a pair of jeans, which are tight fit, furthering my hipster vibe, and a stupidly loud hawaiian shirt, ideal for beach lounging, which I plan to do a lot of in LA, and Charleston. That evening we returned home, and felt pretty tired, so decided to have an early ish night, as we would be up early the next day.
Portland day II. We got up at a resonable time, and headed down to Budget rent a car, so we could head up to Mount Hood for a mooch around. Our friendly budget lady told us she was out of economy cars, so we had to rent some black sporty looking Nissan beast. This was good for me (driving) and Piers (Chief Navigator) but not so good for Rosie (Navigator, second order, and light to moderate rear tourist). Some brief last minute research informed us we couldn't go to the top of mount hood, as all the roads would be covered in snow, and a sporty Nissan is not ideal transport on snowy roads. So we decided to follow the river valley next to the mountain, which would give us cracking views of the valley, and lots of waterfalls. It was my first time driving in just under a year, so the car, combined with driving on the wrong side of the road led to heary driving at first, and a lot of wrong turns, but we were soon on the Columbia Highway, and 20 minutes later we were skirting the river. We turned of onto a 'historic highway' that would lead us past lots of waterfalls. We were soon ascending mount hood to ear popping heights, and the view across the valley was soon impressive. As we got to one of the highest points on the road, we saw a detour that would take us up to a trek up to 4000 foot. So we climbed an even narrower and windier road up into the mountains, which soon informed us the road would be impassable because of snow. Lies! The road was clear of snow right up to the point it closed. It was bloody cold though, and we found about 4 patches of snow, one of which I got a photo with Piers in, before returning to the scenic road above the valley. We continued along the scenic route until we came across our first waterfall, it didn't disappoint. The mouth of the river stopped at the edge of a shear cliff before crashing onto the rocks below. We were fascinated and climbed to the bottom of it, to be pounded by the spray and air it produced, then climbed to the top to watch the water disappear into the abyss. Good times. We got back into the car, and drove for a while, and there was an EVEN bigger waterfall. Again, we climbed to the top. Except, this time it took bloody ages, and the view from the top was rubbish because of all the cloud. So we hiked back down, got in our car and headed for the next waterfall. Which was crap. Back in the car, to the final, largest waterfall. We got out. Took a photo and left. We were cream crackered. The drive back was along a freeway, so we were back at our hostel in no time. That evening, me and Piers returned to barcode, were they were having a Guitar hero night, we got to listen to some cracking tunes, even if they were sung badly, by the coolest geeks I've ever seen. We returned home to get a half decent nights sleep for the Very long drive ahead of us.... except I couldn't sleep because I was nervous about the very long drive ahead of me, and that I wouldn't get enough sleep. Touche Catch 22.
The next day I felt pretty groggy. We packed our stuff and lugged it to the car, and took the car back to the budget rental place. Then collected our next car, which would take us all the way down to San Fran. Through some intense bargain hunting by me, I had managed to find a car for $37 including tax that we could drop off in San Fran. As San Fran is short of cars, and Portland has a surplus. The normal price would be $120. After completing the paper work we were handed the keys and boarded our new steed:- a lime green Ford Mondeo. It was much less of a hand full than the Nissan, and Rosie wasn't folded up in the back of it, so every one was a lot happier, after a brief lap of Portland as I managed to miss one exit we were soon on the I5 and heading south towards California. We expected the drive to be very long and dull, and for the first 4 hours we were not disappointed. The road was almost exactly straight, with tall disciduos trees lining each side of the road, and some mountains very faintly off to our left. But at hour 5 the road became slightly more windy, and started to climb upwards. Soon, I was asking Piers if we heading the wrong way, because there was a ginormous mountain range I was not expecting in front of us, and we appeared to be climbing up it. We were going the right direction, soon we in snow covered mountains at the Oregon border, and decending into California, after a brief stop to tell border security we weren't carrying any fruit (that's literally all they asked) we were now in a more baron and arid looking landscape, but still up in the mountains, we crossed a beautiful lake, the weather had now cleared giving us clear blue skies. We made a gas stop at a tiny gas station, run by prehaps the nicest man I've ever met, it was an independant gas station with a diner built into the wood cabin he ran it from. Some of the novelty items it contained included a pet rattle snake, (that rattles when he's hungry) a bath with two mannequins in, and a wall covered in Californian number plates, he even came out to join us for a cigarette, and we taked about how Bear Grills may be the worst survival expert in the world. We got back in the car and continued our drive. As the sun set at hour 8 of our drive I suddenly realised I was really, quite hungry. So we stopped for a Taco Bell, you ever seen Fight Club when the lead guy say sleep deprovation feels like your life is a photo copy of a photo copy of a photocopy. Yea, I had that. A taco and some sugary crap made me feel better, and we continued on our journey, on what was perhaps the straightest road in history. By hour 9 it was pitch black, and I got the feeling that the scenery either side of us was impressive, I just couldn't see it. By hour 10.5 we were rolling into the out skirts of San Fran, and crossed our first bridge, it was massive, with 5 lanes for each side of the road. Piers informed us we hadn't seen nothing yet, and sure enough the final bridge, a four mile beast connecting both sides of the valley was super impressive. by hour 11.25 we were standing in the hostel lobby, exhausted but happy. The drive was honestly one of the highlights of my trip so far, listening to the various CD's I made, along with the breath taking scenery made the jouney incredible. A++++ would do again.
Quotes.
"He looks like Jesus, but sexy"
Rosie on a guy on the Greyhound.
"I'd put my sandwhich in his box"
A lot of sexual innuendo flying around lately. This one about a squirrel statue, with a lunch box. I posed for a photograph, with me stealing food from his lunch box.
So, the Greyhound jouney was intresting post the last blog update. The greyhound nutter drank a lot of vodka, tried to talk to me and Rosie, who tried our best to give one word answers to questions like "are you a photojournalist?" and "where you from?". Piers just slept through his ranting, but was woken up by him repeating "wake up, I won't hurt you". The bus pulled into Portland and the weather had improved significantly, giving us a beautifully clear evening, we found our hostel, which turned out to be a motel. But it meant we got a room to ourselves, which was nice. Portland is a beautiful city, it reminded me of Oxford a bit, as its a small University city, with a large youthful population for 8 months of the year. It had a tram system that was free to use downtown, with large modern cars, the kind of thing you might see in a small European city. Another thing giving it a European vibe was that every street was tree lined, and all the buildings looked to be at least 90 years old, which for youthful America is bloody old. The first evening me and Rosie decided we fancied a drink so headed downtown to see what offerings there were. We discovered a small bar that JP Shooter would have loved. It was essentially an arcade, with a laser quest look, that served ($1.50!) drinks. When we went there, a pinball tournament was in full swing, and a local news team had turned up to film the proceeded. After a couple of drinks we headed back to the hotel, and got a reasonable nights sleep. The next day we woke up fresh and ready for an exciting day in the sun... to find it was chucking it down. Feeling a tad downhearted we headed for the zoo. Our emotions soon flipped when we got to see a goat before we even entered the zoo entrance. We payed up, snapped a picture of the teaser goat, and started our trek around the zoo. We witnessed many marvels of nature that day. Some highlights:- An angry lioness pacing up and down the glass of a display. Getting licked by one goat, being rejected by another goat. Watching some sealions, and watching a bat commit several sex crimes in 5 minutes, while parents desperately tried to overt the eyes of there children. Just as we left the zoo, it started to chuck it down, so we ran to the tram, and headed of to the shopping mall, to do some tax free shopping. Because, for no apparent reason, Portland is tax free on all purchases. I bought a pair of jeans, which are tight fit, furthering my hipster vibe, and a stupidly loud hawaiian shirt, ideal for beach lounging, which I plan to do a lot of in LA, and Charleston. That evening we returned home, and felt pretty tired, so decided to have an early ish night, as we would be up early the next day.
Portland day II. We got up at a resonable time, and headed down to Budget rent a car, so we could head up to Mount Hood for a mooch around. Our friendly budget lady told us she was out of economy cars, so we had to rent some black sporty looking Nissan beast. This was good for me (driving) and Piers (Chief Navigator) but not so good for Rosie (Navigator, second order, and light to moderate rear tourist). Some brief last minute research informed us we couldn't go to the top of mount hood, as all the roads would be covered in snow, and a sporty Nissan is not ideal transport on snowy roads. So we decided to follow the river valley next to the mountain, which would give us cracking views of the valley, and lots of waterfalls. It was my first time driving in just under a year, so the car, combined with driving on the wrong side of the road led to heary driving at first, and a lot of wrong turns, but we were soon on the Columbia Highway, and 20 minutes later we were skirting the river. We turned of onto a 'historic highway' that would lead us past lots of waterfalls. We were soon ascending mount hood to ear popping heights, and the view across the valley was soon impressive. As we got to one of the highest points on the road, we saw a detour that would take us up to a trek up to 4000 foot. So we climbed an even narrower and windier road up into the mountains, which soon informed us the road would be impassable because of snow. Lies! The road was clear of snow right up to the point it closed. It was bloody cold though, and we found about 4 patches of snow, one of which I got a photo with Piers in, before returning to the scenic road above the valley. We continued along the scenic route until we came across our first waterfall, it didn't disappoint. The mouth of the river stopped at the edge of a shear cliff before crashing onto the rocks below. We were fascinated and climbed to the bottom of it, to be pounded by the spray and air it produced, then climbed to the top to watch the water disappear into the abyss. Good times. We got back into the car, and drove for a while, and there was an EVEN bigger waterfall. Again, we climbed to the top. Except, this time it took bloody ages, and the view from the top was rubbish because of all the cloud. So we hiked back down, got in our car and headed for the next waterfall. Which was crap. Back in the car, to the final, largest waterfall. We got out. Took a photo and left. We were cream crackered. The drive back was along a freeway, so we were back at our hostel in no time. That evening, me and Piers returned to barcode, were they were having a Guitar hero night, we got to listen to some cracking tunes, even if they were sung badly, by the Evening, I'm currently sat in the seating area of the hostel in the Adelaide Hostel. Its very quiet, apart from the guy who just tripped over my internet cable trying to get to the loo, he was bloody noisy, but also apologetic. Its been a busy few days. So lets crack on!
So, the Greyhound jouney was intresting post the last blog update. The greyhound nutter drank a lot of vodka, tried to talk to me and Rosie, who tried our best to give one word answers to questions like "are you a photojournalist?" and "where you from?". Piers just slept through his ranting, but was woken up by him repeating "wake up, I won't hurt you". The bus pulled into Portland and the weather had improved significantly, giving us a beautifully clear evening, we found our hostel, which turned out to be a motel. But it meant we got a room to ourselves, which was nice. Portland is a beautiful city, it reminded me of Oxford a bit, as its a small University city, with a large youthful population for 8 months of the year. It had a tram system that was free to use downtown, with large modern cars, the kind of thing you might see in a small European city. Another thing giving it a European vibe was that every street was tree lined, and all the buildings looked to be at least 90 years old, which for youthful America is bloody old. The first evening me and Rosie decided we fancied a drink so headed downtown to see what offerings there were. We discovered a small bar that JP Shooter would have loved. It was essentially an arcade, with a laser quest look, that served ($1.50!) drinks. When we went there, a pinball tournament was in full swing, and a local news team had turned up to film the proceeded. After a couple of drinks we headed back to the hotel, and got a reasonable nights sleep. The next day we woke up fresh and ready for an exciting day in the sun... to find it was chucking it down. Feeling a tad downhearted we headed for the zoo. Our emotions soon flipped when we got to see a goat before we even entered the zoo entrance. We payed up, snapped a picture of the teaser goat, and started our trek around the zoo. We witnessed many marvels of nature that day. Some highlights:- An angry lioness pacing up and down the glass of a display. Getting licked by one goat, being rejected by another goat. Watching some sealions, and watching a bat commit several sex crimes in 5 minutes, while parents desperately tried to overt the eyes of there children. Just as we left the zoo, it started to chuck it down, so we ran to the tram, and headed of to the shopping mall, to do some tax free shopping. Because, for no apparent reason, Portland is tax free on all purchases. I bought a pair of jeans, which are tight fit, furthering my hipster vibe, and a stupidly loud hawaiian shirt, ideal for beach lounging, which I plan to do a lot of in LA, and Charleston. That evening we returned home, and felt pretty tired, so decided to have an early ish night, as we would be up early the next day.
Portland day II. We got up at a resonable time, and headed down to Budget rent a car, so we could head up to Mount Hood for a mooch around. Our friendly budget lady told us she was out of economy cars, so we had to rent some black sporty looking Nissan beast. This was good for me (driving) and Piers (Chief Navigator) but not so good for Rosie (Navigator, second order, and light to moderate rear tourist). Some brief last minute research informed us we couldn't go to the top of mount hood, as all the roads would be covered in snow, and a sporty Nissan is not ideal transport on snowy roads. So we decided to follow the river valley next to the mountain, which would give us cracking views of the valley, and lots of waterfalls. It was my first time driving in just under a year, so the car, combined with driving on the wrong side of the road led to heary driving at first, and a lot of wrong turns, but we were soon on the Columbia Highway, and 20 minutes later we were skirting the river. We turned of onto a 'historic highway' that would lead us past lots of waterfalls. We were soon ascending mount hood to ear popping heights, and the view across the valley was soon impressive. As we got to one of the highest points on the road, we saw a detour that would take us up to a trek up to 4000 foot. So we climbed an even narrower and windier road up into the mountains, which soon informed us the road would be impassable because of snow. Lies! The road was clear of snow right up to the point it closed. It was bloody cold though, and we found about 4 patches of snow, one of which I got a photo with Piers in, before returning to the scenic road above the valley. We continued along the scenic route until we came across our first waterfall, it didn't disappoint. The mouth of the river stopped at the edge of a shear cliff before crashing onto the rocks below. We were fascinated and climbed to the bottom of it, to be pounded by the spray and air it produced, then climbed to the top to watch the water disappear into the abyss. Good times. We got back into the car, and drove for a while, and there was an EVEN bigger waterfall. Again, we climbed to the top. Except, this time it took bloody ages, and the view from the top was rubbish because of all the cloud. So we hiked back down, got in our car and headed for the next waterfall. Which was crap. Back in the car, to the final, largest waterfall. We got out. Took a photo and left. We were cream crackered. The drive back was along a freeway, so we were back at our hostel in no time. That evening, me and Piers returned to barcode, were they were having a Guitar hero night, we got to listen to some cracking tunes, even if they were sung badly, by the coolest geeks I've ever seen. We returned home to get a half decent nights sleep for the Very long drive ahead of us.... except I couldn't sleep because I was nervous about the very long drive ahead of me, and that I wouldn't get enough sleep. Touche Catch 22.
The next day I felt pretty groggy. We packed our stuff and lugged it to the car, and took the car back to the budget rental place. Then collected our next car, which would take us all the way down to San Fran. Through some intense bargain hunting by me, I had managed to find a car for $37 including tax that we could drop off in San Fran. As San Fran is short of cars, and Portland has a surplus. The normal price would be $120. After completing the paper work we were handed the keys and boarded our new steed:- a lime green Ford Mondeo. It was much less of a hand full than the Nissan, and Rosie wasn't folded up in the back of it, so every one was a lot happier, after a brief lap of Portland as I managed to miss one exit we were soon on the I5 and heading south towards California. We expected the drive to be very long and dull, and for the first 4 hours we were not disappointed. The road was almost exactly straight, with tall disciduos trees lining each side of the road, and some mountains very faintly off to our left. But at hour 5 the road became slightly more windy, and started to climb upwards. Soon, I was asking Piers if we heading the wrong way, because there was a ginormous mountain range I was not expecting in front of us, and we appeared to be climbing up it. We were going the right direction, soon we in snow covered mountains at the Oregon border, and decending into California, after a brief stop to tell border security we weren't carrying any fruit (that's literally all they asked) we were now in a more baron and arid looking landscape, but still up in the mountains, we crossed a beautiful lake, the weather had now cleared giving us clear blue skies. We made a gas stop at a tiny gas station, run by prehaps the nicest man I've ever met, it was an independant gas station with a diner built into the wood cabin he ran it from. Some of the novelty items it contained included a pet rattle snake, (that rattles when he's hungry) a bath with two mannequins in, and a wall covered in Californian number plates, he even came out to join us for a cigarette, and we taked about how Bear Grills may be the worst survival expert in the world. We got back in the car and continued our drive. As the sun set at hour 8 of our drive I suddenly realised I was really, quite hungry. So we stopped for a Taco Bell, you ever seen Fight Club when the lead guy say sleep deprovation feels like your life is a photo copy of a photo copy of a photocopy. Yea, I had that. A taco and some sugary crap made me feel better, and we continued on our journey, on what was perhaps the straightest road in history. By hour 9 it was pitch black, and I got the feeling that the scenery either side of us was impressive, I just couldn't see it. By hour 10.5 we were rolling into the out skirts of San Fran, and crossed our first bridge, it was massive, with 5 lanes for each side of the road. Piers informed us we hadn't seen nothing yet, and sure enough the final bridge, a four mile beast connecting both sides of the valley was super impressive. by hour 11.25 we were standing in the hostel lobby, exhausted but happy. The drive was honestly one of the highlights of my trip so far, listening to the various CD's I made, along with the breath taking scenery made the jouney incredible. A++++ would do again.
Quotes.
"He looks like Jesus, but sexy"
Rosie on a guy on the Greyhound.
"I'd put my sandwhich in his box"
A lot of sexual innuendo flying around lately. This one about a squirrel statue, with a lunch box. I posed for a photograph, with me stealing food from his lunch box.
Sunday, 18 April 2010
320 Miles down! Rain! Hooters!
Another Greyhound journey, another blog entry. We've just boarded the Greyhound south to Portland. It appears we sat next to the bus nutter, and there is a small child crying at the back AGAIN! I think this might be a constant theme on the Greyhounds, only time will tell. Guess we should get onto Seattle's adventures.
So after disembarking the Greyhound at Seattle, I found the hostel pretty quickly, reception quickly upgraded me from "only a room for tonight" to "a room for two nights, but you'll have to change room" then Rosie and Piers turned up and it was "a room for two nights, sharing with your friends". That evening we went and got a Burrito, Piers and Rosie gave me a present, which was a toy plastic ninja, and a toy soldier equipped with parachute. We went to bed fairly early that night, as we were pretty tired, and didn't really do anything constructive that evening, apart from try and get on the broken internet.
Saturday! We got up at 9ish, looked out the window, and it was cold and damp. Not a good start. We had breakfast and got ready and decided to start our day by going to Bainbridge Island, it started to rain. Sad times. We got the ferry which slowly swam its way over to the island, we disembarked and decided a walk around the "sea trail" would be a good start. This trail took some 15 minutes to complete, so we had a coffee in the town centre... and at that point we had pretty much done all Bainbridge island had to offer. It had been a lot better last time when it was hot sunny, and the sun was setting, this time it was just chucking it down with rain. We returned to the ferry to head back to Seattle, at least we got some nice photos of downtown on the return jouney. We returned to the arcade to win some more ninjas on the ball game thing Piers and Rosie had perfected. It was still raining heavily, but we decided it was time to get something to eat. Piers suggested Hooters, and me and Rosie were game, so that was our next stop, it was a fair walk away, but it looked like the rain had abbated, so we started our walk. About half through our walk it started to rain... a lot. Plus we kept having to stop to check we were heading the right way. by the time we got to Hooters we were soaked and tired. Hooters is obviously famous for its tacky orange deckor, and waitress who wear very little, tight tops and tiny tight shorts, and extremely sexist employment policy. But NOT its food. I had a chicken burger, and it was the worst meal I've had since I've been traveling. It tasted like the kind of thing you would feed a fussy kid who only likes fish fingers. Rosie ordered fish and chips, and essentially got fish fingers and chips. It did not look tasty. At least the food was cheap, we watched as one of the waitresses went bright red as she was forced to sing a birthday song to some guy in his 50's, and another creepy looking guy on another table kept letching at the girls. I don't think I would go back to one to be honest. It was essentially a cheesy strip club, with strip club standard food.... without the stripping. The rain stopped for 5 minutes, and we decided to head back home while we still could. It was evening by the time we got back to the hostel, and we played card games and drank some cheap beer. (12 Corona for $15! Bargain) got a bit tipsy, watched an episode of south park, then it was pretty much time for bed, as we had been feeling really tired the whole day.
Today! We got up and the sun was out. We did a bit of window shopping, prices are so much cheaper here than in Canada. Clothes are essentially a third cheaper, and food and booze are also a lot cheaper. cigarettes are literally half the price. We headed back to the hostel, finally managed to get on the internet for 15 minutes. Then headed down to the greyhound and stood in the sun for half an hour while we waited for the bus.
No quotes, as I can't think of any good ones. Done and Done!
So after disembarking the Greyhound at Seattle, I found the hostel pretty quickly, reception quickly upgraded me from "only a room for tonight" to "a room for two nights, but you'll have to change room" then Rosie and Piers turned up and it was "a room for two nights, sharing with your friends". That evening we went and got a Burrito, Piers and Rosie gave me a present, which was a toy plastic ninja, and a toy soldier equipped with parachute. We went to bed fairly early that night, as we were pretty tired, and didn't really do anything constructive that evening, apart from try and get on the broken internet.
Saturday! We got up at 9ish, looked out the window, and it was cold and damp. Not a good start. We had breakfast and got ready and decided to start our day by going to Bainbridge Island, it started to rain. Sad times. We got the ferry which slowly swam its way over to the island, we disembarked and decided a walk around the "sea trail" would be a good start. This trail took some 15 minutes to complete, so we had a coffee in the town centre... and at that point we had pretty much done all Bainbridge island had to offer. It had been a lot better last time when it was hot sunny, and the sun was setting, this time it was just chucking it down with rain. We returned to the ferry to head back to Seattle, at least we got some nice photos of downtown on the return jouney. We returned to the arcade to win some more ninjas on the ball game thing Piers and Rosie had perfected. It was still raining heavily, but we decided it was time to get something to eat. Piers suggested Hooters, and me and Rosie were game, so that was our next stop, it was a fair walk away, but it looked like the rain had abbated, so we started our walk. About half through our walk it started to rain... a lot. Plus we kept having to stop to check we were heading the right way. by the time we got to Hooters we were soaked and tired. Hooters is obviously famous for its tacky orange deckor, and waitress who wear very little, tight tops and tiny tight shorts, and extremely sexist employment policy. But NOT its food. I had a chicken burger, and it was the worst meal I've had since I've been traveling. It tasted like the kind of thing you would feed a fussy kid who only likes fish fingers. Rosie ordered fish and chips, and essentially got fish fingers and chips. It did not look tasty. At least the food was cheap, we watched as one of the waitresses went bright red as she was forced to sing a birthday song to some guy in his 50's, and another creepy looking guy on another table kept letching at the girls. I don't think I would go back to one to be honest. It was essentially a cheesy strip club, with strip club standard food.... without the stripping. The rain stopped for 5 minutes, and we decided to head back home while we still could. It was evening by the time we got back to the hostel, and we played card games and drank some cheap beer. (12 Corona for $15! Bargain) got a bit tipsy, watched an episode of south park, then it was pretty much time for bed, as we had been feeling really tired the whole day.
Today! We got up and the sun was out. We did a bit of window shopping, prices are so much cheaper here than in Canada. Clothes are essentially a third cheaper, and food and booze are also a lot cheaper. cigarettes are literally half the price. We headed back to the hostel, finally managed to get on the internet for 15 minutes. Then headed down to the greyhound and stood in the sun for half an hour while we waited for the bus.
No quotes, as I can't think of any good ones. Done and Done!
Saturday, 17 April 2010
140 miles! Good bye Vancouver! Hello Seattle!Go Go Mr Jacobs!
G'day. Guess what everybody? The trips started! I'm writing this on the Greyhound as we speak. We just went round a sharp corner and it made it really hard to type, and there's a small child crying that he wants to go home some were near the back of the bus. I'm sat up front near the driver. Cos its ment to be safe or something. That and the Templetons waitress is also on this bus, and I don't want to have to make arkward conversation with her for the next three hours. Anyway, guess you want to hear about the last few days.
Wednesday. The big good bye mean at Templetons. SO, I got up fairly late, got my hair cut, walked Chloe to work, and then went and did a bit of shopping downtown. I purchased one pack of re-writable CD's and non of the clothes I needed. And, as I had ended up in town far to early, I had to sit around for ages waiting for the time of the final meal. Team Family's final meal kicked off at 6, I arrived a couple of minutes early, and, to my suprise everyone was already there except Piers. We talked and ate, and it didn't really feel any different from any of our other meet ups. After the food the five of us (Me, Rosie, JP, Piers and the newest member:- Joe) headed for our final drink at Tafs. It was up to its normal high standards, no one else in there, the guy who owns it practically mothering his customers ( we were made to moved from a table that seated 8, to one that seats 5, even though we were literally the only people in there). It was after our first drink, that the usual exceptionally high standards of banter becan to wain a bit, as the first person left. Piers, who had an early start the next day was the first to go. He hugged JP, like he'd never been hugged before, and scarpered. Next to go was Joe, who may or may not have hugged JP good bye, I was outside smoking at the time, so I'll never know. But he did hug Rosie goodbye, before trotting off towards the hard streets of china town. Leaving only me Rosie and JP. Suprisingly, we weren't ready to leave JP yet, and so bought some beer, and headed round JPs. We watched an episode of You Have Been Watching ( a program hosted by good ol' Charlie Brooker, its good, but a tad odd seeing him trying to be chummy with guests). Then, it was time for me and Rosie to go. It was hugs gallore, some teary eyes, but sadly no crying, no matter how hard me and JP tried to enduce it in Rosie. I actually came pretty close to making myself cry at one point. Me and Rosie took our last walk down Granville, with all its neon sighs, hopped on the skytrian and headed to our respective homes. I got back, pinned a note on the house door about my hastily constructed leaving party for the next day and went to bed.
Thursday! My leaving doo at the house! Would it be a success? Only time would tell. Me and Chloe lied in till about half 12, then I went to purchase my 'Discovery Pass for the Greyhound. After some faffing around I purchasded it, then we headed to the bank. On the way past we randomly saw minor A list celebrity Seth Cowan. More on that in quote of the week. My bank was no help because I got surved by Dennis, who's English is so bad he's of no help what so ever. Stupid China town banks. After that me and Chloe headed downtown to grab a burger at the furniture warehouse. Its a well known fact that I never pay for the skytrain, I like to rebel against the system by not paying for fast efficent cheap public transport. Its also a very eassy thing to do, as there are no barriers, just people checking you have a ticket on the trains.... Or at least I assume thats were they are, because I've never seen one... until that faitful Thursday. Chloe spotted one stood with his back to us on the train. We kept our cool and got off at the next stop. He also got off at that stop, and was walking just infront of us, we tried to keep our cool again and watched... as he put his hand a bin. Turns out it was a homeless guy who had found/stolen/killed a man wearing a green skytrain secuirty jacket. After this me and Chloe enjoyed our final $5 Furniture warehouse meal. Chloe had some italian chicken thing, which looked really good, and I relised I would never have the chance to eat one myself. Sad face. We got back and chilled for a bit before the start of my leaving party type thing. We headed down to the kitchen, to discover the only peolpe down there were Damian and Joe. Twas not looking good. Soon most of the Europeans had joined us, and I made my way through my cans of Kariboo (6 for $10). People started to get drunk, we found a half decent radio station... people seemed to be having fun. But no sign of the Japanese contigent of gathering. Then one of the Japanese guys came into the kitchen (who's name I don't know) baring crisps and coke. He said he would go and find the other Japanese guys, next thing I know when I look up, pretty much all of the Japanese guys and gals are in the kitchen. It was a bit like a Pearl Harbour, but with party rings and alcohol and general merth. Yoshi (Who me and Chloe are convinced will one day make the best Mum in the world) had made a massive pot of Japanese curry which she dished out. In the great traveler tradition every one got extremely photo happy, you could probably reconstruct the entire night a movie, by stitching all the photo's into frames. The drinking continued until about 1ish, when things started to slow slightly. Then it was bed time. I was feeling pretty drunk, but happy. I think around 20 of the 25 residence had turned up. Amazing what a crappy not on a door can do.
I woke up this morning, far to early, about 8:30 ish, excitited and sad and nervous about my trip. I packed all my stuff, me and Chloe cuddled until about 10 ish. I collected, and cashed my last pay cheque. Then me and Chloe headed to the Greyhoud, ate a Mc D's burger. Said our goodbyes, then I headed out and boarded the 2:15 to Seattle. I won't see her again until 5th of June, in New York. :-( It was the hardest goodbye I've had to say so far. And trust me. They've all been really hard.
So the bizzare travel twist of the journey has already happened. When you get an American Visa from Canada as a non Canadian resident, you have to pay $6 for it. If you fly in, your airline covers this for you. Anyway, the computerised till was broken. So we all had to sit and wait in no mans land for 45 minutes while they fixed it. Being told were to sit, and generally bossed around my border security. Eventually the valiant Border secuirty guard Mr Jacobs managed to fix it and I'm now back on bord the bus writing this.
So in Conclusion. I'm really going to miss the friends I've made in Vancouver. I've only known them for 10 months, but we've been through a lot together. The low's of job hunting, the highs of travel, snowboarding, relationship success's and failures. And lots. And lots of meals at the Templetons. Having the common link of ditching your life back home, in hope that you'll find work a job on the other side of the planet means you can get on with pretty much any other traveller, intrests, music tastes, and religous views become irrelivant.
God bless you JP Shooter, and all that sail on you!
Godbless you Joe, and all that sail on you!
Quote time!
"Oh Canada! You stupid idiot."
Rosie shows her feelings on having to leave Canada... I think.
Me:- "Huh, that guy looked exactly like Seth Rogan"
Chloe:- THAT WAS SETH ROGAN!"
Seth Rogan, was chilling outside the Brickhouse, not 25 meters away from my residence. Random.
Wednesday. The big good bye mean at Templetons. SO, I got up fairly late, got my hair cut, walked Chloe to work, and then went and did a bit of shopping downtown. I purchased one pack of re-writable CD's and non of the clothes I needed. And, as I had ended up in town far to early, I had to sit around for ages waiting for the time of the final meal. Team Family's final meal kicked off at 6, I arrived a couple of minutes early, and, to my suprise everyone was already there except Piers. We talked and ate, and it didn't really feel any different from any of our other meet ups. After the food the five of us (Me, Rosie, JP, Piers and the newest member:- Joe) headed for our final drink at Tafs. It was up to its normal high standards, no one else in there, the guy who owns it practically mothering his customers ( we were made to moved from a table that seated 8, to one that seats 5, even though we were literally the only people in there). It was after our first drink, that the usual exceptionally high standards of banter becan to wain a bit, as the first person left. Piers, who had an early start the next day was the first to go. He hugged JP, like he'd never been hugged before, and scarpered. Next to go was Joe, who may or may not have hugged JP good bye, I was outside smoking at the time, so I'll never know. But he did hug Rosie goodbye, before trotting off towards the hard streets of china town. Leaving only me Rosie and JP. Suprisingly, we weren't ready to leave JP yet, and so bought some beer, and headed round JPs. We watched an episode of You Have Been Watching ( a program hosted by good ol' Charlie Brooker, its good, but a tad odd seeing him trying to be chummy with guests). Then, it was time for me and Rosie to go. It was hugs gallore, some teary eyes, but sadly no crying, no matter how hard me and JP tried to enduce it in Rosie. I actually came pretty close to making myself cry at one point. Me and Rosie took our last walk down Granville, with all its neon sighs, hopped on the skytrian and headed to our respective homes. I got back, pinned a note on the house door about my hastily constructed leaving party for the next day and went to bed.
Thursday! My leaving doo at the house! Would it be a success? Only time would tell. Me and Chloe lied in till about half 12, then I went to purchase my 'Discovery Pass for the Greyhound. After some faffing around I purchasded it, then we headed to the bank. On the way past we randomly saw minor A list celebrity Seth Cowan. More on that in quote of the week. My bank was no help because I got surved by Dennis, who's English is so bad he's of no help what so ever. Stupid China town banks. After that me and Chloe headed downtown to grab a burger at the furniture warehouse. Its a well known fact that I never pay for the skytrain, I like to rebel against the system by not paying for fast efficent cheap public transport. Its also a very eassy thing to do, as there are no barriers, just people checking you have a ticket on the trains.... Or at least I assume thats were they are, because I've never seen one... until that faitful Thursday. Chloe spotted one stood with his back to us on the train. We kept our cool and got off at the next stop. He also got off at that stop, and was walking just infront of us, we tried to keep our cool again and watched... as he put his hand a bin. Turns out it was a homeless guy who had found/stolen/killed a man wearing a green skytrain secuirty jacket. After this me and Chloe enjoyed our final $5 Furniture warehouse meal. Chloe had some italian chicken thing, which looked really good, and I relised I would never have the chance to eat one myself. Sad face. We got back and chilled for a bit before the start of my leaving party type thing. We headed down to the kitchen, to discover the only peolpe down there were Damian and Joe. Twas not looking good. Soon most of the Europeans had joined us, and I made my way through my cans of Kariboo (6 for $10). People started to get drunk, we found a half decent radio station... people seemed to be having fun. But no sign of the Japanese contigent of gathering. Then one of the Japanese guys came into the kitchen (who's name I don't know) baring crisps and coke. He said he would go and find the other Japanese guys, next thing I know when I look up, pretty much all of the Japanese guys and gals are in the kitchen. It was a bit like a Pearl Harbour, but with party rings and alcohol and general merth. Yoshi (Who me and Chloe are convinced will one day make the best Mum in the world) had made a massive pot of Japanese curry which she dished out. In the great traveler tradition every one got extremely photo happy, you could probably reconstruct the entire night a movie, by stitching all the photo's into frames. The drinking continued until about 1ish, when things started to slow slightly. Then it was bed time. I was feeling pretty drunk, but happy. I think around 20 of the 25 residence had turned up. Amazing what a crappy not on a door can do.
I woke up this morning, far to early, about 8:30 ish, excitited and sad and nervous about my trip. I packed all my stuff, me and Chloe cuddled until about 10 ish. I collected, and cashed my last pay cheque. Then me and Chloe headed to the Greyhoud, ate a Mc D's burger. Said our goodbyes, then I headed out and boarded the 2:15 to Seattle. I won't see her again until 5th of June, in New York. :-( It was the hardest goodbye I've had to say so far. And trust me. They've all been really hard.
So the bizzare travel twist of the journey has already happened. When you get an American Visa from Canada as a non Canadian resident, you have to pay $6 for it. If you fly in, your airline covers this for you. Anyway, the computerised till was broken. So we all had to sit and wait in no mans land for 45 minutes while they fixed it. Being told were to sit, and generally bossed around my border security. Eventually the valiant Border secuirty guard Mr Jacobs managed to fix it and I'm now back on bord the bus writing this.
So in Conclusion. I'm really going to miss the friends I've made in Vancouver. I've only known them for 10 months, but we've been through a lot together. The low's of job hunting, the highs of travel, snowboarding, relationship success's and failures. And lots. And lots of meals at the Templetons. Having the common link of ditching your life back home, in hope that you'll find work a job on the other side of the planet means you can get on with pretty much any other traveller, intrests, music tastes, and religous views become irrelivant.
God bless you JP Shooter, and all that sail on you!
Godbless you Joe, and all that sail on you!
Quote time!
"Oh Canada! You stupid idiot."
Rosie shows her feelings on having to leave Canada... I think.
Me:- "Huh, that guy looked exactly like Seth Rogan"
Chloe:- THAT WAS SETH ROGAN!"
Seth Rogan, was chilling outside the Brickhouse, not 25 meters away from my residence. Random.
Wednesday, 14 April 2010
Science World (Really this time)! Spag Factory! Max Manus! Sad Times Ahead!
Another Blog entry already? This is getting ridickie-dockie. Guess your want to know about my latest antics, you little scamp!
So. Yesterday me and Chloe had the day off work together and decided to spend our last full day together where I'm not going to be stupidly busy. Did we do something romantic? Balls did we, we went to science world. The place wasn't too full of kids, so we didn't feel to out of place. The first section was a load puzzles, the kind of thing you get a gift and craft shops glued and chained to tables. Me and Chloe were a bit annoyed as we could only manage to do about half of them. There was a wheel chair race computer game thing, where you had to sit in a wheel chair and try and wheel it faster than your competitor. Next was a game where you and a friend (or a Chloe) had to both strap bands around your heads that measured your brain alpha waves- the idea is to clear your brain and relax, so you reduce your alpha waves. Chloe beat me on the first game by telling me how much I looked and acted like my dad to put me off. It worked. But I won the next two games. After looking at some optical illusions we headed upstairs to carry out tasks that included building a wee dam in a wee metal river, firing an air canon at flags, playing with a shadow wall. It was all good fun. Afterward we headed home, I quickly wrote the last blog entry. I showered, then we headed out for our final meal out together at Spaghetti Factory. The restaurant seemed to be full of English people, even our server was British, we some how made things awkward by not being able to hear what he was saying and not giving good responses to his banter. Which is the English way. At one point I thought we would all start apolagizing to each other. We felt guilty, and so left a big fat tip like North Americans would and went home to think about what we had done.
Today! I got up fairly late, watched some 'You have been watching' on youtube. Then headed down to the movie theatre, to watch the film Max Manus, a true story about a Norwegian freedom fighter during the Nazi occupation. Its probably the best WWII film I've seen in years, and completely different to most war films. The freedom fighters were constantly surrounded by there enemy, and constantly under the pressure of what would happen if they were caught. Max also accomplished a lot with his acts of 'terrorism'. For example, the Nazi's wanted to draft every 18-24 year old in Norway. So Max and his gang blow up the two places where documents were stored on were every 18-24 year old lived in Norway so the draft was canceled. There resistance efforts were so strong, they probably shortened the length of the war by a couple of months by destroying the transport links in Norway and stopping the Nazi's moving troops based in Norway to the front line. After that I headed home, made myself a curry, got myself in a tiz about greyhound buses, got more information on greyhound buses, and stopped my tiz. Thats pretty much it.
Tommorow is the last day team family will spend together. :-(
A great film. Defo one of the best films I've seen this year.... EDIT:- I forgot about Inglorious Basterds, that was better, but Max Manus is still worth seeing.
So. Yesterday me and Chloe had the day off work together and decided to spend our last full day together where I'm not going to be stupidly busy. Did we do something romantic? Balls did we, we went to science world. The place wasn't too full of kids, so we didn't feel to out of place. The first section was a load puzzles, the kind of thing you get a gift and craft shops glued and chained to tables. Me and Chloe were a bit annoyed as we could only manage to do about half of them. There was a wheel chair race computer game thing, where you had to sit in a wheel chair and try and wheel it faster than your competitor. Next was a game where you and a friend (or a Chloe) had to both strap bands around your heads that measured your brain alpha waves- the idea is to clear your brain and relax, so you reduce your alpha waves. Chloe beat me on the first game by telling me how much I looked and acted like my dad to put me off. It worked. But I won the next two games. After looking at some optical illusions we headed upstairs to carry out tasks that included building a wee dam in a wee metal river, firing an air canon at flags, playing with a shadow wall. It was all good fun. Afterward we headed home, I quickly wrote the last blog entry. I showered, then we headed out for our final meal out together at Spaghetti Factory. The restaurant seemed to be full of English people, even our server was British, we some how made things awkward by not being able to hear what he was saying and not giving good responses to his banter. Which is the English way. At one point I thought we would all start apolagizing to each other. We felt guilty, and so left a big fat tip like North Americans would and went home to think about what we had done.
Today! I got up fairly late, watched some 'You have been watching' on youtube. Then headed down to the movie theatre, to watch the film Max Manus, a true story about a Norwegian freedom fighter during the Nazi occupation. Its probably the best WWII film I've seen in years, and completely different to most war films. The freedom fighters were constantly surrounded by there enemy, and constantly under the pressure of what would happen if they were caught. Max also accomplished a lot with his acts of 'terrorism'. For example, the Nazi's wanted to draft every 18-24 year old in Norway. So Max and his gang blow up the two places where documents were stored on were every 18-24 year old lived in Norway so the draft was canceled. There resistance efforts were so strong, they probably shortened the length of the war by a couple of months by destroying the transport links in Norway and stopping the Nazi's moving troops based in Norway to the front line. After that I headed home, made myself a curry, got myself in a tiz about greyhound buses, got more information on greyhound buses, and stopped my tiz. Thats pretty much it.
Tommorow is the last day team family will spend together. :-(
A great film. Defo one of the best films I've seen this year.... EDIT:- I forgot about Inglorious Basterds, that was better, but Max Manus is still worth seeing.
Monday, 12 April 2010
Blog entries increase due to popular demand! Night! Out! Bowen Island! Science World.
So.... I've been a fairly busy boy lately. Allowing for another Blog Entry ALREADY! I know, crazy right? Shall we begin?
On Friday, it finally stopped being overcast and raining, and the weather suddenly got really good. That day was spent reading and getting fresh and exciting books out of the Library. That afternoon I met up with Rosie on Commercial drive after a unsuccessful trip to find shirts in Value Village. We sat smoking and drinking coffee and discussing our trip for a couple of hours in the sun. After I headed home and probably did some more reading and stuff. I can't remember what I did, so I assume it was that.
On Saturday the weather continued to stay lovely. JP had the day off so I met up with him for an orange juice and chat and burger at Furniture Warehouse. A bit later Rosie met up with us, and we headed down to English Bay to sit on a log, on the beach, and generally enjoy the sun. JP had to leave to meet the misses, so me and Rosie ambled home around the harbor. Afterwards we sat in the kitchen of my place and chatted to the random people who came in and stuff. It was a relaxing way to spend a sunny day, later that day my parents got back from there trip around Vancouver Island, and that evening I went for a meal with them to the Foundation, this was as Dad wanted to return there, because he enjoyed the Curry he had the first time there so much. I had a lime and papaya pasta dish, and it was really good. I would definitely have it again, I might even try and make it some time. I don't know why more savory dishes don't have fruit in to be honest. I was feeling pretty poorly that night, and so was looking forward to a nice early night.... except when I got back a load of the 796'ers (the house number of the place I live, and my new nickname for anyone who lives in the building) were going on a night out. I said I would just join them for a couple of beers in the kitchen. Three beers later and I'm on the long walk up hill to the Baltimore Cabaret. Joe acted as sherpa on the long climb up to Main and Kings way, running back to encourage the more drunk people to stay with the rest of the group, and running any essential kit between people, such the one lighter that was needed by four people at various times. When we arrived at the Baltimore we all had a cracking night. It was basically an indie disco, playing remixesd indie tracks. We all headed straght for the dance floor to bust some shapes. The night also allowed me to get to know some of the newer faces in the building, such as the Czech girl, the french guy, or the new and the German lass... I still don't know there names, but it was cracking busting some moves with the. There all the hipster, traveling hippie friends I always wanted. There was also an awful band, with some of the worst rapping EVER.
The next day I felt understandably hungover and sleep deprived, but this was more to do with my parents texting me at 8:30 in the morning... and getting in at 3ish. After several phone calls they decided they were going to Bowen Island on there last day in Vancouver. I laid in until 12ish, before hopping out of bed and heading downtown to get the bus out to horseshoe bay to meet my parents before the next ferry. The day was beautiful. The best day we've had this year in Vancouver. When I arrived I grabbed my ticket after double checking exactly which island we were going to, and we all boarded the ferry, which promply floated its merry way to Bowen island. Once we arrived we decided a walk around the lake was in order. The lake turned out to be a largeish marshy pond. But the scenery was beautiful non the less. We walked about a third of the way round, at which point I announced we should probably head back since I was still feeling a tad ill, and was worried I might collapse. So we headed back the way we came, got back to Snug Cove, popped into the only open restaurant for a coffee and some bread and Humus, which we had to eat quickly and get the coffee's to go as the ferry turned up. The sun was now starting to get low in the sky, and me and my dad went photo crazy. One sun set bus trip later and we were back downtown, and my parents decided they wanted their last meal to be at Templetons. Mushroom Burger. Flambe Bananas. Marvelous. Afterwards we swapped laptops clothes and goodbyes and I headed home and got an early night, as I was pretty darn tired. All in all, a really good weekend.
Quote Time.
"Catch the bus at Granville and Seymour."
My Dad telling me to catch some kind of inter-dimensional space bus on two streets that don't intersect.
"Hearable"
Chloe Heaths new word. Patent pending.
Vids:-
My new favorite song after our night out on Saturday:-
Jp's fine construction. I kind of leaving present I guess. Anyway, it shows some of the highlights of team family's adventures, along with some copyrighted music. Marvelous.
On Friday, it finally stopped being overcast and raining, and the weather suddenly got really good. That day was spent reading and getting fresh and exciting books out of the Library. That afternoon I met up with Rosie on Commercial drive after a unsuccessful trip to find shirts in Value Village. We sat smoking and drinking coffee and discussing our trip for a couple of hours in the sun. After I headed home and probably did some more reading and stuff. I can't remember what I did, so I assume it was that.
On Saturday the weather continued to stay lovely. JP had the day off so I met up with him for an orange juice and chat and burger at Furniture Warehouse. A bit later Rosie met up with us, and we headed down to English Bay to sit on a log, on the beach, and generally enjoy the sun. JP had to leave to meet the misses, so me and Rosie ambled home around the harbor. Afterwards we sat in the kitchen of my place and chatted to the random people who came in and stuff. It was a relaxing way to spend a sunny day, later that day my parents got back from there trip around Vancouver Island, and that evening I went for a meal with them to the Foundation, this was as Dad wanted to return there, because he enjoyed the Curry he had the first time there so much. I had a lime and papaya pasta dish, and it was really good. I would definitely have it again, I might even try and make it some time. I don't know why more savory dishes don't have fruit in to be honest. I was feeling pretty poorly that night, and so was looking forward to a nice early night.... except when I got back a load of the 796'ers (the house number of the place I live, and my new nickname for anyone who lives in the building) were going on a night out. I said I would just join them for a couple of beers in the kitchen. Three beers later and I'm on the long walk up hill to the Baltimore Cabaret. Joe acted as sherpa on the long climb up to Main and Kings way, running back to encourage the more drunk people to stay with the rest of the group, and running any essential kit between people, such the one lighter that was needed by four people at various times. When we arrived at the Baltimore we all had a cracking night. It was basically an indie disco, playing remixesd indie tracks. We all headed straght for the dance floor to bust some shapes. The night also allowed me to get to know some of the newer faces in the building, such as the Czech girl, the french guy, or the new and the German lass... I still don't know there names, but it was cracking busting some moves with the. There all the hipster, traveling hippie friends I always wanted. There was also an awful band, with some of the worst rapping EVER.
The next day I felt understandably hungover and sleep deprived, but this was more to do with my parents texting me at 8:30 in the morning... and getting in at 3ish. After several phone calls they decided they were going to Bowen Island on there last day in Vancouver. I laid in until 12ish, before hopping out of bed and heading downtown to get the bus out to horseshoe bay to meet my parents before the next ferry. The day was beautiful. The best day we've had this year in Vancouver. When I arrived I grabbed my ticket after double checking exactly which island we were going to, and we all boarded the ferry, which promply floated its merry way to Bowen island. Once we arrived we decided a walk around the lake was in order. The lake turned out to be a largeish marshy pond. But the scenery was beautiful non the less. We walked about a third of the way round, at which point I announced we should probably head back since I was still feeling a tad ill, and was worried I might collapse. So we headed back the way we came, got back to Snug Cove, popped into the only open restaurant for a coffee and some bread and Humus, which we had to eat quickly and get the coffee's to go as the ferry turned up. The sun was now starting to get low in the sky, and me and my dad went photo crazy. One sun set bus trip later and we were back downtown, and my parents decided they wanted their last meal to be at Templetons. Mushroom Burger. Flambe Bananas. Marvelous. Afterwards we swapped laptops clothes and goodbyes and I headed home and got an early night, as I was pretty darn tired. All in all, a really good weekend.
Quote Time.
"Catch the bus at Granville and Seymour."
My Dad telling me to catch some kind of inter-dimensional space bus on two streets that don't intersect.
"Hearable"
Chloe Heaths new word. Patent pending.
Vids:-
My new favorite song after our night out on Saturday:-
Jp's fine construction. I kind of leaving present I guess. Anyway, it shows some of the highlights of team family's adventures, along with some copyrighted music. Marvelous.
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