Adventures In Traveling

Hello all.  I am just back from an international travel extravaganza sans my girls.  The process of reaching my destination and returning home was really more newsworthy than the trip itself, but I'll share the whole story anyway.  

Our very generous friends

The backstory:  One of my best friends who also happened to be a college dorm mate back in Wisconsin is married to a pilot.  Chris (a familiar name to those of you who follow my blog since he and Torrie, along with their daughter Leila, spend time with us each summer and were recently here vacationing for a week), is lucky enough to fly for jetBlue.  Again, those of you who know us know our love for jetBlue, we are HUGE fans!!!  Unfortunately for them, but FORTUNATELY for us, Chris and Torrie still live in the Minneapolis area (near where Torrie and I went to school together), and jetBlue does not fly into Minneapolis/St. Paul.  This means that all the buddy passes that Chris is given, go completely unused.  

The plane

Chris had offered us his passes before, but we felt awkward taking him up on it because it just seemed so extravagant.  However, this summer when they were out, Chris and Torrie insisted that we use them if we want/can because they expire and he has wasted more passes then I care to publish.

Fast forward to last week.  Jonathan was scheduled to attend a conference in Vancouver, BC.  I had considered going too, but had decided not to for a number of reasons.  My mom, however, had really encouraged me to consider going and assured me she would be happy to watch the girls while I was gone.  We decided to take her up on her offer and to also ask Chris for a couple of buddy passes for me (Jonathan had booked his ticket through the company so I would be flying solo - a luxury I haven't experienced in quite some time!).  jetBlue doesn't fly to Vancouver, but they do fly to Seattle.  We decided I would use the buddy passes (meaning I'd fly standby) to Seattle and then hop on a flight from there to Vancouver.

The new terminal at LGB :)

We got the passes and then started researching flights into Vancouver and nearly fainted at the cost.  Plan B was to board a train to Vancouver from Seattle, but once we started researching that we realized that the train that I would likely be in Seattle in time to catch (remember, I was flying standby) would take 4 hours and wouldn't get into the city until 9:00 at night.  So, I broke my cardinal rule of NEVER TAKING A BUS and decided I'd give a charter bus service called the BoltBus a try.  The travel time was 3 1/2 hours and the cost was $14.

My carriage...

I arranged to fly out on the 7:00 am flight from Long Beach and after a lot of sweating and anxious waiting, made the flight.  Once in Seattle, I caught a train from Sea-Tac to the International District where I had some time to waste spend, walking the city, grabbing some coffee and food and then hanging out in less than savory parts of town while waiting for my lovely bus.

My stop

Art at the Bus Station

International District

Walking to Pioneer Square

The missions were quite busy during my morning walk to coffee

I actually looked forward to my adventure, despite being on a bus.  Talk about feeling young again...
Once the bus was going, the trip went quickly.  Aside from being seriously interrogated at the border (sheesh...I entered Eastern European countries right after 9/11 easier than I entered Canada, seriously), the trip was almost pleasant.  I mean, had I flown it would have been a 3 hour journey from beginning to end, but thanks to my insane creative travel itinerary, wound up being a 12 hour journey...but I made it.

Once there, I had the opportunity to explore the city on my own while Jonathan worked.  This may sound terrible to some of you, but I assure you, I LOVE traveling and exploring places alone.  I prefer having Jonathan with me so that we can see things together, but I've never had a problem going out on my own.  Vancouver is a really great and friendly city.  It just so happened to be an activity packed weekend.  They were celebrating Gay Pride and I have NEVER been in a city that celebrates Pride as intensely as Vancouver does.  Every store, bar, restaurant, cafe, museum, etc. gets involved and the whole city decides to party.  Fun!  They were also hosting an international fireworks competition and when the city wasn't celebrating pride, they were celebrating fireworks.  To top off the festivities, British Columbia was celebrating BC day, so the holiday weekend added to the excitement. The city was busy, packed and  fun.

The city is ready!

I've never seen so much 'pride' preparedness

Fireworks!

A view of the crowds from our hotel, after the fireworks show

And here is the traffic after the show

The city of Vancouver is a gem.  We toured Stanley Park on a bicycle built for two (and looked ridiculous doing it), enjoyed some local flavors, and explored the Granville Public Market in the rain.  While we didn't spend a ton of time together, we enjoyed the little bit of time we had together and before I knew it, it was time to come home (aka, adventures in traveling part 2).

The beautiful, historic Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

The Olympic Flames burned here

A view from the bay

Riding around Stanley Park gave us views like these.

I had to try some of the local flavors

We loved the couple hours of "down time" that Jonathan had so we could explore together

Hey, I remember when we used to travel without kids. 

More local taste-testing

Yum

Tandem bicycling with over a foot of height difference makes for some funny looks from onlookers 

Oh my!

Looking trendy...

Our bicycle built for two (I had to sit in back).

Some fun concerts and dance contests I found while exploring Vancouver on my own

Granville Island

Waiting for the Aquabus to take us to the island

We had some chowder in the rain

For those of you who know me, no words are necessary.  For those who don't, I nearly vomited when I saw this.  I have a bird phobia and will never understand this, not to mention the filth that these birds bring to the "relationship".

The Granville Island Public Market was fun

That's me in the background, making friends while enjoying even more of the local flavors (I promise, I didn't only drink beer...)

The trek home was just as adventurous as the trek out, but with a twist.  Upon learning of my insane travel arrangements, a wonderful couple who I've met at a previous work event with Jonathan, offered to take me to the airport on their way home.  It would just be me, the couple and their four kids, all in the family minivan, for 3 hours.  I insisted that I would be fine on the bus because, did I mention, they don't live in Seattle, they live in Spokane.  This wasn't exactly on the way home.  But, this wonderful family insisted I ride with them, and this kind gesture allowed me to relax on my last night/day in Vancouver.  So, while Jonathan was landing in LA at 9:00 am, I was boarding the minivan en route to Seattle.  I will forever be grateful for the kindness of this awesome family!

Spokane is on the WA / ID border, while Seattle is on the West Coast.  Not exactly close together when driving home with 4 young kids...

Fortunately we made it to Sea-Tac in one piece AND my flight home had 7 open seats, one of which was filled by me.  Before I knew it, I was being greeted at LGB by my favorite family.

I'd like to pause to give a HUGE shout-out to the world's best grammy who selflessly agreed to stay with the girls, all by herself, so Jonathan and I could get away together for the first time since having kids.  I hope I can follow in my mom's footsteps and do this for my girls someday!  What a wonderful gift this was.  The girls had a great time with Grammy and keep asking when she'll be back (what am I, chopped liver?).

Now, we have re-packed our bags and are off to the next adventure...  But not before enrolling this excited kiddo in preschool.