PacNW (part one): A Vacation to the Great White North

So on the first of March, I left the Old Dominion to head to the Pacific Northwest for a vacation. I was meeting my sister Leslie and her friend Chris in Vancouver that afternoon, though I would arrive first and get some of the logistics out of the way (pick up the rental car, check in to the hotel, etc.). I left really early that morning from Richmond and flew via Chicago to Vancouver. The flight was fairly normal, except for the pilot of the flight to Vancouver who kidded with passengers over the intercom and also said things like, "And we're coming up to Spokane and you can see the Cascades up ahead. Wow, what a beautiful day to fly. You know, with the baggage delay, it's taking us about four hours to get here. It took Lewis and Clark eighteen months to get to the Pacific. Truly spectacular." I do love a jovial North Carolinian pilot who can muse about the grandeur of history. Upon arrival in Vancouver, I got the logistics squared away and enjoyed a brief nap at the hotel (our room was great, though I was skeptical at first of having to cross an alley and through a secret door to get to our part of the hotel) before going back to the airport to get Leslie and Chris. We decided to take it easy that evening with just finding some dinner and trying to plan the rest of our trip and to start the hardcore travel activities bright and early the next morning. (photos: Flying into Chicago; and the Cascades with the Columbia River)


We got up early Sunday morning with Leslie and Chris going to church and me exploring the city. I headed down Granville Street, a central street in downtown Vancouver (and being early on a Sunday, it was mostly just me and the homeless people), towards the waterfront to get another view of the spectacular mountains surrounding the city. After Leslie and Chris got out of mass, we went to a café for some breakfast, where Leslie tried some espresso (her first time drinking coffee) and decided it was time that she start regularly drinking coffee, a goal she tried to accomplish with a fair amount of caffeine for the rest of our trip. We then set off towards Chinatown to visit the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Gardens. Afterwards, we navigated back towards the center of town to Gastown, the historic district of Vancouver filled with shops (both tacky and specialized) and restaurants. I was excited to find a delicious Irish pub with some of the best bangers and mash and best Irish ale that I'd had in ages. After lunch, we went to the other side of downtown to explore the Granville Island public market. Since it was on a small island just south of downtown, we took a little ferry ride (very little, as in about 90 seconds) to get there. We loved the shops and produce and I loved the painted cement trucks from a nearby cement company. Afterwards, it was back to the ferry to go back to the hotel for the car so that we could make our way to Stanley Park to see some vistas, totem poles, and hopefully a sunset before dinner. The park was lovely, as were the vistas and totem poles, but the clouds had blown in and there wasn't a visible sunset (the day before had a magnificent one, but as I was driving to pick up Leslie and Chris, there aren't any photos for proof...). It had been a packed day and we were all only too happy to head to dinner, which we found at a restaurant/pub at a marina with beautiful views of the mountains and Burrard Inlet. After it all, we were wiped out and crashed when we got back to the hotel. We'd intended to go out that evening but were all so exhausted that we agreed to be lame for an evening and go to bed by 9ish. (photos: The Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Gardens; Leslie and Chris in the gardens; the world's thinnest insurance agency (the grey part of the building is its entire width); one of the mascots for the 2010 Winter Olympics; and me with a cowboy in Gastown)





(photos: Leslie on Granville Island looking out over Burrard Inlet; Granville Island and the little ferryboat; freighters in Burrard Inlet from Stanley Park; me in front of Lions Gate Bridge; totem poles in Stanley Park; and the view of the mountains from our table at dinner)






The next day we all were sick of sleeping by 5:30-6am, but all slept til later anyway (it's been a while since had the problem of having too much sleep). Then it was up for breakfast, checking out of the hotel, and Leslie and I were off in the bit of rain to the Capilano Suspension Bridge (Chris was afraid of heights and opted instead to scope out shopping malls and churches) and a treetop adventure. I really liked this part of Vancouver since it was "extreme nature" only five minutes outside of downtown, plus I got to talk with a Haida man about his culture and carving totem poles. After hiking all over the forrest and hugging a few hunungous trees along the way, it was off to pick up Chris and head over to the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology. Upon arrival, the museum was closed which really disappointed me since it was one of the things I'd been looking forward to the most. However, that just gave us more time at the Safeway to get lunch and groceries (which Leslie and Chris loved--they became obsessed for the rest of the trip) to hold us over on the trip down to Seattle. We crossed the border in the early afternoon and decided to take a more scenic route along Whidbey Island, across on a car ferry, and then into Seattle. We checked into the hotel and then tried to decide on dinner. I'd found a tavern about a twenty minute walk from the hotel in the Capitol Hill section of town that was apparently the "first 'neo-cool' bar in Seattle back in the early '90s." It had great food, chill atmosphere, and was a great place to hang out for an evening (and was definitely a different scene than we had any other time during the trip, and one I don't think Leslie or Chirs were too used to). (photos: Yeah, it was naturally thrilling!; Leslie at the bridge entrance; Leslie on the main bridge over the Capilano river; cartoonish, happy nature; and me hugging "Big Doug" the douglas fir.)





(photos: Some of the treetop adventure bridges; a view of the main bridge; Leslie and Chris on the ferry from Whidbey Island to mainland Washington; a view of downtown Seattle at night; and the coolest selection of beer I'd ever seen at a convenience store.)





Tuesday morning it was up early again to get breakfast before heading out. Leslie and Chris were really excited to make their own waffles, which they did multiple times during the couple of days we were in Seattle. Then we were off walking again to the south part of town to the Pioneer Square, the historic district of town. We stopped in to the Klondike National Historic Site, a site commemorating the Klondike gold rush of the late 19th century and its role in shaping Seattle. I liked the site a lot, but Leslie and Chris decided a peek was all they needed and instead went to peruse bakeries while I went into history nerd mode. We also browsed a large and historic bookstore before making our way to the Underground Tour to get a tour of the underground areas of Seattle from when they built up the streets about ten feet but continued to use the areas underneath. After the tour, we stopped for a fish taco and then visited the Pike Place Market. I wandered through on my own so I could go to an oyster bar and all and still make my way to the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum before they closed. I enjoyed both museums a lot and met Leslie and Chris after to buy some cheese and then go up in the Space Needle. When we got to the top, it wasn't too long before sunset and decided to stay until dusk for the views of the city. It wasn't until then that we got our first views of Mt. Rainier in the distance as the clouds finally lifted. After the Space Needle, we took a roundabout way back to our hotel (just a few blocks form the Space Needle) and found some dinner before returning to the hotel to crash after another exhausting day. (photos: Outside the Klondike NPS site; one of the underground rooms and leftovers; Leslie apparently doesn't like seagulls; again, an amazing selection of beer at the hole-in-the-wall oyster bar (without a Bud in sight!); and some of the seafood at Pike's.)





(photos: A very interesting fish at Pike's; Pike's Place Market; I really love maps; the Space Needle through the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Hall of Fame; and the bathroom sign in the Sci Fi Hall of Fame.)





(photos: Comparing the famous tall buildings to the Space Needle; downtown Seattle with Mt. Rainier visible in the background (at last!); a ferry with the sunset in the background (the clouds behind it are actually also part of the Olympic Mountains!); a freighter with the Olympic Mountains in the distance; and the Space Needle lit at night.)





Wednesday we were up for breakfast and all and then made our way out of Seattle to go to Mt. Rainier on our way to the Olympic Peninsula.

Mountain Teaching

By mid-February, I had completed my first batch of training with my new job and was on the way to Franklin County (Moonshine Capital of the World) with Megan for my first teaching assignment. On our way out to Franklin County, we opted for the country roads and scenic route, which happened to follow Lee's retreat to Appomattox Courthouse. We were at first excited to "retreat," but realized that it got into too much of the minutia -- even for us. We did stop to visit the site of Lee's surrender where we found some little plastic Civil War soldiers (of course we bought them!) to play and plot with. It took us a while to get to Rocky Mount, the city in which our hotel was located, and had an early night. The next day was my first day of teaching, which I enjoyed. (photos: Lee's Retreat; and cows on the hills of Franklin County)


However after teaching, the time we have is quite flexible and Megan and I had planned some activities in the area to keep us busy. One day we went to the Booker T. Washington National Memorial (the farm on which he was born and raised), which was cold, rainy, and lacking many visitors. The park rangers got over their initial shock of seeing two people actually wanting to tour an outdoor site in the cold and rain and Megan and I headed outside to see their animals and all. There were some new baby pigs, as well as the ginormous adult hogs and a slew of other farm animals. We visited the tobacco barn and ended up walking their hiking loop, on which we came across some deer in a meadow. Another day we went to the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum to view their moonshine exhibit (being the Moonshine Capital of the World). Wednesday evening, we headed out to a small country store we'd found online to hear some bluegrass music. It felt like it was in the middle of nowhere, but the people were extremely friendly as they offered us a seat and talked jovially about politics. Megan and I went for barbecue on Valentine's Day and then to a café for coffee and a live band. The band, however, paled in comparison to the bluegrass band from the night before. We had a ton of fun that week and I very much enjoyed just starting to teach (There's a website of photos of Rebel Roy the plastic soldier on his travels coming to his own website. Stay tuned for updates). (photos: Huge hogs at Booker T. Washington; a baby hog; deer munching on the meadow; coolest sink ever at a restaurant in Rocky Mount; and Megan approving of a great book we found at a café.)





(photos: The lobby of an insurance company in Rocky Mount, complete with ridiculous amounts of taxidermy; Jacob Dillon and Phantom Grass (Jacob Dillon being the 13-year-old boy; see my YouTube page for video); and the moonshine exhibit at the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum.)



A couple of weeks later, I taught by myself in Covington in Allegheny County for four days. It was a foggy/rainy drive out almost to West Virginia. The kids were wonderful in Covington, though I felt like my week consisted of me constantly searching for food (there were a couple of restaurants that were supposed to be great but were unexplicably closed). There wasn't much to do in that area other than visit more scenic sites and byways or explore nearby towns. There was some hiking that I'd wanted to do, but I'd also recently sprained my ankle and had wanted it in prime shape for when I went on vacation to the Pacific Northwest the next week. When I got home from teaching, I had to almost immediately repack to get ready to go to the out west the very next day. (photos: A foggy drive out to Covington through the mountains; Crabtree Falls in the Blue Ridge Mountains; country life in the Alleghenies; Humpback Bridge, the only arched covered bridge in Virginia (and most of North America); a country road in the mountains; and I stumbled upon the birthplace of Texas in Virginia.)