We had to be up and off early today as we fly out from San Francisco at 10am to Seattle, pick up a rental car and then drive 3 hours to Vancouver. We left the hotel around 7am, got to the airport, dropped off the rental car and as we were on the shuttle bus from the car rental i got a text on my phone to say the flight was delayed an hour. My friend Simon had called me while we were driving to San Fran to see where i was and if we wanted to meet up for breakfast and go out for a ride on the motorbikes (when we were kids we were big motorbike fans, Simon had continued this as he got older and had five bikes including a couple of Ducati racers!) i had to pass on this and told him we were on our way to the airport.We checked in the luggage and headed to the Alaska Airlines exec lounge, as we were heading over there i got another text on my phone to say the flight time was now 1pm After spending a couple of hours in the lounge and eating and drinking their cranberry juice and cookies our flight was pushed back till 4pm! Its a shame as i would have had time to have met up with Simon and gone out on the bikes for an hour had i known!
The sign Kami spotted The silly sign i spotted
We arrived in Seattle eventually at around 6:45pm, we could see during the landing that it was pouring down with rain and i wasn't looking forward to the 3 hour drive up to Vancouver in the rain. Kami went to the bathroom as we arrived in Seattle, She had been on the plane dying to pee and hungry and i wouldn't say she was complaining but she had a face on that you knew was someone not to mess with!
As she went to the bathroom i spotted the following sign and wondered what on earth it was about. I tried the fountain and found out!
Click the video below to hear the noise it made!!
We made our way to the Alamo desk, did the paperwork, picked up the rental car and headed out towards Vancouver. SeaTac airport is about 15 miles south of Seattle and we had flown over Seattle as we landed and got a great view of the space needle even though it was pouring down with rain. I wasn't able to get my camera out quick enough before the view had gone though which is a shame as it was a great shot. We dove past it again on the highway as we were driving but the rain just made any pictures of the needle or the city look really bad. I know it rains in Seattle a lot but i couldn't believe how hard and how much rain was on the ground,even the wipers on the car couldn't keep up with the amount that was falling and being splashed onto the windscreen!
once we were past Seattle and about an hour into the journey we stopped at a family style restaurant for some food. We had a Club sandwich and fries and split it between us and it was a still a huge plate full. We did this so we could have desert though and id seen Apple pie with ice cream on the menu and had my mind set on that, Kami had seen the red velvet cake in the counter as we came in and wanted that. I ordered to Apple pie only to be told they had sold out so chose the cheesecake instead. Kami had her red velvet cake and was finally happy having had a pee in the airport and some food to feed her hunger.
We got back on the road to Vancouver and headed towards the Canadian border. After the last two experiences of getting into Canada i wasn't looking forward to this too much however we were driving this time and not arriving off a plane so i was hoping it would be a touch easier, and i was right! We arrived at the Canadian border and as i handed mine and Kamis passports over to the woman in the booth she asked where we both lives, i said “the UK and DC”. She then asked why we were going to Vancouver to which i replied “to see a Roger Waters concert” she handed me back our passports and said, “have a good trip”!! that was it we were in! I'm definitely flying into the US next time and then driving into Canada!!
I spotted a couple of signs welcoming us to Surrey, which is the county i live in in the UK! However the weather and the night time made the pic come out pretty blurry and i want able to get a picture of the Surrey sign till we drove back in the daylight.
We both spotted some really bright lights in the distance and both noticed how they looked to be in the shape of a dog! It was like those huge designs that people do on the hillsides and light up at night. Kami tried taking a few pictures of it but these were the best we could get.
The dog on the hillside!
It really did look like the shape of a dg with a head, nose, legs and a tail. Well it did till we started getting nearer and it just looked like a lot of lights on the hillside! we must have been a good 30 miles away from it however due to us changing direction when driving the lights moved as well and sooner or later it looked nothing like a dog!! As we arrived into Vancouver it was still pretty hard to tell what the lights were but when we were a couple of miles from the hotel the lights were in front of us and we decided it was the ski lift and ski pass that was all lit up on the hillside!
We arrived at the hotel at 11:30pm after a long travel day which should have been a lot shorter, had our flight been on time we would have arrived around 4pm and had the night to go out for something to eat and relax, as it was though we just headed straight to bed! As we checked in i had picked up a map of Vancouver and there was an advertisement for the Vancouver sightseeing trolley buss tour. We decided to get up early the next morning and do the 2 hour tour to get an overview of the city.
Ugh, that is too bad there was a delay (and how many times do you get to ride a Ducati, after all?) but with all this dodgy weather of late it seems to be a trend. Hope you don't have any delays on your way home in a few days!
ReplyDeleteJulie :)