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Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)
  • Tonya Symons
  • Jeremy Pooch
Apr – May 2024

Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

A 23-day adventure by Tonya & Jeremy Read more
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  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Out of the forest and to the port

    May 9, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    We took our hotel coffee and sat by the lake this morning to soak up some morning sun, and then went for a little stroll to see the World's Largest Spruce Tree which is about 1000 years old.

    We continued our appreciation of the trees by driving into the Hoh Valley and walking a couple of trails including the 'Hall of Mosses'. Despite the warnings, luckily we didn't encounter any elk, bears or cougars.

    Due to our anxiety about limited reception and infrequent charging stations we decided to drive to tonight's destination, Port Townsend, around the north of the Olympic National Park rather than around the South.

    Jeremy was inspired to visit Port Townsend as he's been watching a YouTuber who is based here building a boat for the last 6 years. We hope to see that boat tomorrow but for now are enjoying dinner and karaoke at a local pub.    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)
    2

    Port Townsend to Bainbridge Island

    May 10, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Today began with coffee overlooking the water, and ended with wine overlooking more water.

    Following coffee we explored Port Townsend a bit more, including having a look at the Northwest Maritime Centre, which advocates for community education, and includes a large workshop for teaching people how to build and maintain their own boats.

    As we left the town, we had a stickybeak in the shipyard, which allows open access to the public. There are hundreds of boats, from huge fishing trawlers, down to tiny wooden sailboats. We managed to find Hidden away at a mooring, the internet famous Tally Ho.

    A short, one hour drive took us to Bainbridge Island. Our accommodation tonight is an AirBnB in the truest sense. It's a granny flat over looking a pond home to a couple of ducks, with the trees full of swallows and hummingbirds. Our hosts are wonderful, and had fruit, bagels, chocolate and wine laid out for us.

    Tonya met our host, who introduced her to the 9 canaries in the aviary.... then promptly demonstrated the song she sings everyday to the canaries.    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    From a peaceful morning, to Seattle

    May 11, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    We woke up at our AirBnb to a chorus of frogs, birds and coy fish jumping out of the water. We then made our debut at an American parkrun this morning. There were almost more volunteers than runners there so we both came in the top 5 😂

    Back for breakfast at our AirBnb, we made friends with the wildlife as we ate our bagels, yoghurt, fruit and coffee.

    On board our final car ferry, we travelled to Seattle. Unfortunately getting through the traffic once in Seattle to travel 2 miles took longer than the entire ferry ride.

    Once we settled into our Seattle AirBnb, we drove to see the random novelty store, Archie McFee, and also tested out grocery shopping at Amazon Fresh.

    This evening we saw a production at Seattle University called The Secret in the Wings and then wandered around the city. Having been in regional areas/small towns for most of the trip, we got a rude awakening as to the social issues faced by American cities and how some streets are not made to be walked.    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Getting familiar with Seattle

    May 12, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Today we started with a guided walking tour of Seattle which helped us become better acquainted with downtown and the city's history. Our tour ended at Pike Place Markets where we had some local fish and chips for lunch. This was the most crowded place we've come across all trip, but a glorious day in Seattle and a cruise ship docking really brought out the folks.

    After lunch, we caught the monorail to the Seattle Centre and thoroughly enjoyed exploring the Museum of Pop Culture and the view from the top of the Sky Needle. The museum had numerous props, footage and costumes from movies, video games and general western culture, and even a music studio, and we could have easily spent more time there. The Sky Needle had two observation decks and the lower one had a revolving glass floor the whole way around which made the ticket price worthwhile.

    We had dinner at The Fisherman by the water (the stretch of water between Seattle and the neighbouring islands is known as Puget Sound). Their happy hour was from 7pm to close - isn't that the most advantageous happy hour ever?!    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Snoqualmie Falls and Mt Rainier

    May 13, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    Since we are fixated on snowy walks and waterfalls, today we took a road trip out of Seattle to do a few walks in the Mount Rainier National Park. Not a lot to say other than the fact we enjoyed the scenery immensely and Mt Rainier peeped out behind the clouds in the afternoon to say hello. We also managed all the slippery trails without snow shoes or crampons but our hiking poles really came in handy today.Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    Dedicated to the Museum of Flight

    May 14, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Today we spent over 5 hours at The Museum of Flight and even then felt that we had to hurry through most of it. It was a delightful day of exploring and reading about planes, history, war, control of commercial aircraft, aircraft safety, space shuttles and the space race. My favourite area was the control tower replica and learning how commercial planes are controlled, as well as walking through the presidential jet. Jeremy's highlight was walking through The Concord and our informative private tour of the SR-71 with a former American fighter pilot.

    We finished up our last full day in Washington by meeting up with Adi and Jacob, another old friend of Jeremy's and her partner. We had a lovely meal at (yet another) waterfront bar, with all the mountains in the background.    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)

    The track to Chilliwack

    May 15, 2024 in Canada ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Today was our last day in the USA before we headed across the border from Seattle to Chilliwack in Canada. We decided to make the most of being in gun and monster truck land 🙄 Note the poor chain gang of toddlers as they cross the road in Seattle, with the teachers waiving at the traffic to stop. One day the USA may understand safety...

    Anyway, Jeremy took me to a shooting range in the morning and taught me to shoot a pistol which I found absolutely terrifying and hope I never need to do again. Jeremy was pretty much right on every target and very impressive to watch.

    Then we checked out the international headquarters of Microsoft and bought our cheapest American lunch. Funny that the Microsoft staff have the best and cheapest cafeteria in Seattle.

    We drove the scenic route back into Canada seeing some beautiful farm land and had dinner at a brewery in the cute town of Chilliwack (about 1.5 hrs if Vancouver) which is where we are staying tonight.    Read more

  • Pacific Northwest (Canada/USA)
    1

    Homeward Bound

    May 16, 2024 in Canada ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    We decided to make the most of the last day of our trip. First thing up was a full North American breakfast, which we attempted to counter by a brief walk up to Bridal Veil Falls.

    Following that we pointed the car in the direction of Vancouver, but we tried to avoid the Trans Canada highway by taking the scenic route via Cultus Lake, then along "0 Avenue" where if you step off the road you're straight into the United States again.

    The weather definitely didn't match the forecast, so we stopped off at the seaside town of White Rock, and enjoyed some fish and chips.

    Finally we made our way back towards the airport, where we made a final visit to a Tesla Supercharger. It was our 18th visit, with each visit costing about $14, and only taking us about 15 to 20 minutes to top up a couple hundred kilometres of range. All up we travelled 4440km in Rudolph, our little red Tesla.

    After dropping the keys back and bidding farewell to Rudolph we made our way through a quiet airport, where after passing through security we spent our evening in the most Canadian fashion, by watching the hockey and sampling IPAs.    Read more

  • Trip end
    May 17, 2024
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