Ruth's Ramblings

Our Northwest Road Trip (8/8 - 8/15)

Ok, this is going to be a sizeable post, with lots of pictures, so get ready!
We took a road trip, driving up the coastline to Vancouver, and stopping in Oregon and Washington, and then back down again. It was fun, but tiring. Here goes!

OREGON
Like the stereotypes, we saw an awful lot of logging and small cities. Portland is probably the biggest, and only slightly more developed than Sacramento (but not by much).

We stopped by Corvallis and visited the hospital where I was born!


And of course, Oregon State University! I went to preschool here. =P


A shot of downtown Portland (where we stayed overnight and grabbed lunch before heading off to Washington):


WASHINGTON
We totally forgot about traffic and we were stuck for over an hour trying to get into Seattle. Other than that, I totally loved it. If I were to live outside of California, Seattle would be my second choice.

First of all, look how they have their state highway signs - it's Washington's head. Wayne and I got a real kick out of it.


Near downtown Seattle, at the bay, between Pier 38 and 39 (I'm taking the picture and the water is behind me). See the downtown skyline in the background? To the left of Wayne is Elliot's Oyster House, where we had an unforgettable oyster dinner. To the right is a ferry dock, where we later took a ferry ride around the bay and took in all the wonderful sights.


Our ferry!


Another shot of us with the water behind us (it was so beautiful out there).


The Space Needle. We went up to the rotating restaurant at the top and got slightly dizzy.


A local newsstation. We just took this shot because of Ichiro, of course. =)


Spent an afternoon walking and browsing through Pike's Market:




BRITISH COLUMBIA
Ok, to preface - I had absolutely no idea how "asian" Vancouver has recently become. I knew there was alot of great chinese food, but not to the extent that we saw when we were there. It was like walking into Hong Kong ("Hong Kouver" is a common nickname). A bit of a culture shock, to say the least. But the food was terrific, of course. =)

Downtown Vancouver skyline from the Harbor Center Tower (similar to the Space Needle):


Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park (it was pretty, but a big fat tourist trap):




We rented bikes and rode around in Stanley Park. If you look closely, you can see that I'm holding a video camera. I actually tried to film while biking, and nearly fell over several times while doing it.


A yummy snack after all that biking!! We had dinner at a Czech restaurant, and had some pretty rockin borscht soup, the Russian version. If you've never had borscht (a red beet soup) you are really missing out, seriously.


Vancouver Island! We got on the island via BC Ferries, car and all.
Here we're in Victoria (the capital of BC, if you didn't know). It has a very British feeling to it. Below is Bastion Square, the Parliment Building, and the famous Fairmont's Empress Hotel (in that order):






We also went to the famous Butchart Gardens... lots of lovely flowers!
(click on any picture for a close-up look)










Some of my personal favorites:

Posted by Ruth at 8/17/2005