Sunday, 9/7 - Vancouver, Seattle

Day 13

We woke up, cramped again from the tight sleeping quarters, and after getting organized found another coffee shop where we could have breakfast, and make use of the bathroom and wifi.

First excursion of the day was Stanley Park, but this time for a more thorough view. We sat by the water a while and just admired the scenery and nice weather, took lots of pictures, saw the famous totem poles. Afterwards we returned to Gastown, which looked much less seedy in the daylight. Actually very quaint from the streets we were seeing for the first time - a bit reminiscent of an old English street with cobblestone roads. There were a lot of cool little shops around there we didn't have enough time to explore. Back near where we were the night before, the street was closed off for some kind of kid's car race that had just ended. All the little racers were dressed in red jumpsuits, taking pictures with their trophies and such. Oddly the hired entertainment they chose was a woman with a keyboard playing the Chicken Dance song and singing in what sounded like Italian.

The day was short, so we went back to Commerical Drive for lunch at Belgian Fries, which had supposedly been voted to have the "Best Poutine in British Columbia." What better place to have my first experience. The first time I heard of poutine I thought it sounded pretty unappealing, at least for its potential fat content - fries, cheese curds, and "gravy." I think it's the latter that threw me, picturing it was turkey-style gravy, but it was more like a thin brown sauce. The place had several varieties of poutine and regular fries with various dipping sauces, as well as hot dogs and other things. But we decided to go with the classic poutine, and it was indeed tasty. Probably better that I don't have direct access to it on a regular basis...
Before we hit the road, we went down the street to a little Jamaican restaurant we passed by before to get another little sampling of something. Sadly they were out of anything containing plantains, which we'd had our hearts set on, so instead we opted for the sweet potato "pudding." Again, contrary to what I expected, it was not Jello-style pudding, but more of a bread pudding, almost cake-like. It wasn't til now that I realized these businesses took American currency after we'd been using nothing but debit cards. Despite the uneven exchange, I could pay in US dollars and receive Canadian change. So in the interest of using up the change, I got another cheap menu item, some kind of savory pastry filled with spicy vegetables. Both were delicious.

We set out back for Seattle around 3:15, and somehow ended up taking an hour just to get out of the city. I attributed this to undetailed maps and no clear turnoff to get over the bridge. Even when we stopped to ask directions, the guy had to tell us a very roundabout way to get there. We assume he had to have run into the exact same problem before - there's no way he could've known that route otherwise.
So we finally managed to get over the bridge and over the border without going through much of an interrogation. This time we were savvy enough to know the secret - embellish so as not to sound crazy.

We were on a bit of a time constraint getting back, even more so now with the setback of Vancouver's confusing road system, as we had to go see a potential apartment for Lisa in University Village. I had taken over driving after we got back to the states, and due in part to making up for lost time, mostly to just keeping up with the flow of traffic, I got my first-ever speeding ticket from a cop hiding out on the freeway entrance. $206 down the drain.

But we made it to the open house, which was large and very nice. The girl showing it was a personal trainer and kind of a trixie, almost alarmingly buff and tan. But she seemed friendly.

Finally we ended the day at my second cousin Kim's condo in Queen Anne. This was the first time I'd seen her since meeting her once maybe 15 years ago, but just like an Iwersen, she welcomed both Lisa and I like we were close family. She walked out with Clyde, her skiddish German Shepherd mix, whom we gave treats to get him to warm up. After confirming that I was the one who was her cousin's daughter she gave me a big hug and invited us in.
Kim and her place almost felt like the apex of our string of accommodations - fitting it was the last stop. We went from sleeping in cars, in tents on hard ground, on friends' floors, on little couches, to a guest room with a BED, laundry, a clean bathroom, and permission to help ourselves to anything in the kitchen. Better than a 5-star hotel. She even made us a nice dinner of grilled chicken and veggies and made us feel right at home. After living with so little for two weeks, it nearly seemed too good for us. We were almost taken aback by such hospitality for people she barely knew. Upon discovering Lisa did not yet have a place to live, she even told Lisa to call if she needed a place to stay or wanted to get together for dinner. Lisa had managed to find a Couch Surfing host to let her stay a while, the concept of which made Kim understandably a bit nervous.

After she and Clyde went off to bed, we spent the night cleaning ourselves up, doing laundry, eating the rest of our sweet potato pudding. I spent a while out on the balcony taking pictures of the amazing view of the Seattle skyline and full moon.