I have been dreading to write my paper, so I started reading my well respected mentor's blog. I decided to follow his blog and have to log in to blogger. Logging in reminded me of this unfinished project we had, and I had written a few posts for the last few days but have yet to post because there are a few days gap in between. Anyways, I just chatted online with Angela and she said she can help fill in the gaps, so I will just go ahead and put in what I wrote and the recognized gaps...
Gap #1
8/26 (Tuesday)
downtown seattle- meeting up with Emily, more sushi, pike place market, Alaskan Way water front, akai beach
Gap #2
8/27 (Wednesday)
UW, heading to Canada!
Gap #3
8/28 (Thursday)
Vancouver island
Gap #4
8/29 (Friday)
Capilano Suspension Bridge, Salmon Hatchery, Stanley Park, Granville Island, Gastown
8/30 (Saturday)
All four of us and my cousin, Andrea, headed out early to Mt. Whistler, where the 2010 Winter Olympics will be held. It was about 3 hours drive along the Sea-to-Sky road up the mountain. Since the road was undergoing a lot of road works in preparation for the Olympics, the speed limit was reduced for most part, meaning extra time for me to enjoy the scenic of Horseshoe Bay and Mt. Whistler. We got to the Olympic Village by 9ish; we walked around the village and talked to the folks in the visitors’ center before the gondola and chair lift open at 10am. We decided to take part of the High Note Trail that took us about 3-4 hours. Taking various transportation up the mountain was exciting. The view down the village and the surrounding lakes and forest was magnificent; the biggest disappointment was that it was pretty cloudy that day, so we were basically moving in the cloud/fog the whole time. Even though all the snow melted during the summer, we were able to identify the ski runs. We also saw people mountain biking and driving ATVs. We spent some time at the visitors’ center after riding the gondola. We took pictures with the Inushuk and had lunch at the cafeteria there. Then we did a little hike and took the chair lift to get further up to the starting point of our hike. It was my first time riding on a chair lift and that gets especially scary when there was a moment the lift stopped! Interestingly, we also saw someone going down in the chair with a dog!
The hike on Mt. Whistler was one of my most challenging hikes. The first part involved quite a bit of rock climbing and careful stepping. It was also funny how Andrea led off so far while we were taking pictures at the back whenever the clouds clear up. Karen also saw snow for the first time in her life! That must be really exciting, and later on, it snowed and hailed while we were hiking. We all got wet and white in no time which makes our break at the little tea hut such a blessing. We rode the chair lift down while it was hailing, the hail hit hard on my face and it was really cold!! However, the hail also made cute decorations on the trees as it sprinkles on the leaves.
The sky cleared up quite a bit as we leave the area. We had fun trying to wave at people in the gondola going the other way. The funny thing was that we notice Asians are more likely to wave back at us… maybe we can do some research to see if Asians love to wave more than others? After we got back to the village, we spent some time watching mountain bikers do their tricks and shopped around for souvenirs before we left around 5pm. Some of us also enjoyed ears of corn… humm yummy.
On our drive back to Vancouver, we stopped by several scenic points and took some great pictures of the sunset. We also attempt to make our own Inushuk with the rocks from the pull out area. I think we were pretty close if we find the right arms and head!! Oh well, that will be a project for a different time.
That night, we dropped off Karen so that she can have dinner with her relatives, then the rest of us went to TNT supermarket where we had 10 minutes to shop before it closes. I am pretty proud that I can accomplish what my mom told me and get moon cakes for grandma! We then had dinner at place where they sell souvenirs too (that is surely amusing to see). They do have pretty good food (I like their won ton) that I definitely cannot get around Portland these days. Of course before we go, we have to get some of the true Canadian experience. We went to the Canadian Superstore so Angela can get some food/ snack for her bus ride. I really love seeing her shop while Andrea is trying to give her a lot of advices. It’s really entertaining since there is so much to consider, for instance, whether Angela can carry them all, the price, what she likes, how long those food can last…packing food for a long greyhound ride is no easy task!
8/31 (Sunday)
Everything comes to an end even though our week long trip was fun and eventful. We continued on our morning streaks waking up at 4ish sending Angela off to her cross country bus ride and head back to Portland for Karen’s and Virginia’s flights to CA. However, the most surprising thing for me was that even though Angela was really tired, she pretty much stayed up the entire night organizing all the photos and burning them into DVDs for us! When we are at the greyhound station, I also learned from Angela that McDonald’s in Canada usually have the little maple leaf at the bottom of the “M”. Interesting huh? About 40 minutes later, the three Americans visited a McDonald’s drive-thru for breakfast. Virginia managed to use up all her Canadian coins! That’s also something I like about the Canadian money: when you are broke, dig out your coins and you can probably find enough to get yourself a meal with all those dollar and two dollar changes!! Apparently, the US is trying hard to promote those dollar coins these days. I even saw TV commercials about dollar coins and their durability.
Crossing the US border wasn’t that great of an experience this time though. My bad for staying in the wrong line, we get a sense of how mean custom officers can be. Luckily, he didn’t stop us to check the car. There were also a lot of cops on the freeway during the long weekend; I think I saw at least 5 sets during my 5-6 hrs drive. We made it back to Portland around 12:30pm and had pho for lunch. Afterwards, my goodbye to Karen and Virginia marked the end of this trip as they have to fly back home.
Viv’s Afterwords: Even though I wish the vacation can be longer, I embraced the moment we share together. I am truly thankful that all of you can come to the northwest. I couldn’t believe that we actually make this trip happen my dear friends. I also enjoyed hearing what you all like and dislike about this trip and looking at pictures from the trip because that reminds me of every little things the environment I live in or previously visited, especially interesting details like downtown Portland’s bubbler drinking fountains and how you guys see Granville Island represents Vancouver in your minds that only someone with a fresh mind would notice. On the other hand, I had fun like all of you do exploring new places such as Olympic National Park, Seattle downtown, Victoria, and Mt. Whistler. After all, a road trip with friends is completely different from one with family; this is definitely the first time for me. I also know that we are all extremely tired with this fully packed trip, making the Labor Day on Monday a real well appreciated holiday (at least to me) to rest up before we all go back to work. Now I look forward to seeing you all soon!!
8/25 (Monday)
VAKV left
With much anticipation, we arrived at
We went up to Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park next. Although the weather was really unpredictable, the scene of the snow capped mountain and a sea of tree is undoubtedly gorgeous. We saw a golden mantle ground squirrel, and on our short hike to the top, we even saw a deer family!! As we reached the top of Sunset Point, we were able to see the not only the mountain and a glimpse of Strait Juan de Fuca, we also saw the road we drove up from and there was rainbow for a while. We spent a while there and took a lot of lovely pictures.
We went to
Later, we went on a super short trail to
We drove back to
Our last day in the
Silver Falls State Park is just absolutely amazing because there are 10 waterfalls within a relatively small area. We had our little picnic with melted cheese, ham and egg sandwiches by the river and hiked for about 3 hours. We got waterfalls overloaded seeing 7 different waterfalls in a day, but they are beautiful. We were able to walk behind the waterfalls and tried really hard to stay out from the puddles, we got really close to the waterfall and saw rainbow at the double falls, we also see bunch of Oregon grapes and huge tree log on our way. We were also lucky enough to get out before it started raining hard.
We did stop by the first Walmart of our trip where we found out their postcards were the cheapest in town (bummer for us, cause we got them previously, but now I know where to take people for souvenirs). Unfortunately, we weren’t able to shop at the outlet because we got there too late (Seriously, I wish they close at 8pm on Sundays). We had dinner at a Thai restaurant with my family and then we went to my aunt’s place where
As rain approached PDX, we got out of here and continued our trip in Washington. I was so looking forward to go to Olympic National Park!!
Vir was feeling a little tipsy from drinking her Bailey's Irish Cream on the plane, but as soon as Viv called, Vir was so excited to see the girlies that she skipped merrily all the way to the baggage claim and out to the curbside of PDX. On the gloriously sunny day, Viv pulled up in her sleek Black Saturn for Vir's arrival. As soon as Vir packed her jenky suitcase in the trunk, VAVK quickly sped to the nearest restaurant and wound up at Tin Shed, where they sat inside and ate their breakfast for lunch meals.
With their tummies feeling very happy, they trotted downtown and wandered around to witness an Italian Festival, beaver fountain structures, and groups of people boarding the Maxx (later to learn that it's FREE!!). VAVK proceeded to the Pioneer Place and ended up at Forever 21, where they perused for rainbow rings. Sporting their fabulous rings, the girls squeezed their way through an army of people in the sweltering heat to reach the waterfront, while seeing inflatable jalapeno peppers, a gigantic tomato, and little kids shoving leaves into a camel's mouth.
After walking for what seemed like forever, VAVK boarded the lovely Maxx back to downtown, stopping to clap in public for some groom and bride, and headed to Saburo's. And this place did not disappoint. The 1 hour long wait was worth it because out came a platter of supersized sushi rolls! They were all so full.. it felt like they had to be rolled back to the car and back to Vivian's house. To cap off the night, they reminisced about the past over childhood photos until the wee hours of the morning, anticipating for the next adventure to come-- Silver Falls =).
At around 22:15, A arrived at Port of Portland, gladly greeted by Viv and Viv's sister. The airport was hectic, Viv and Sis said they had never seen the port so busy before and they had been in Portland for a decade. It must be the end of summer crowd.
Waited at the waiting area were three of us, parked our car, we stood and look at the black sky as planes were flying above our heads and landing at some distance behind the fence in front of us. Whenever we see a Southwest plane we said it must be K's flight.
After a while of chatting, we decided to drive to the pick up area and waited for K despise the risk of being shoo by the security. K called and we finally saw her with her dark green bulky luggage. (it's surprisingly light in weight though) That was around 23:00.
Excited, happy and bit of tired from the flight, we headed back to Viv's place for a good night of rest.
Tomorrow, we gonna pick up Virg and the real trip began.