Seattle

So my extended birthday celebrations continued last weekend with a trip to Seattle.

We rented a car from Friday and headed down straight after work hoping to miss the worst of the rush hour and border rush but getting out of work late and then skytrain delays meant that we didn't leave Vancouver until nearly 5pm. Once on the road it was a simple enough drive down to the border. We had address's, passports, ESTA's completed etc to try to keep things smooth but we knew that a previous trip to the USA for Lisa resulted in some paperwork being left in her passport and she was warned that next time it could be tough getting in as it look's like she's never left. We got to the border and we sent over to the main building to complete I94 visa waiver forms. The queue was the best part of 30 minutes before we got to speak to someone and fill out the forms. We got the usual USA customs grilling and explaining a BC address, an Alberta rental car and a British and Australian passport caused less grief than we expected so it was straight forward. We had to leave the car keys with a guard outside and assumed that he was checking the car so when we heard people around is being asked if the had any fruit, veg , alcohol or tabacco with them we freaked a little as we had food the weekend and my secret birthday cake was lying on the back seat of the car. However when we got back to the car the keys were lying on the windscreen and it looked like no one had even glanced inside. The cake was safe!

We were staying with a friend of a friend and with the TomTom only showing the first 50km over the border we had to partly wing the last section and partly rely on the googlemaps print out which was pants. We made it to Brian's in good time though and had a chat before setting up on yet another couch but we were very grateful to be hosted by generous strangers yet again.

We set about a big day exploring on Saturday and got a decent start and worked out the bus routes. First stop was REI's flagship store (outdoor kit and clothes). An hour later we left with a few new goodies in the bag and headed down to the Chocolate festival that was on at the Seattle Centre. We stayed for a good hour or so sampling chocolates and listening to an ex NASA scientist turned choco-guru tell his tale of chocolate experiments in order to create the best chocolate and he seems to be pretty close with awards and big orders.

Later we cruised around the downtown area and also to the Pike Street Markets which are well known for the huge assortment of food stalls, crafts and bric-a-brack.

Seattle weather seemed to be pretty much like Vancouver so we didn't escape the rains but the BC brolley served us well until we got home. We headed out for dinner with Brian and Andrea and went for a crab feast up by Lake Union. They had a 5lbs of crab special so we got one of those and then 2 a la carte orders. The crab was amazing basically 2 fully dressed crabs and about 12 big legs full of meat. A real seafood feast. A few drinks later and a beer in a bar entertained lightly by some band with the same 3 songs going round and round saw us getting home at a decent hour after a good feed and fun night out.

Sunday we decided to get out to a few of the little suburbs and headed out to Fremont and Ballard Markets and a stroll up to Volunteer Park. We headed back mid afternoon and cruised through border control this time apart from the standard trip up questions.

Another fun weekend and definately worth going again for a summer time stroll and play on Mt Baker.