(Note: this should have been posted yesterday, but I got distracted.)

Today we screwed up our courage and went back to Gastown, which you’ll recall we were unable to find on Friday. It seems we were a couple of blocks off and were in the middle of the skid row, which gives a distinctly different experience than we were expecting. This time we decided to take no chances: we took a taxi to the Steam Clock at the heart of Gastown. Seven minutes later we were there.

Gassy Jack and the Steam Clock, July 2018

Gastown allegedly got its name from a character named Gassy Jack, so called because he liked to talk a lot, hence “gassy”. He was an Englishman who owned a bar or two in the area for a few years, but also lived in many other places in BC and California during his 44 year life. He worked as a merchant seaman, and failed as a miner. Anyway, there’s a statue, so the story must be true.

Looking for a place to eat, July 2018

The core of Gastown is a few blocks along Water Street filled with bars, restaurants, clothing and decorating stores, gift shops, galleries, etc. The area was once the core of Granville, which grew and was renamed Vancouver in 1887 as the Canadian Pacific Railway was being built. The surrounding blocks are a bit more residential, and also quite trendy.

The overwhelming majority of the people we saw in Gastown were either shop workers or tourists, many of them from the giant cruise ships which inhabit Vancouver all season. As with our day yesterday, the crowds were just short of “too much”. We had no trouble walking on the sidewalk, nor getting a table for lunch.

Since we’re way past the souvenir stage, our shopping is generally very casual and we rarely actually buy anything. But it was pleasant today, and we enjoyed the area.

Art, but not “Art”, July 2018

After walking home, we rested for a while then went across the street to the Vancouver Art Gallery. They had a number of exhibits on their four floors of gallery space, much of which was terrible. I’d say the worst piece was a video of the (female) artist and a man taking turns washing each other. I’m not embarrassed to say I don’t get it, because I’m highly confident there’s nothing there to “get”. But there were also paintings by one of BC’s most famous artists, and another set by an artist from Ontario. These were mixed at best, with some interesting pieces, but a lot of stuff I wouldn’t hang in my house.

I realize I never posted about our last day in Vancouver, which included finally finding Gastown. But that will have to wait as today was … quite a day.

The plan for the day was to leave our hotel in Vancouver at 9:30, drive about an hour to the US border, wait on a line, then go to the airport in Bellingham to rent a car. From there, drive about an hour to the 2:00 pm ferry to San Juan Island. And check into our harborside hotel in Friday Harbor. We should have had plenty of time (he said, giving away the punch line).

Ferry to Friday Harbor, San Juan Island, July 2018

So we did leave the hotel at 9:30. We had a reserved a car and driver through the hotel, and it turned out to be Matt, our guide from Saturday. About 30 minutes into the drive, we hit standstill traffic on the highway. At first I thought we had reached the line for the border already, but after a while Matt told us that this was some traffic problem. We crept along for quite a while, but after about 30 minutes of next-to-no progress, we started investigating alternate routes. Matt and I discussed some options (1) and we exited the highway and took a loop around the jam.

Once we were back in motion, we checked the helpful website that the Canadian Border Patrol maintains showing wait times at the crossing. They said no wait at first, then later changed it to 20 minutes.

We wound up waiting about 45 minutes.

We finally got to Bellingham International Airport about 11:50 am, and we had been told we needed to be on line to board our reserved ferry by 1:00-1:15. And it was about an hour away. I rushed into the terminal to the car rental desk, hoping there was no line. The only customer was saying thank you as he left, and the clerk got me set expeditiously.

Throwing our bags in the car with help from Matt, we said a hurried goodby, set our destination in Waze, and took off.

We pulled up to the ferry toll booth at 1:00 pm exactly.

After boarding and departing precisely at 2:00, we took a few deep breaths and started to relax and enjoy the smooth one hour ride out to San Juan Island and our hotel, the Friday Harbor Inn. Little did we know that the day had more surprises in store.

Shortly after checking in the Inn a few hundred yards from the ferry dock, we knew we had another problem. Rather than a narrative, here is a summary of why you should never stay there:

1. There was loud construction going on outside our room from 9-5 each day, unless they work late.

Partial Harbor View, Partial Construction View, July 2018

2. The bathroom had a water closet for the toilet. The rest of the room – sink, large tub, etc. – was open to the bedroom across the tub. . Yet there was a a door into the bathroom through another wall.

Notice the door coming into the open bathroom from the left!, July 2018

3. There was a room safe in the closet, about 7’ off the floor; Sally couldn’t reach it and I couldn’t see what was in it.

4. The room was advertised as a “Partial water view”; it included a “partial parking lot view” and a “partial construction site view”.

5. We had a 2nd floor room. Getting there involved climbing narrow stairs, and there was no help carrying our bags up there (the room was $419 per night).

6. The room was very small: no storage space to put our stuff away, and barely enough room to open our bags on the floor.

7. Room looked like a motel but at resort prices.

8. They offered a “special dinner” at this mediocre motel for $160 pp plus drinks, tax and tip.

9. In-room A/C was a free-standing unit standing in the corner. You could get a headache from the noise. If you didn’t already have one from the construction.

Like everything, there are positives to the Friday Harbor Inn:

1. It’s right in Friday Harbor, the main town on the island.

2. The desk clerk was nice and helpful – he found us a room at the Roche Harbor Resort. Which is where we are now, and which is great. We got the last room in this very large resort, and it’s a great room, overlooking the marina. Thanks, Morgan.

Roche Harbor Resort: Full Marina View, no construction, July 2018

So that’s all for now. I’m tired.

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(1) I obviously have no idea how to get anywhere in BC, but Waze and Google Maps are ever present.

Vancouver’s business district, known as “Downtown”, has changed dramatically in recent years, with construction of striking new office buildings and public spaces surrounding and dwarfing the older buildings. Here is a selection of images.

Provincial Court House, July 2018

Courthouse gardens looking at Vancouver Art Gallery, July 2018

Reflections, July 2018

Vancouver Art Gallery Plaza, July 2018

Rosewood Hotel Georgia lobby, July 2018

Nighttime Alley, July 2018

Rosewood Hotel Georgia, July 2018

Today was our day to visit some very touristy attractions in the suburbs.

Vancouver is on the water, of course, and the shield formed by Vancouver Island provides for excellent boating and water sports. But if you go in the other direction, you find forests and mountains. In fact, you find a rain forest, which is what the British Columbia coastal area is. As for mountains, Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort is only 75 miles from Vancouver. And it’s huge: over 5,000′ of elevation, 450″ of snow each year.

But we didn’t venture quite that far.

About 30 minutes from Downtown is Grouse Mountain, a much more modest 1,600′ elevation and maybe 20 trails. They have a gondola which operates in the off-season and have a number of activities on the mountain. Nearby is the Capilano Suspension Bridge, a pedestrian bridge which runs a couple of hundred feet above a river gorge.

We hit Capilano first. It’s really a private park, with the main bridge leading to an area covered with fir forests and having a number of wooden walks which you access by crossing the 450′ suspension bridge. There’s also a “canopy walk”, a series of smaller bridges about 100′ above the forest floor.

Capilano Suspension Bridge, July 2018

This being a beautiful Sunday, and so close to Vancouver, Capilano was already crowded when we arrived around 10:30 (it got much worse later in the day). After a short wait, we started across the suspension bridge. Sally had been concerned about the bridge. As a suspension bridge, it is quite wobbly as you cross it, and both ends get a bit steep as you walk down onto the bridge and then up. So she tried it, and then turned back.

Treetops Adventure, July 2018

I continued, and spent about 30 minutes going on the Treetops Adventure, as they call the walk high up. I walked around a bit at ground level before making my way back across the bridge. As you can see from the pictures, it was anything but a quiet commune with nature. The crowds were just short of too much, and as I said, the lines were longer when we left than when we arrived.

Grouse Mountain Skyride, July 2018

From there we took a public bus to Grouse Mountain and rode the gondola up. Again, the crowds were not quite at the level of a problem yet. We got on the first gondola after we got to the line, although it was pretty full. At the top we walked around for a while then I had lunch in the summit lodge. Sally bought a muffin, and we sat on the deck and enjoyed the weather and views.

50 mile view towards Vancouver Island, July 2018

It’s hard to see in the pictures because of the haze, but Vancouver Island is visible in the distance. According to the signboard, visibility was 50 miles today.

Joe Forte’s, July 2018

After an unfortunate incident back at the hotel with our room not being made up yet, we had a pleasant dinner at Joe Forte’s, a seafood and chop house a few blocks away. Joe Forte was not a famous politician, nor the name of the founder of the restaurant. Rather, he was a city lifeguard renowned for teaching hundreds of children to swim in the early 20th century. Why someone decided naming a restaurant after him made sense, I don’t know. The place is large, noisy and has a piano player who loves pop from the sixties and apparently gets paid by the note. It also has a garlic-laced menu. A fillet mignon pre-seasoned with garlic? Really?

We landed an hour early, which is very strange. The schedule was 8:00am departure and 11:30am arrival, which make for a 6 1/2 hour flight after accounting for the fact that we are in Pacific Time here, and three hours behind. Our actual flying time was just over 5 hours, and we spent 20 minutes taxiing at EWR. But I’ll take it.

Pizza gets a haircut, July 2018

Of course, our hotel room wasn’t ready when we got there, we we dropped the bags and went out to explore and get some lunch. I’m not sure where we wound up; we went through what purported to be Chinatown, but didn’t see a single restaurant. So we walked over to the Gaslight district, where we found an pizzeria which did not add garlic to the tomato sauce. Winner! They had an interesting way of serving the individual pies: with a scissor.

The next challenge was getting home, as by this time Sally’s ankle was aching. Taxis in Vancouver are rare on the street, and there are no Uber/Lyft/etc. After failing to flag one down, I tried ordering one online which seemed to be working, but the driver called and said the address he had for us was miles away from us and he wasn’t coming. I finally managed to flag one down, but it took 20 minutes or more until we were inside.

The ride to the hotel was about 10 minutes.

Rosewood Hotel Georgia, July 2018

As the hotel had called while we were eating, we knew that the room would be ready when we got there. And it was, with our bags already in the room (1).

After resting for a while, we went downstairs and tried to eat in the hotel bar. But everything interesting was garlic-infested. So we went out to a noisy but pleasant restaurant where we managed to get some good food.

It’s 9:00pm, the sun won’t set for another few minutes, and we’re pretty tired. We were up at 4:30, and it’s after midnight back east. So that’s all for tonight.

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(1) We are saving money left and right. Not only did we avoid tipping a bellman to bring the bags up to the room, but our taxi driver from the airport dropped us at the side door and we avoided the doorman as well.

EWR Terminal C, Gate 97, July 21

We got here as scheduled. No Uber’s would accept our ride, but a Lyft came right away. The security was normal, under 10 minutes with TSA-Pre.

The gate is – always! – as far from the curb as possible. But we’re here. We have a place to sit, and the flight is on time.

The gate is on a lower level in the terminal – no windows. We have the usual moveable rows of five conjoined blue leatherette chairs to relax in.

Anyway, it’s boarding time. Talk to you from the other side.