Day 15 10.8.2011 – the ride down to Portland

Hello all,

Currently we are on the train riding down to Portland, Oregon, where we are stopping over till our train tomorrow (which is 17 hours) down to San Fran, shamefully where we only get a day and a half to explore before the flight...but hey it’s all and experience!!

So we are meeting Margaret’s brother and wife today who are lodging us for the night, they are Rod and Margie, whom are good friends also with our grandparents, will be nice to meet more people as we have done so far along the trip and im sure we will on the other side of the world!!

This is me signing off...J

Supplemental 

We were picked up from the station and taken back to their house, it’s in a great peaceful location and the house is lovely as are they. They took us on a drive around tour of the city so we could see some of what Portland had to offer, its a great place with a good feel to it. And much warmer than it was up north!!

Day 14 9.8.2011 – Exploring Anacortes

Hello all, 

Today went out and about with Ralph and Margaret. We drove around the island and found some great views and vistas. We also stopped off at a small little lilac coloured cafe, it seemed nice enough on the outside but once we were inside we realised we had come across something special, across the counter and in glass cases were the largest cheapest most varied amount of doughnuts we have ever seen, rings, twists, claws all bigger than my hands and all for less than a quid!!!! They tasted amazing and were very filling.

We continued to explore around and saw some very interesting drainpipes with watering cans attached to the bottom so the water all sprinkled out, along near the docks and shipwrights (which is where the BWM Oracle..Americas Cup Boat was built) we saw a hug tug being built and one which was connected to the ship it was towing by huge bolts the slide into place inside the ship. A very clever way of securing the ships.

It has been very nice staying with Ralph and Margaret, there house is lovely and so are they, we now look forward to a 6 hour journey to get down to Portland tomorrow to stay with Margaret’s brother and wife.

This is me signing off...J 

Day 13 8.8.2011 - Anacortes and the ferry

Hello all, 

Went with Ralph and Margaret today back to their home in Anacortes, we took the ferry across from Sidney and straight through to Anacortes. Again the views were stunning going across, so much open water and scenery to take in. Then we reached the other side and we were driven to their house, which is beautiful and overlooks Fidalgo Bay. It is a stunning view over here with the sun setting. We also went to a Mexican restaurant this evening and tried my first fajitas....they were pretty good. (we might have to make some in the motor home one night!)

Not too much else to say other than we are all ok and its going well so far!

This is me signing off....J

Day 12 7.8.2011 – Whales and walking

Hello all,

So we rose early this morning.....but it was worth it! We went whale watching (or should I say orca watching) on a decent sized boat, with a company aptly named ‘Prince of Whales’ (get the pun!!!), all of us were keeping a keen eye out and we got some fantastic shots of the orcas surfacing and diving back down again. It was great to be out on the water on such a clear and lovely day.

We met up with Ralph and Margaret and undertook further exploration of Victoria coming across a market and walking through Chinatown, with its distinctive red lampposts. We all went for dinner at a nice little place called ‘the keg’, it is a very old establishment but very modern on the inside and it had the most succulent and rich tasty steaks as I have ever had, definitely up in my top three! (Funnily enough two of my top 3 are Canadian and one American). So that was a worthwhile experience.

We are off with Ralph and Margaret tomorrow on the ferry down to Anacortes and back again across the border to the US, we have hashed out a rough plan to get down to San Fran but it does leave us limited time there so we will just have to make the most of it!!

This is me signing off.....J

Day 11 6.8.2011 – Down to Victoria

Hello all,

Today we left sunshine ridge and began to make our way down to Victoria. We came across a mini golf place on the way so stopped off for a bit of fun. It is always a laugh and nice to have a quick game...and I came join second after a recount due to mum’s dodgy adding up!!

The views as we drove down the East coast were also great and again we had Steven snapping away, and even drove back part of the way to get to some view points across the road. We got down into Victoria and after we found the hotel, (the room had two floors to it!! And was a brewery!!) headed out to the picturesque town to have a look around and see if our family friends Ralph and Margaret had arrived.

While stopping for coffee and ice cream, we were on the lookout and mum thought she had spotted them over the road...she ran out and waved and the woman waved back, she went over and got talking to her but we thought it odd the man was wandering off. Mum came back over and said ‘nope not them!’ to our dismay why she had hugged her and chatted to a complete stranger we will never know, but after we came back from getting ice cream the real Ralph and Margaret were with mum and dad.

We haven’t seen them since we were small and it was nice to catch up, we went for a walk and found a nice place to eat and then headed back to the hotel having booked a whale watching tour for tomorrow,,, looking forward to that lots.

Also on a side note we saw a Russian tall ship used for training and John Lennon’s Rolls Royce!!! (Its bright yellow!)

This is me signing off...J