National parks, natural beauty and a bit of Disney wonder! COMPLETED About This Page:

[chezp]

Hi and welcome to the fifth and final (and likely to be very long! ) section of my trip report, following our visits in August/September 2011.

So far, we've had the pre-trip report, then the Disneyland section, which was our first port of call, followed by the Vancouver section, and most recently our Alaskan cruise on the Disney Wonder.

As you join us for this section of the trip, which will take in the following:

• Seattle
• Yellowstone National Park
• Grand Tetons National Park
• Bryce Canyon National Park
• Zion National Park
• Monument Valley
• Arches National Park
• Denver
• Chicago
• plus a few extras along the way!

... we're heading for the Canadian/American border with Sue and Steve, after having disembarked from the Wonder...

[chezp]

Tuesday 6 September – part three: so how do you know these Americans?

We were soon out on the freeway and heading steadily towards the border...



We were told that it should only take us 45 minutes to get there and that was about right. I wasn’t sure what to expect when we got there, but it was actually really neat, with some great border markings and a lovely monument. It was somewhere you’d almost be happy to visit.



The signs had been telling us that it would be a 25 minute wait, but in all honesty, it was more like 15 minutes and then we were being questioned about how we knew Sue and Steve, which was interesting. When I told the guy we’d known them “a number of years”, he asked how many that was. We worked out probably about eight years and we’d first met seven years ago.

We had a few more questions, particularly about the work that both Mark and I do at home, then we got the classic question about were we bringing in any alcohol or tobacco. : to that one. The next question threw us though – were we bringing in any ecstasy or marijuana. Oh my goodness – not what we expected at all! The guy just said to us that it was all in the reaction and we obviously looked shocked enough to pass just fine...

Then we were on our way, with a quick shot of the artwork that’s just across the border. It’s supposed to be a billboard, according to Wikipedia anyway...



Then we were into Washington state and immediately two things strike you about this state – the trees everywhere, with one or two starting to turn, and the snow capped mountains. It made for some beautiful photos.


This seemed like a very neat idea, to effectively have your bus station right on the freeway


Although it was another couple of hours’ drive down to Seattle, the time seemed to go by quickly enough and soon we were starting to see the skyscrapers of the city...



Next: clams and PassPorters!

[ccmom]

I can't believe the beautiful weather you've had in Vancouver and Seattle. You caught us on some of our few good days this year!
When I was young, we actually picnicked at the Peace Arch park just because it's so pretty.
I'm going to enjoy looking at Seattle through your eyes.

[lauriep]

I remember the story of crossing the border from Sue's report. Clearly you were a very shady-looking group, up to no good! Beautiful photos of the scenery on the way to Seattle.

[jenseib]

Washington is beautiful!!!!!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by ccmom

I can't believe the beautiful weather you've had in Vancouver and Seattle. You caught us on some of our few good days this year!
When I was young, we actually picnicked at the Peace Arch park just because it's so pretty.
I'm going to enjoy looking at Seattle through your eyes.

We were told that by a few Seattle residents we met along the way, both in the city and then later on at the national parks - it did sound like we really lucked out with the weather!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lauriep

I remember the story of crossing the border from Sue's report. Clearly you were a very shady-looking group, up to no good! Beautiful photos of the scenery on the way to Seattle.

Well, of course we were! You've seen us, you know how shady we can look when we try...

[bonphil]

Looking forward to more!

[Colexis Mom]

Great pictures from your drive to Seattle!

[DMA]

Looking forward to hearing about this part of your trip!

[cubfancolleen]

Glad you passed the questioning at the border!!
Looking forward to this part of the TR!

[Dlandmom2]

Very cool drive! I've never seen the actual border crossing there! That "billboard" across the border looks fascinating! I'm going to have to look more into that!

[chezp]

Tuesday 6 September – part four: clams and PassPorters!

We hit traffic just as we got into the city, but fortunately we were soon off the freeway and heading down towards our meeting point on the city’s waterfront. There was a surprise in store for us though... I never knew that Seattle had hills just like San Francisco. Steve was out of disks for the video camera, so I filmed it instead and managed to bash the camera a couple of times on the windshield.



We found our way down fine and managed to find a parking lot just across from Ivar’s Acres of Clams, so we parked up and headed out of the car and towards the restaurant.



We headed inside and were told that the rest of our party was already seated and we were taken through to them.



They spotted us immediately and hugs were exchanged. It was so good to finally meet Debbie and to see Sarah and her family again. I couldn’t believe the size of Emilie now. Wow, she really has grown, but then again, it’s been at least five years, if not longer, since we last saw them....

Not long after I sat down, I decided to try the flash on my camera, figuring I’d get the same whirring noise and nothing would happen, but wow it actually worked! I guess it got itself screwed up through being wet in Alaska maybe? I was so glad to have it back and working!



We sat there chatting for ages and finally got round to looking at the menu. For appetiser I went for the fresh strawberry salad, which came with organic local greens tossed in a strawberry vinaigrette and garnished with fresh strawberries, fennel toasted almonds and imported goat cheese, which was excellent.



Mark had the Ivar’s seafood cocktail, lemon poached tiger prawns, white shrimp, Snow Crab claws, Dungeness crab with a mango avocado salad, which looked quite something.



Annoying, we got our entrees on the table almost as soon as we started work on the appetisers. I don’t like it when that happens. For starters, you run out of room on the table.

My entree was the Pier 54 seafood bounty with Dungeness crab, local Manila clams, Penn Cove mussels, Alaska halibut, coho salmon and prawns, all simmered together in a tomato fennel broth. This allowed me to sample a wide range of their seafood and all of it was very good, plus it also allowed me to prove to Sue and Steve that, after our crab feast, I could now deal with crab!



Mark went for Ivar’s world famous fish and chips. I will be honest, I was a bit surprised, as we have very good fish and chips at home and of course, you can guess what happened? He was a bit disappointed by it...



It’s in a beautiful setting, looking out across the water and, once the restaurant emptied out a bit, I got some photos of it....



... I also photographed the restaurant itself, which is beautifully themed. It could easily be a Disney restaurant for the theming.



We got our server to get some photos of the whole table before we left....



Then it was time to make a move. We said a sad goodbye to Sarah and her family, saying that we really mustn’t leave it that long next time. :



Then we walked back with Debbie to the car park, as her car was parked there too and we said goodbye to her. I was so glad that we’d made it on time for this, as it was a lot of fun.

Next: are we going to get this car back on time?

[lauriep]

Look like a fun lunch! Mark really seems to have a way with children-- that little boy is adorable! I'm surprised to see all the hills, too. Hadn't seen that mentioned anywhere. Can't wait to see a bit more of the city.

[DopeyGirl]

Originally Posted by chezp

Ah, the old "Got your nose!" game. Mark had Evan going for a minute there! And as we walked away, Evan kept turning around and saying "Hey, where they going?" As for Emilie, the time does fly and she just keeps getting taller and older . . . it was 6 years since we had seen you guys last (December 2005), so she was almost 5 then! She's nearly 11 now! Yikes!

Everytime I think of the food that day, the first thing that pops into my head is Sue's sandwich and how enormous that thing was. I joked with Mike that it was about the size of Evan's head. As to the fish and chips, I got the prawns and chips and found them just "OK" as well. The batter on the prawns was a little too plain and the chips were a bit overdone. I actually had better luck, chips wise, at Ivar's Fish Bar outside the week prior!