Traveling Abroad (For A Weekend)

This is a long one. It's two weekend's worth. And I wrote them at different times. I wrote the Vancouver entry when I was in Vancouver. And I wrote this latest weekend from West Linn. Here we go.

I'm at the corner of Granville and Smithe as I write this. I'm in Vancouver, British Colombia. I'm at Starbucks, drinking my black coffee, and it's Sunday morning. 

I drove up Friday night. It was a nice drive - Papa McCool was in town for work, and we met in Lynnwood for dinner on my way north. 

The mini road trip was nice. The temperature was brisk and sobering, I had the windows down, while the bass from AWOLNATION and Sleigh Bells wreaked havoc on my rearview mirror. I practically had to adjust it back to where it needed to go after listening to them.  Sleigh Bells is the best road trip music (specifically their second album, Reign of Terror). I love it. It's starting to become the definitive music for long drives. I listened to it when I drove to Oregon at the beginning of my vacation a couple months ago; Thomas and I listened to it (a lot) on our way to Hood River; I listened to it (a lot) while roaming the desert in Arizona. My point is...it's good stuff. Listen to it.

It seems like I've been doing a lot of traveling lately. In the past few months, I've been in Central Oregon (Bend, Sunriver), Arizona (Phoenix, Lake Havasu City), Montana (Great Falls, Chinook), Orcas Island, now here. Then, I'll be in Wenatchee later this month. And it's been nice. I've been wanting to travel for a while. There's just...so much to see. I was reading this article:

http://artofmanliness.com/2012/05/24/the-great-american-road-trip-thoughts-on-driving-across-the-country-book-giveaway/

And it made me want to road trip with a friend or two. Or maybe with my brothers. Or a friend or two AND my brothers. Does the drive to Orcas Island count as a road trip? That was last weekend - that was a fun drive. Even though it was...really...really...early in the morning (woke up at three, left West Seattle with everyone at four-fifteen). Hands down, it was worth it.

I'd want to go to the Grand Canyon. On the recommendation of someone I met in Orcas Island, I'd take highway twenty across Washington and then go south to get there. I'd want to see Colorado; that state has always interested me.

New Mexico has never interested me much - I'd be open to it, though. I hate to base my view of the state on a show, but, after watching Breaking Bad, I don't have an interest. It doesn't have to do with the meth from the show. It's the fact that in every episode, the sky is just completely gray. Always. Maybe that's what the creators are going for, though. But, then again...

I've been watching The Killing lately. It takes place and is filmed in Seattle. And in every episode, it's a downpour of rain. And I'm thinking, 

it really doesn't rain that often, and downpours are rare.

Like I said: I'd be open to New Mexico.

Utah? No opinion. I'm not drawn to it, but, I'm also not opposed to going.

San Antonio has gained my interest. 

And I'm intrigued by Louisiana and Mississippi.

That's it for now. 

Anyways. Parking my car for twenty-four hours in a lot near the hostel I'm staying at? Twenty-four dollars. I was planning on staying at the SameSun Backpacker Lodge on Granville. Yeah.

No.

Completely booked.

I went over to the hostel across the street. Booked. The lady at the desk gave me directions to another hostel, and that one had room. Word to the wise: book your hostel in advance, especially during a long weekend. I'm thankful I found a bed. 

I couldn't have picked a nicer weekend to come up. The temperature has been in the seventies. Yes, please.

Saturday was a long day. My hostel room was directly above a bar. Which was loud.

I woke up, went to get coffee, then I walked around the Gastown neighborhood.

 Visited some antique shops. I found myself in Chinatown after that. I've never really walked around a Chinatown anywhere before.

I took a field trip to Portland with my photo class during my junior year. I started walking into Chinatown to take pictures - in like the fourth store I passed, there was a wanted sign for a rapist/murderer or something. I said,

That's sketch.


And turned back. And Chinatown is generally pretty sketch to begin with, along with the International District. I'm glad I hung around there, though. Lots of food shops with freeze-dried fish out on display. I started getting into the really, really bad part (navigated my way through a mob of hobos) and I turned back. Plus, I was hungry, thirsty, and tired of walking.

After refueling, I went to the world-famous Stanley Park. It's bigger than that super famous park in New York. I'm blanking on the name right now. It was busy. And I had to pay for parking! I was mad about that. Whatever. It doesn't matter. It was right on the water. I only paid for an hour, so my walk was quick.

I refueled again, and went to Lighthouse Park, out by West Vancouver. West Vancouver reminds me a lot of West Seattle. And Kirkland. West Vancouver is a really, really nice neighborhood of Vancouver. You have to cross a bridge to get there. And their downtown area is kind of like a small town's.

Lighthouse Park was super sweet. I liked it a lot. I haven't been on a trail in a while. There was an owl on a branch. S/he was cool. I enjoyed that.

Owls are creepy - I approached it from the side and it turned it's head to look at me. Black eyes. And they turn their heads incredibly slowly. Anyways.

The lighthouse is in working order, so no one can go into it. I went down by the beach and sat on top of a large boulder for a while. Lied in the sun. In between reading, I'd watch a huge cruise liner slowly move across the water, leaving Vancouver.

There was a bug that kept trying to get close to me. It looked like a bigger and more fat earwig. It would come crawling towards me, and I'd stop reading and look at it, and it would crawl into a crack in the rock.  We continued this until I left. I even moved areas, and he kept trying to hang out with me. In the words of Lesley Knope, I said,

Uh-uh. I don't want your business here. 


I got back to my hostel after eight. I ate dinner with two ladies in the hostel's kitchen, who were from England, and chatted about Vancouver, and traveling and whatnot. Then, I went downstairs to grab a beer at the bar, because...

You can't buy alcohol at grocery stores here. Lame.

The next time I come here, I am taking the train up. Screw trying to park the car. Seriously. It's the biggest pain in the ass. The parking lot I had been using since last night was all full up. So, I had to find another. And I still had like three hours left on my twenty-four hour ticket I had bought last night. Oh well. I'm pretty sick of paying for parking...so, I'll probably leave tomorrow around eleven, when my meter is up. Vancouver, it's been swell.

I'm beginning to see how introverted I am in some ways. Obviously, I have an interest in traveling. But, when it comes down to actually planning a trip - I become uncomfortable.

Not this weekend.


is what I tell myself.

I almost didn't come on this trip. I kept saying to myself,

it's going to be nice in Seattle this weekend, let's just hang out and take it easy around town.


I put my foot down and went.

The same thing happened when I flew into Phoenix at the beginning of my Havasu trip. Flying out to Phoenix didn't really make me uncomfortable - but, when it came down to having to drive three hours north east to Lake Havasu at night, I became uncomfortable. I landed in Phoenix around seven. I had to get my car, get dinner, and run to Best Buy. It was like eight-thirty by the time I was ready to leave. I was nervous because I wasn't sure where I was going, exactly, and it was night, and I didn't have accommodations planned. For a while, I contemplated staying in Phoenix for a night, and leaving early the next morning, or just leaving.

Anyways. I'm glad I came up.

                           This is me in Vancouver.

I'm in West Linn, now. Good ol' Oregon.

This is me in West Linn.

There's something comforting about seeing your home state's license plates plastered on every vehicle. I've had a really nice weekend. I came down for my mother's birthday. We spent Saturday in Hood River.

That is one of my most favorite places. Great breweries. It's on the Columbia. I could easily be happy living there; living a peaceful existence working at Double Mountain or Full Sail.

It reminds me a lot of Bend. I'm not sure which town I like more. I suppose I don't have to prefer one to the other. It's such a gorgeous area - about an hour east of Portland on the Historic Columbia River Highway. That highway sees a little bit of everything. I was making a road trip with my father for a family reunion to Idaho a few years back. We traveled down that highway to get there. It was about sixty-five degrees and overcast in Portland when we left. When we got past Hood River, to The Dalles, it was over a hundred and not a cloud in the sky. We drove through the Blue Mountains, passing all the gargantuam wind turbines on farms. We got up to the high elevations of La Grande, where it was fifty degrees, and pouring more rain than I have ever seen. We dropped back down to a lower elevation and the temperature evened out a little. It's a beautiful drive.

Anyways. My mother, my step-father and I got to Hood River early afternoon and got lunch at a hotel there. I was reading an article in a magazine while there, and it was about this backpacking trail that was underway. It's going to link a lot of the small towns that are on the highway together. I can't think of anything more appealing of spending a weekend backpacking from Hood River to The Dalles (or some other small town) and going to the different pubs in each town. Ugh. I want to do that.

Then we went wine tasting. Then walked around a little bit.

Then, we went to...

Such a good brewery. So good. They were busy. Not as busy as when Thomas and I had come during spring break. Still busy. I got their Kolsch.

Yum. Beer beer beer. Beery beer beer. Easily God's greatest gift. Hands down.

We walked around some more. Went to Big Horse Brew Pub. Walked around some more. Then left. 'Til next time, Hood River.

Multnomah Falls was up next. I hadn't been there...in years.

For some reason, all the long, vertical pictures I took of the entire falls turned out completely black. Which is really annoying. I couldn't get them in their staggering, six-hundred, twenty feet of glory. Oh well. Next time.

So. Now, I want to move to Hood River. Or Bend.

I should.