Today is Brought to you by the Letter ‘P’

‘P’ for Productivity

At the urging of friends and family last night, I planned to spend today strategically running an errand or two that allowed me to explore the areas around Vancouver. My Type A personality has been pressuring me into solving every problem right now. RIGHT NOW. I wanted to spend some downtime reacquainting myself with the city – so naturally today was incredibly busy and productive.

I started off on track by plotting out two stops: 

Target in Burnaby and Safeway in Kitsilano (Kits)

Target was reassuring, familiar, and naturally cheaper than the stores downtown. I stocked-up on some much-needed items and chuckled to myself at the popularity of faux Doc Martins in their shoe section.  The best part of Target, however, turned out to be its location as an anchor store to a large shopping mall. A mall! The type-A personality kicked-in again, shouting about how much I could get done in one stop. SO MUCH. I gave in, even moving my car from the 30 minute Target lot into long-term mall parking.

Next, I planned to tackle the continuing issue of communication… what to do about cell phone coverage?  I headed to a nearby cell phone kiosk to further my research when I spotted something miraculous…

Inside, I found a 20-something gentlemen who knew more about phones & devices than I ever will. He became my favorite person of the day when he set me up with a simple, pre-paid phone that features unlimited calling to the U.S. and basic coverage in Canada for the low price of $36 per month. (My Canada plan features unlimited nights & weekends and 100 minutes during the weekdays.  …I know, right? Who knew anyone still did that?!)

In a glow of accomplishment I drove in the sunshine to the Safeway, making mental notes of the neighborhoods I passed through along the way. That was the original goal, after all. And then there it was – a full-fledged grocery story. They had affordable fruit & veggies, which had been considerably higher at the markets in the city, as well as the standard pantry items, and an extensive variety of maple syrup. So did I buy anything useful? No. I bought Halloween cookies from the bakery.  Because, fall.

I perused the shops in Kits and drove through the streets looking for any sign of a building needing a renter.  Upon returning ‘home’ I noticed I had received messages from two apartments I had contacted about subletting. They both wanted me to come by – tonight. So I parked the car and went traipsing back into the city, exploring the West End and hoping these Craigslist contacts didn’t turn out to be people who liked lampshades made out of other people. (American Horror Story: Asylum, I’m looking at you) Thankfully they were all wonderful people, one set from Turkey and the other from Australia. But now, decisions! I had planned on ending my day content after enjoying the city I’d driven so far to be a part of. I did enjoy the city today, but now I’m going to bed with a brain that’s stuck in a loop of analysis and worry.

Ah, the joys of productivity.

AN ASIDE: My walking through the city tonight reminded me that I'm a flatlander out of my element. The hills! I was out of breath after two blocks and had to stop and rest on a bench, feigning interest in my cell phone. I was grateful for the workout, but this terrain is going to take some getting used to.

Apartment Hunting in Vancouver

Climate Change

Adjustment periods are full of ups and downs. Whether you’ve moved a few miles, a few states, or an entire country, you’ll experience a flurry of successes and a whole lot of failures. Here’s what I’ve experienced in my first 24 hours in my dream city of Vancouver, BC.

Success
My rental unit is in the heart of downtown Vancouver, giving me a view of this city’s beautiful skyline from the inside out. After a long drive and eventful move-in, I got to fall asleep to the glow of skyscrapers. I’ll always prefer a view of the stars, but the beauty of the city’s architecture makes for a heck of a view.

Success
Upon waking this morning I wandered into the living to find the morning news. Instead I found one of my favorite TV shows, which happened to be filmed in Vancouver. It was like the city was saying, “Welcome!”

Failure
Did you know that it rains here? I did. I mean, it’s a rainforest. What I don’t know is why my midwestern clothes didn’t hold up to pacific northwest rain. I mean, rain is rain, right? Apparently not.  I went on a much-needed grocery run this afternoon and came back two hours later with wet shoes, socks, pants, groceries, and purse. And yes, I had an umbrella. Mom, send the rain boots STAT.

Also, I had to visit four stores before I found everything I was looking for. And then realized I forgot the contact lens solution.  ...sigh...

Success
Much of the afternoon was spent hunting for a long-term rental. I sent out a number of emails and received some very quick responses. I have three places to visit by Friday morning.

Failure
I found most of what I was looking for while grocery shopping, but a few things came in different packages. Like butter. Who needs smaller amounts when you can just buy a large brick of it?

I made mac & cheese for dinner (comfort food, people) but I had to combine the American measurements on the Kraft box with the metric units on the ingredients. Despite the conversion chart on my phone, I ended-up with ‘chunky’ mac & cheese. It tasted fine, but the sauce wasn’t so much sauce as it was clumps of cheese-flavored bits mixed in with pasta. Apparently mac & cheese is challenging in Canada.

Success
I had distributed some of my new contact information earlier in the day and was so grateful to spend the evening talking with family & friends. I'm happy to be here, but I do miss people, you know.

Finally, as promised, here are some photos of my home for the next two weeks.

It's pretty nice, right? Not a bad place to spend a few weeks!

Road Trip: Day 12

Starting: Renton, WA

Ending: Vancouver, BC  CANADA

Distance Traveled: 180 miles / 289 km

Day 12 Goal: Vancouver, British Columbia

There were two parts to today:

1. Visiting and hiking with a friend in Washington state
2. Crossing the US / Canada border and checking-in at my long-term stay in Vancouver

Part 1

I had the extreme pleasure of visiting with a childhood friend this morning! She, her three year old son, and I hiked through Franklin Ghost Town - avoiding MANY spider webs - and ended with lunch at a new pizza place near her house.  There isn’t much left of Franklin, except for some building foundations and a very deep mining pit.

Seriously, the spider webs were everywhere.

Franklin was a mining town in the lower Cascade Mountains

There is still a mining shaft left open. It's covered with a grate, but only since 1984

Laura ventured out to take photos down the 1300 ft mine shaft

I did not.

 We attempted to hike to the town’s cemetery, but the path became very overgrown and the spider webs began appearing IN the path at face level, so we turned around.

In lieu of the cemetery, we hiked back towards the entrance and turned to go wander down towards the river. We could hear the sounds of the river growing louder and louder, but once again the path grew smaller and smaller. Not far from the river we stopped dead in our tracks as we came face to face with a huge spider web that literally spanned the path from one side to the other. We shrunk backwards a few steps, looked for any giant, Harry Potter-sized spiders, and decided we’d done enough hiking for one day. 

Total Distance Hiked: 3.37 miles

Calories Burned: 892

To refuel, we went for lunch at MOD Pizza. The pizza I ordered had a stated calorie count of 880… so that evened out nicely.

Part 2

I had run out of road to the west, so the time had finally come for me to venture north of the border and into my favorite city. I reached Peace Arch Park about 2 hrs after leaving my friend’s home. The amount of nervousness I felt was, well, excessively high. Bringing a car full of suitcases into a country tends to raise a few eyebrows, so I was worried they’d put a limit on my stay.  The border patrol officer I encountered was inquisitive and did search my vehicle, but in the end I got a clear pass and was waved through into beautiful British Columbia!  As I drove away from the border and merged onto the expressway all I could muster was that weird and creepy combination of laughing and crying. I was so relieved, happy, and surprised that this whole plan was actually happening that I felt overwhelmed.

My drive into the lower mainland featured a comedy of errors. I’ve visited Vancouver 6 or 7 times (I’ve honestly lost track) but arriving with a car was a new challenge.  I made a few wrong turns. I circled the rental building multiple times without success in locating their parking garage, so I was forced make an expensive call from my US cell phone. The key fab I was subsequently given was programmed incorrectly, so while I was able to access the building I was unable to access my floor. To be let up I had to grab suitcases from my car, walk across the street to the rental office, and then have the guard escort me back so he could activate the elevator. But given the many trips I had to make, I did meet a few of my neighbors. So we’re counting that as the silver lining.

Initial thoughts on my two week rental:

• The best part of the bathroom is that it’s configured exactly the same as the bathroom in my Bensenville apartment, right down to the outlets and the towel racks. By the time I finished unpacking my toiletries I felt right at home. And also, the odds of me running into something in the dark are greatly decreased, which is also fantastic.
• Fancy TV cable is fun, but scary. I have more channels than I will ever watch and I have no idea how to operate this damn thing. If anyone is a cable expert please speak up. There’s still a weird box in the middle of the screen that I can’t get rid of.
• As I was checking-in and running back and forth to unload the car, I noticed that everyone was speaking Spanish. Not French, Spanish. Um… I crossed the correct border, didn’t I?

Rental unit pictures and initial Vancouver wanderings will follow tomorrow! Thanks to all for coming with me on this journey!

Road Trip: Day 10

Starting: Port Angeles, WA
Ending: Renton, WA
Distance Traveled: 100-ish miles + Ferry

Day 10 Goal: Bainbridge Island & Ferry, errands in downtown Seattle

Gift Cards Used: AMEX

What to do today...  I received a few recommendations from locals last night while watching Thursday Night Football. One recommended Port Townsend, another suggested to take the scenic route and drive entirely around the peninsula, my brain told me to head to the other side of Olympic National Park and take advantage of the opportunity.  In the end, the necessity of errands and a friend's recommendation won.

The day began with a stop at a local gas station for obvious reasons. Unknowing, however, I had stumbled into an impromptu town meeting. The bridge across the street had been under construction for nearly a year and today's presence of Washington Department of Transportation officials & local police had caused quite the stir. Was it finally open? Was there a problem with construction? Did they run out of funding? I heard every possible theory from the 20+ locals who had congregated in this small space. It took nearly 15 minutes until I could flag down an employee to take my money for gas and bottled water. To keep my day on track I had to leave without an answer, but admittedly did enjoy the sampling of small town America.

Bainbridge Island & Ferry

Apologies, but I was so enjoying my stroll around the downtown that I forgot to take pictures! It looked like New England migrated to the west coast... I just needed a bigger wallet to be able to shop there. I did enjoy a locally-sourced lunch and gelato for dessert.

I stole this from TripAdvisor

Ferry from Bainbridge to Seattle

New experience! I'd never taken a car onto a commuter ferry before. Also, guidebooks to Seattle often list a ferry ride in Puget Sound as a must-see, so I was happy to knock that off my list.

 In line to board the ferry...

On board! 

Looking back at Bainbridge Island 

I'll take any of those houses, thanks!

Looking ahead to Seattle

The entire ferry ride is just over 30 minutes, so there was plenty of time to stretch my legs and enjoy the view from the deck. I did learn to keep a firmer grip on my phone - the wind nearly stole it!

Upon arrival in Seattle I also learned that my GPS does not like the city.  It ceased to work as soon as we hit the dock and resumed only after I had driven halfway to the hotel. So, add that to things I'd wish I'd known ahead of time.

Beyond that, I had an afternoon of errands, traffic, and unpacking & laundry at yet another hotel. I'll be hunkering down and taking care of some business before leaving the States on Sunday, so I anticipate skipping a blog entry tomorrow.

Thanks to all for your continued reading. I look forward to Sunday's entry when I've finally arrived in Vancouver, BC!

Road Trip: Day 9

Starting: Tacoma, WA
Ending: Port Angeles, WA
Distance Traveled: 106 miles

Day 9 Goal: Olympic National Park, maintain sanity while continuing to drive and change hotels each night

Gift Cards Used: AMEX

The constant traveling is getting to me. It's fun and interesting to experience a new town nearly every night, but it's also tiring. Admittedly, I'm looking forward to finally settling in somewhere soon.

It was still a good day, though!

Highlights

I had my phone out to take a photo of the 'Welcome to Port Angeles' sign, but was cut-off by an SUV with a Twilight sticker. It seemed appropriate.

Olympic National Park

Factoring in the wind chill, it was 38 degrees with a threat of thunderstorms. So I went hiking.

 Ranger Jan gave us a tour of the area surrounding the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center

This evening I made friends at a gastro pub and plotted the next two day's activities with the help of some locals. Everyone had an opinion - we'll see which direction things take me!

Road Trip: Day 8

Starting: Coeur D'Alene, ID
Ending: Tacoma, WA
Distance Traveled: 325 miles

Day 8 Goal: Cross the state of Washington

Gift Cards Used: Subway,  AMEX, Panera Bread

Highlights

First solo driving!  It was strange to pack the car and head out on my own for the first time... I was armed with my GPS and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil on audio book to keep me entertained. It proved relatively effective, but I still missed real company.

Ginkgo Petrified Forrest State Park

If we'd stopped at every state & federal park, forest, monument, etc. that we passed on this trip, I'd still be in South Dakota. One thing I've been reminded of most is how amazing and extensive our Parks Service is. Because seriously guys, our country is beautiful. 

Go explore it.

Mint Chocolate Chip Milkshake

I needed this to drive.

Mt. Baker - Snoqualmie National Forest

Quintessential pacific northwest scenery - it is exactly what I wanted to experience. There are no words to describe the beauty.  ...except for the expletives I shouted while driving on a 6% grade in a rain storm. Then there were lots of words!

Day 9 Goal: Olympic National Park

To any Twi-hards reading this, yes, I will be staying in Port Angeles and driving through Forks. If I see any sparkly vampires, I promise to take a pic.

Road Trip: Day 7

It wasn’t until just now, when I wrote the title above, that it occurred to me I’d been on the road nearly a week. Like most things, it feels longer than that, yet somehow shorter… eh, we’ll analyze that later.

Day 7 – aka, Tuesday – was already anticipated to be a rough day, hence the ‘day off’on Monday.  Day 6 was scheduled to be ‘Spokane, WA’ day, but if any part of this trip illustrates the make-it-up-as-we-go planning, it was Day 6. We found ourselves very much at home at our hotel in Coeur d’Alene, ID and extended our stay another night. We still traveled into Spokane the next morning for some good tourist fun…

Their public park has a giant Radio Flyer wagon. 

Yes, I absolutely went down the slide.

By early afternoon, however, we grew tired and had reached our fill of Spokane, so we headed back to the hotel for some napping and TV watching. That sounds horrible, I know. We’re in this beautiful resort town on a lake surrounded by mountains, and we spent the afternoon watching a Castle marathon.  But you know what? It’s our vacation, damn it. And we were tired. We also had this elephant in the room that was growing more difficult to ignore – my friend would be leaving tomorrow (Tuesday) and neither of us wanted to say goodbye. The shiny television helped distract us. 

We spent the evening in downtown Coeur d’Alene, walking along the boardwalk, drinking in a townie bar, cheering on the Monsters of the Midway, and digging into some Mexican food. (Side note: there are two ‘Mexican’ restaurants here. One had ‘spicy meatloaf’ as a main dish. That is NOT the restaurant we ate at.) After our fun in town we retired to the couch in our hotel room to watch some Fall Premiere TV. It was a fun evening, much like one we would’ve had at home in Chicago. (Sans boardwalk, of course) It was a fitting way to end our trip together.

Day 7 – It was a son of a bitch. Pardon the language, but it’s the best way to describe it. Due to the stress of moving & driving these past few weeks, my autoimmune disorder chose this morning to wreak havoc. (The stress of saying goodbye to my traveling buddy was most certainly the catalyst.) So we spent the morning running a few errands, filling up the gas tank, and finally washing the bugs off the car’s grill. (We had bees scavenging the dead bugs off the hood like some disturbing insect version of cannibalism. It was simultaneously disturbing & entertaining.) Those elephants in the room can’t be ignored, however, and at lunchtime I drove my friend to the airport and said goodbye. And then I cried.

Now it’s just me. I knew it eventually would be, but her flight home from Spokane had always seemed so far away. The city of Spokane and the state of Washington had always seemed so far away too, but here they are. And so she had to leave.

I spent the afternoon plotting my next few days of travel, downloading audiobooks, and again staring at the distraction known as television. More than anything, though, I spent the time adjusting to the fact that I’m now on my own for this journey. Yes, I have support in family and friends, but it’s just me in the car and it’ll just be making a home in the cities I end-up in. 

In an effort to end this on a happy note, however, I leave you with this clip from the ever brilliant sitcom, “Roseanne.” Clip selection made on my impending time in the state of Washington and my love of Laurie Metcalf.  

“It’s just me. It’s just me and my ganja.” 

Road Trip: Day 6

AKA, 'The Day Off'

As we were actually staying in the same place for two days, we spent part of the day as tourists and the other as exhausted travelers. We napped.  We watched tv. We found a townie bar to watch the Bears game in. I'll share stories in my next post about the day's adventures,  but today I'm taking a day off to feel like a normal person and spend time with a friend I have to say goodbye to tomorrow. Thanks for understanding.

Go Bears!

Road Trip: Day 5

Starting: Livingston, MT
Ending: Coeur d’Alene, ID
Distance Traveled: 391 miles

Day 5 Goal: Rocky Mountains

Gift Cards Used: American Express (lunch, gas)

About Today:
A flatlander by nature, the drive through the mountains was what worried me the most about this entire trip. I’d driven through much of Colorado, including the ‘Top of the Rockies’ highway, which I found absolutely terrifying. The fear of doing that again had hovered in the back of my mind ever since I decided to embark on this adventure.  When we drove to Mt. Rushmore earlier this week, the Black Hills were challenging to say the least. So many ups and downs, and twists and turns! My car struggled up those hills, so how in the world could we make it through the Rockies?! Should I ship my suitcases to lighten the load? What if the engine quits with a truck barreling down upon us? I didn't sleep at all last night and neither did my friend. So awake and worried, we left Montana early with the mindset of pushing through the 6 hr drive. We wanted it over with as soon as possible.

Since our struggle in the Black Hills, we had been using every turn, hill, and bend in the road as practice for this day. And during that process we learned that it wasn’t so much the car that was struggling with the terrain – it was us. We had to remind ourselves to be more aggressive in our acceleration.  Don’t break too much on the turns, as scary as it may be, because it will help the car accelerate on the other side. And contrary to most flatlander’s beliefs, going 75 mph over hills and around turns will not cause your vehicle to launch into the air like the General Lee.

This wasn't us!

In the end, we encountered only about an hour’s worth of white-knuckled driving on the steeper, tighter sections of the road. The remainder of the day’s driving was, in all honesty, breathtaking. Each turn awarded us a new view of hills covered in a blanket of pine trees, as the road followed the river through the mountains. We stopped at a Rest Area to stretch and found ourselves engulfed in the scent of fresh pine. It was, ironically, my favorite day of driving this entire trip.

That’s how it works though, isn’t it? The thing we’re most afraid of is often what brings us the most enjoyment. Today was a reminder that the monster in our head doesn’t grow large on his own – he’s large because we feed him.  I had fed my fear so much that somehow it grew larger than the mountains themselves.

So tonight I go to bed excited about something that terrified me the night before… it’s been a full 24 hours.

Fun Notes from Today:

Sound the trumpets! Emilie hit 150,000 miles!

Symbolically, the parking permit from my apartment building peeled off the windshield this morning. Weird, right?

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho is a beautiful resort town. Dinner alongside a mountain lake? 

Fine, if I have to…  Also, we ate potatoes. In Idaho. Get it? 

Day 6: Explore Spokane ,WA

Road Trip: Day 4

Starting: Gillette, WY
Ending: Livingston, MT
Distance Traveled: 349 miles

Day 4 Goal: Little Big Horn, get through Wyoming into Montana

Gift Cards Used: American Express (gas)

Highlights:

Darkness

We ended day 3 in the dark, not arriving at the hotel until about 8:30 pm. Subsequently, we planned for day 4's driving to be shorter so we could sleep a bit later that morning. (Later being 7:30 am) Day 4 began as anticipated... until the power went out at the hotel. While I was in the shower. Yup.  Have you ever thought about how most bathrooms don't have windows? They don't. So we began day 4 like we ended day 3 - in the dark. But the power outage gave us an excuse to eat breakfast out!

Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument

7th Calvary Markers

Artwork at Native American Memorial

Driving in Montana

You can't beat the view!

Downtown Livingston

This downtown surprised us with great restaurants, bars, shops, and coffee houses. Seriously, had we known it was here earlier we wouldn't have had dinner at the Albertson's grocery store next to the hotel!

Day 5 Goal: Rocky Mountains