Planes, Trains and Automobiles...

Not to mention boats, cruise ships, ferries, taxis, buses – including Gray Line, City and Greyhound and of course feet, not to mention every one of those dry and in the rain…

The possibilities are almost exponential.

We have been trying to exploit every possible means of travel possible.

Do you really want to hear every one of them – especially after I just rolled them off above? Okay. I’ll not bore you with that. Just trust me.

Needless to say we have had an eventful and fun excursion so far. Friday through Tuesday (7 a.m.) we spent in Seattle – exploring Pikes Fish Market, taking a Locks Tour and going to the Huskies-Ducks game on Saturday.

Tuesday we took the Victoria Clipper to Victoria (imagine that) – a 2 ½ hour ride through the San Juan Islands – and spent the rest of the day roaming the Downtown and Wharf area of Victoria.

Wednesday, oops that would be today, we took the Pacific Coast bus from Victoria to Vancouver via the Swartz Bay Ferry. Great adjustment here as we were originally thinking we needed a car to get from Victoria to Vancouver, but then a guy I had met at BP that had recently moved to Houston from Seattle told me to avoid a car on the ferry. Gawd, was he correct. There was a 2-hour wait for cars but the bus had a ‘reservation’ and so we popped right on the ferry.

As it turned out, the reason there were so many cars going to Vancouver? U2 Concert, no less. These females on our bus were all abuzz because U2 was happening tonight. They’d seen them 4 years ago in Vancouver, and last year had seen a Tribute Band. At any rate, it was like better than Christmas for all of them not to mention the excitement brought to Vancouver. I could definitely relate given the recent excitement brought to Kristin/Nathan, their friends and their Norman cousins.

And the other buzz is the 2010 Winter Olympics. Very exciting. We’re renting a car tomorrow (Thursday) and going to Whistlers Mountain. Should be a scenic drive up, plus going to the mountain where the Winter Olympics will be held.

Saturday we’ll be taking the Amtrak back to Seattle where we will fly home on Sunday. This should complete all of our modes of transporation.

In the meantime – the rest of our travel exploits would not be complete without our rankings of our favorite restaurants to date (in no particular order):

1. Metropolitan Grill – Seattle – Excellent steak – both US version and Kobe.
2. Il Terrazzo – Victoria – Great Italian, or Eye-talian – Best Halibut EVER
3. Carderos – Vancouver – Really good seafood overlooking the bay

But, stay tuned, these could be changed at any time. As well as adding some new form of transportation - though, the only thing missing could be the 2-wheeled variety and I don't think that'll be happening, unless it's a rickshaw. Adios and Goodbye.