Ok, here’s the synopsis of what we’ve been doing since last Wednesday (actually Thursday morning…):

Thursday and Friday:

• We planned on getting up early, finding a cool Seattle coffee shop and then leisurely making out way to the Train station for 9am. We ended up getting up at about 8:10am, scrambling to pack up and check out quickly and then grabbed a taxi to the train station….no coffee.
• We boarded the train about 9:30am and embarked on the Train trip portion without further incident. The train ride was really neat, very small and wobbly but fun. We met some interesting people (including the Grandmother of a former Raptor’s player – Yogi Stewart I think?). The scenery was really great in spots, the food was so-so but the trip was really fun. We had a roomette which is basically 2 seats facing eachother with a door about a half-foot away for privacy. There was a shelf that pulled down up top into a bunk for the night (Sally had the pleasure of sleeping up there) and the bottom seats folded into another small bunk. We had a large window beside us but spent a good portion of time in the Lounge Car (comfy chairs and larger windows) and Dining Car (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and a Wine-tasting in the afternoon were included).
• 34 hours later (about 7pm Friday) we arrived in Oxnard (just North of L.A.) which is close to where our friends Rob and Claire live in Thousand Oaks. Rob picked us up and we had a few beers on their patio before crashing for the night.

Saturday:

• We decided to check out Universal City and Universal Studios (theme park/working studio) for the day. It was really a neat place set right into the side of the valley. It was divided into two tiers (upper and lower) with several hundred feet of escalators between them. Not much else to say here, pretty neat theme park area with a long studio tour on site as well….didn’t see any stars.
• That night we ate at the local Chilis and then beers on the patio.

Sunday:

• We went on a wine tour into the Santa Enis (spelling might be incorrect there) valley which is just North East of Santa Barbara in beautiful Oak shapparall land formations (bit of an inside joke) . We toured about 6 locations and had a great time. It was much less pretentious then I thought it was going to be and I actually really enjoyed the whole experience (not to mention tasted some really great Californian wines). Funny note, we actually went to a winery owned by Fess Parker who was the original Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett on T.V. (and movies?). The place was rustic and fairly touristy with little coon-skin caps on the wine bottles (no joke).
• Back to Rob and Claire’s for the evening and had BBQ steak with a bottle of Merlot from one of the wineries.

Monday:

• 

  We were actually going to go down to Hollywood today and check out the tourist traps down there but one of us ended up feeling a little under the weather likely due to a little overindulgence in the wine department (not mentioning names but her name rhymes with Alley).

• We layed low for the day which was actually really nice. Hung out on the patio, napped and just mellowed out for a day.

Tuesday:

• Today we went down to Hollywood and it really is a tourist trap. It was neat to go down there but there is much less to see or do than you might think. We didn’t go to any of the show tapings (Jimmy Kimmel’s show was setting up a big stage outside for his show tonight) but we did see Hollywood and Vine, the Hollywood sign and Gaumman’s Chinese Theatre (with all of the hand/foot prints of the stars). Took some photos of any that we liked and laughed at a few others (It’s pretty funny to see Bob Hope only a few feet away from Steven Seagal…they aren’t even in the same league…).
• Tonight we are going to the local Pub where Rob and Claire actually have their own mugs and apparently everybody knows their names.

Monday:

• Sal and I woke up early and walked to Starbucks in the fog for a coffee and some “us” time. A great way to start the day in Victoria.
• At noon we jumped on the “Ocean Magic” tour boat for a 3.5 hour whale watch. It was so much cooler than we were expecting (we would have been happy to see just a single whale). We ended up seeing a pod of about 6 or 7 Transient Orcas, a Humpback whale and a whole lot of Sea Lions and Harbour Seals.
• On the way back we stopped at “Mile 0″ of the Trans-Canada (the end of which is in St.Johns Newfoundland) and the Terry Fox memorial.
• We had a nice dinner with Irena and her roomates at their house and then enjoyed a wood-fire in the fireplace before crashing for the night.

Tuesday

• We jumped on the bus to Vancouver around 9am. The trip was about 3 hours long which included a long ferry trip between Vancouver island and the mainland. The ferry trip was pretty neat and Sally and I spent most of it on the top outside deck hoping to catch one last glimpse of a whale (to no avail).
• We arrived in Vancouver, took a taxi to the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver (our friend Greg offered us a killer deal for staying there for the night) and checked in with all of its swankiness.
• We quickly dropped off our stuff and walked down to the harborfront and breakwall. Vancouver is yet another really beautiful city… We actually made it from the hotel to Stanley Park (we only just walked into it and saw the outskirts) and back on that walk which is a fairly long jaunt.
• That evening we got together with 2 friends of mine from High School, one of which I haven’t seen in probably 14+ years and the other for at least 10. We hung out at this trendy bar/restaurant called Subeez which was great and then after dinner we continued on to Morrisey’s Pub (good beer and alternative music which is a great mix) for a few hours.

Wednesday

• We woke up early and ran down to the Vancouver Aquarium for a quick tour. The Sea Otters, White-sided Dolphins and Beluga whales were amazing to watch and I tried to take a few videos of them in action. We ran in and out in about an hour after which we had to rush back to the hotel, check-out and then catch a cab to the bus station to connect with our bus to Seattle.
• The Seattle Bus was alright but long (about 4 hours) and the customs check was a bit of a pain in the butt. The agent gave us a bit of hard time for not having a return flight ticket out of the US and basically asked us to prove that we were going to leave the country at some point. After a few minutes of us scrambling for extra ID, addresses etc. he let us through…A bit of a power trip I’m guessing. Either way, not a big deal and we were on our way in no time.
• We arrived in Seattle, picked up our train tickets to L.A. (they ended up calling out bluff and I didn’t pass for a highschool student – we still got a deal but had to pay a few dollars more – had to try either way)
• I called around for a Hotel close to downtown and we settled in quickly. We went to dinner and then up the Space Needle (for the tourist fix). The Needle was ok but a little under-whelming ultimately.

More updates coming when I can…I’m also going to be adding all of my photos (and videos hopefully) to the gallery application (that can integrate with WordPress) at the following address:

gallery.thewiredserf.com

Here’s a synopsis of the first 2 days:

• We left the house at 6am for our 9:30 flight. I had checked us in Online the night before and when we got to the airport (terminal 3) we had our bags checked and were through security in about 20 minutes…leaving us a bunch of time to sit around before the flight.  I pulled out the camera early on to start taking pics but realized that I had forgotten to charge the battery the night before….so I resorted to taking some low-quality shots with my cell-phone (gotta love technology).
• Flight left on time and was a fairly uneventful 5+ hour trip. Coolest part was the fact that the WestJet plane had satellite tv’s attached to the back of each seat. Apparently there was a crazy headwind since we left on time but actually ended up about 15mins late landing.
• Our Friend Irena picked us up at the airport and we drove into Victoria (mountains in full view…).
• We checked out the local Fisherman’s Wharf where we actually saw 3 sea lions begging for fish right at the dock (raining a little already at this point).
• Checked out Downtown Victoria and the harbour – some cool old architecture, The Empress Hotel etc.
• Took a “Haunted Tour” of downtown Victoria that first night since Victoria is supposed to be one of the most haunted towns in Canada (something about Indian burial grounds….isn’t it always?). Kinda spooky either way.
• Crashed very hard about 11pm (initial time-change lag)
• This morning we woke up early to take the Ferry to the Gulf Islands…Galiano to be specific. The island was beautiful (even the ferry ride was great) with beautiful vistas and lush wildlife everywhere. We hiked up to the highest point on the island where you can get a huge panoramic view of a big chunk of the Gulf Islands and Vancouver Island.
• Tomorrow we are going Whale Watching with a world famous local tour company. We spoke with them tonight and they told us that a group today had found the 3 local Orca pods together at the same time – That is about 90 Killer whales together in the same area at the same time…pretty crazy stuff. I’d be happy to see just a few whales, but 90? Yikes.

I’ll try and update soon and post more pictures….

Not that we really care too much about the weather when we are out there, I hope it doesn’t rain the entire time…

Not to mention it’s a lot cooler than I expected (doesn’t Victoria only get down to like 5-6 Celcius in the dead of winter?).  Either way we are as excited as can be (and tired as hell considering how busy the last few weeks have been at work and home) and can’t wait to be on the road (erm Plane).

The only stress point for us now is taking Fionn to the farm to stay with his family for the 2 weeks we are away.  We know he is in capable hands, will be fine and will love every minute of hanging out with his fellow canines.

I’ll try and update things here on a relatively regular basis during the trip – posting photos and some stories as connections and time (and motivation) allow.