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| View from my balcony |
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| Oyster Dome trail |
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| Pablo in the mist |
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
New Zealand... Why Not?
One way ticket to New Zealand.....purchased! I'll be flying out of LAX at the end of January and arriving in Auckland in time to enjoy a couple warm months of summer amongst the kiwis! I'm extremely stoked about this, but I can't neglect the rest of the West coast that I need to see before I leave. My thoughts are that I'll head out from the Woolley Mammoth a couple weeks early so I can meander down to LA. Not quite sure how I'll get there, craigslist ride-share perhaps? If you have any suggestions on cool stuff to see, eat or hear between Washington and LA, let me know!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
A day in Bellingham
After my short trip to Vancouver I feel I've reignited my wanderlust. I love it here at the Woolley Mammoth but there is so much I need to see. Time to really start making moves, New Zealand moves!
Although the trip to Vancouver was great, and we found some great deals, it did set me back a bit. Nothing huge but at the rate I want to be exploring spending that much on a weekend trip will quickly whittle away my savings. The solution: SERVAS!
Servas is an amazing resource for those people who want to travel inexpensively. The idea is something similar to Couch Surfer only more organized and secure. Servas has actually been around much longer than Couch Surfer, I believe it was started post WWII as a way to encourage cultural interaction and promote world peace and understanding. So the way it works is you stay with a host for two nights, they feed you and provide you with a room, and in return you interact with them, tell them about yourself and where you're from. Sounds like a good deal huh?
Its a great way to travel for several reasons:
1. Its free (well basically, a year membership is $85. Paid for in one stay)
2. You get to learn directly about local culture.
3. You get the inside scoop on the cool things to do in town. Hosts can tell you all the cool places the travel guides omit. Thus avoiding other tourists and expensive touristy areas.
4. Home cooked meals! (also free!)
What makes it safer than Couch Surfing? Servas requires everyone to interview before they are accepted into the program, so they can weed out the loonies and ensure that potential members understand the etiquette of the exchange. Don't be put off by the interview though, its just a safety net, its not there as a way to be uber selective of who gets in. Its not by any means an exclusive club, they welcome all walks of life and are very interested in getting some younger members.
I interviewed yesterday, with a very nice couple up in Bellingham, WA. Even though they were leaving town for 5 weeks the next day and I only contacted them on Sun, they were kind enough to work me in for an hour long interview. I think that says a lot about what the organization stands for.
To make the interview, I caught a ride up to Bellingham with my roommate and spent the day exploring the city. Bellingham is the last "big" city along Interstate 5 before you reach Canada. Its about 20 miles from the border. Its a very progressive town, the home of Western Washington University, a few microbreweries, some good independent record stores, coffee shops, and restaurants.
After my interview I got word of an Occupy movement taking place on the railroad tracks in the middle of town. My roommate and I were very intrigue and decided to go check it out. In protest of coal trains traveling through Bellingham en route to a proposed terminal at Cherry Point a group of about 80 people blocked the railroad tracks. Before we arrived, about 5 or 6 protestors linked their necks together with u-bar style bicycle locks and laid down on the tracks refusing to move. Police were able to move the rest of the crowd off the tracks but had more of a challenge with the ones that were linked together. They had to use a dremmel tool to saw through the locks; very slowly arresting them one at a time. It looked like some kind of bizarre surgery, officers wearing face shields, halogen lights all around and bare hippie feet poking out from the huddle. The officers were actually using a lot of care not to injure the protestors while sawing them apart, they covered them with blankets to shield them from the sparks of the saw, and sprayed the locks with water to prevent them from burning their skin. I even heard one officer ask if he was in the way of someone's shot, and then stepped aside so they could get a better picture. The remaining protestors stood to the side of the tracks and cheered on their friends singing Kimya Dawson's "Loose Lips" repeating the chorus, "We won't stop until somebody calls the cops, and even then we'll start again and just pretend that nothing ever happened!"
Although the trip to Vancouver was great, and we found some great deals, it did set me back a bit. Nothing huge but at the rate I want to be exploring spending that much on a weekend trip will quickly whittle away my savings. The solution: SERVAS!
Servas is an amazing resource for those people who want to travel inexpensively. The idea is something similar to Couch Surfer only more organized and secure. Servas has actually been around much longer than Couch Surfer, I believe it was started post WWII as a way to encourage cultural interaction and promote world peace and understanding. So the way it works is you stay with a host for two nights, they feed you and provide you with a room, and in return you interact with them, tell them about yourself and where you're from. Sounds like a good deal huh?
Its a great way to travel for several reasons:
1. Its free (well basically, a year membership is $85. Paid for in one stay)
2. You get to learn directly about local culture.
3. You get the inside scoop on the cool things to do in town. Hosts can tell you all the cool places the travel guides omit. Thus avoiding other tourists and expensive touristy areas.
4. Home cooked meals! (also free!)
What makes it safer than Couch Surfing? Servas requires everyone to interview before they are accepted into the program, so they can weed out the loonies and ensure that potential members understand the etiquette of the exchange. Don't be put off by the interview though, its just a safety net, its not there as a way to be uber selective of who gets in. Its not by any means an exclusive club, they welcome all walks of life and are very interested in getting some younger members.
I interviewed yesterday, with a very nice couple up in Bellingham, WA. Even though they were leaving town for 5 weeks the next day and I only contacted them on Sun, they were kind enough to work me in for an hour long interview. I think that says a lot about what the organization stands for.
After my interview I got word of an Occupy movement taking place on the railroad tracks in the middle of town. My roommate and I were very intrigue and decided to go check it out. In protest of coal trains traveling through Bellingham en route to a proposed terminal at Cherry Point a group of about 80 people blocked the railroad tracks. Before we arrived, about 5 or 6 protestors linked their necks together with u-bar style bicycle locks and laid down on the tracks refusing to move. Police were able to move the rest of the crowd off the tracks but had more of a challenge with the ones that were linked together. They had to use a dremmel tool to saw through the locks; very slowly arresting them one at a time. It looked like some kind of bizarre surgery, officers wearing face shields, halogen lights all around and bare hippie feet poking out from the huddle. The officers were actually using a lot of care not to injure the protestors while sawing them apart, they covered them with blankets to shield them from the sparks of the saw, and sprayed the locks with water to prevent them from burning their skin. I even heard one officer ask if he was in the way of someone's shot, and then stepped aside so they could get a better picture. The remaining protestors stood to the side of the tracks and cheered on their friends singing Kimya Dawson's "Loose Lips" repeating the chorus, "We won't stop until somebody calls the cops, and even then we'll start again and just pretend that nothing ever happened!"
Friday, December 9, 2011
Hawaii?
I could fly to Hawaii for $160. This is very appealing...
Other potential destinations going through my head for the next leg of this trip:
-Peru
-Equador
-Costa Rica
-New Zealand
Thoughts?
Other potential destinations going through my head for the next leg of this trip:
-Peru
-Equador
-Costa Rica
-New Zealand
Thoughts?
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Greetings From Vancouver
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| Lions Gate Bridge |
The drive to Vancouver from Sedro-Woolley is only about 80 miles. With a short stop going through the border it only took about 90 mins to get there. First things first, we sought out a good cup of coffee to fuel our meandering. We stopped at Commercial Drive, which is a pretty hip street with lots of small independently owned shops and restaurants. We found a good americano at a cafe called Turks. With hot cup in hand we began the stroll. There is something strange about Canadian foot traffic, I can't really explain it but lets just say they have a different stride. Same goes for car traffic, for example when you put on your turn signal to change lanes it is very common for drivers in the other lane to actually slow down or even stop to let you in! The nerve. I actually got impatient and kind of irritated by this courtesy, not quite sure what that says about my driving habits.For 59 bucks Canadian, which is almost exactly the same American, we got a room at the Howard Johnson in downtown Vancouver. For that price there was absolutely nothing wrong with the room, however the following night we found a better deal through Air BnB and rented a room in a single family home.
One thing that makes the pacific Northwest so great for me is that from the cities you are just a short drive from amazing natural areas. Stanley Park which is actually in the city of Vancouver was incredible. Amazing views, beautiful trees, great paths, and a very cool totem pole display, a must see if you visit the city.
Natural areas aside there are plenty of fun things to do for the lovers of the indoors as well. There are tons of great restaurants (sushi is huge here), a plethora of live music venues, and several movie theaters with international and independent influences. We saw a Romanian film at an EU film festival that was only a block from our hotel.
So much to do in so little time. Two days was not enough to experience this awesome city. I'll be back for one reason or another, or perhaps no reason at all, Vancouver is worth it!
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