By Cantrail coach to Seattle WA; one night good, two nights better; Pike Place Market; not anti-Starbucks per se; Mayflower Park Hotel and vesper martinis at Oliver’s Bar; seafood dinner at The Athenian; Travel Mode and padkos; heading to the Olympian Peninsula; delightfully historic Port Townsend; onwards to Twilight country: Forks and La Push
It’s not just trains and planes, boats bikes and cars that feature on Travels with Verne and Roy. Now it’s coaches, too!
Having kindly hosted us in Vancouver for ten days, cousin Brad and Ingrid dropped us off at Vancouver train station to catch the 11.30am Cantrail coach to Seattle. (Click here, here and here to see what a great time we had with them in Victoria B.C., Gabriola Island and Vancouver City respectively.)
There’d been various options for travelling from Vancouver, Canada south to the USA, and the coach turned out to have been a great decision. Around $55 each (half-price for those moderately advanced in years, thank you very much!), the four-hour journey was not only comfortable but excellent value, too.
What’s more, compared to the individual cars waiting in line to clear immigration at the US border, our coach – the only one at the time – completed formalities in double-quick time.
We were first off the bus for immigration (or rather, Roy was, me trailing in his febrile wake) and so first through a smooth and friendly immigration clearance from two nice young men.
_________________________________________
A Night in Seattle WA
In retrospect, two nights would have been better, in part because main attractions like Pike Place Market open only at 10am and start winding down mid-afternoon.
After disembarking at Seattle’s King Street Station, a $23 Uber ride conveyed us to the Mayflower Park Hotel in downtown within less than 15 minutes. Built in 1927, the place has succeeded through various refurbishments in retaining a lot of its Art Deco chinoiserie and other detail. It’s just lovely.
Pike Place, Seattle WA
It’s a ten-minute walk down to the waterfront and the famous Pike Place Market. As it was already past 4pm, most of the stalls had either already closed or were closing.
Even this late, there was still a queue outside the Original Starbucks at Pike Place, but queueing didn’t appeal; fortunately, we found a coffee at another establishment venue called Umbria’s, just around the corner. (Plus a slice of “special pizza” to share that gave me a glimmer of insight into why some people adore pizza.)
For the record, we are not part of the club that disdains Starbucks for whatever reason(s); there have been times when we have been extremely grateful to see the familiar sign.
Please sir, I want some more!
Having heard from the hotel staff that their Oliver’s bar served the best classic martini in town, I was gripped with the urge to have at least one. So, we trundled back up the hill to do just that. The friendly barman made each of us a Vesper martini, and then we shared one of the classic martinis (we chose gin over vodka) that they’re famous for.
Oh, it’s a wonderful thing to watch an American bartender pouring a drink. Their pours are so generous – there’s no fanny-ing about with measures. (Actually, it’s a lot like watching Roy pour me a medicinal whisky at home.)
Seafood dinner in Seattle
Then, back down the hill to Pike Place and a seafood dinner at one of the string of famous seafood eateries there: The Athenian Seafood Restaurant and Bar, established in 1909. It was the perfect meal: a medley of sautéed seafood comprising salmon, white fish, mussels, clams, prawns, onion, peppers and maybe more in a white wine broth, with rice (me) and garlicky mashed potatoes (Roy). I couldn’t even finish mine.
__________________________________________________
From Seattle to the Olympian Peninsula, Washington State
Given a strict departure deadline of 10am by my husband – now in full-on Travel Mode, I nevertheless managed to find the nearest liquor store (Downtown Liquor; closed until 10am, alas). I also tracked down the fantastic flagship Whole Foods grocery store, fortunately open, to stock up on padkos, meaning road-trip essentials like Lindt chocolate, blueberries, apples, purple tortilla chips and a bottle of cab sav.
Conveniently just around the corner from our Mayflower Park Hotel in downtown Seattle – walkable, even with luggage – Avis swapped the original Chevy that Roy had booked for an almost-new Mazda CX30 whose back seats could be flattened to take the luggage.
We narrowly made the 11.25am ferry to Bainbridge Island, a half-hour crossing, from where you take the road to the picturesque little town of Port Gamble and the long, scenic Hood Canal bridge to the Olympian Peninsula. We were going to be exploring this peninsula, part of the gorgeously scenic Washington State, for the next few days.
___________________________________________
Port Townsend
My Vancouver-based cousin Bradley, who has probably criss-crossed most of this state on one or more of his beloved bikes, had highly recommended we visit Port Townsend. Getting there required a short detour from US Route 101 that was well worth it.
With its relatively grand banks, shops and other public buildings, the historic centre of Port Townsend shows that it must have been an important city in its day. Now, it’s a delightful day out, its one long street lined with quaint hotels, boutiques and eateries.
Port Townsend was founded in 1851 by European settlers, and declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977, along with its historic district that includes a load of gorgeous Victorian-era buildings.
These include what is now the Jefferson Museum (first of the three shown above), Port Townsend Public Library, the Federal Building (now the post office) and the Rose Theatre (second above). Here are a few more architectural lovelies:
I hadn’t wanted to miss Port Angeles, the biggest city on the Olympian Peninsula, which we’d spotted over the water from Victoria B.C. five days earlier… but we did. On a road trip like this, you can’t do it all.
Before the turnoff to Port Angeles, you pass the vacation playground of Dungeness; this area must be a heaving mass of humanity during summer. Nothing here particularly made me want to stop, to Roy’s evident relief.
___________________________________________
Up Next?
Exploring the Washington coastline: Forks of Twilight fame, the hauntingly beautiful beach at La Push, an oyster feast at Seaside and more.
[…] you may remember from my last post (if not, click here), we comfortably coached it from Vancouver, Canada to spend our first night on US soil at […]