Buck a Shuck

The second plate - as good as the first

All along the Pacific Northwest - from SF to Seattle - we encountered the ubiquitous Happy Hours and $1 Oyster Days. It wasn't until we reached Vancouver that the Happy Hours stretched from 2-7 and the oyster days were everyday. So when confronted with half price beer and cheap oysters, there's only one thing to do....
Vancouver is set out in a somewhat square matrix so it's easy to find your way around. And there's also a hop on/hop off bus, which we've found is the easiest way to get to know a new city. Our first night we happened upon a restaurant a couple of doors down from our hotel which promoted local produce and beverages. It was the perfect intro. What the Canadians do well is support their local wines - in this case from B.C. as well as Oregon and Washington State. The Yankees tended to skew their lists towards some more obscure European regions and varietals...not what we were interested in drinking !
There's some good food in this place, and not over expensive. I treated myself to some elk stew ( which was approved by the Librarian because of its farmed and organic origins ). Fish continued to be the order of the day, the one we both enjoyed was halibut. The weather continues to be warm ( low to mid 20's ) - not what we expected, but making sightseeing more enjoyable. There's a vibrant arts community here and one of the largest city parks/gardens in North America.
With only a day and a half, we weren't able to do Vancouver justice - we didn't make it to a church, cemetery or museum - but we were able to organise the car hire for the road trip on our return...leaving Damien and Kathy the onerous task of picking us up from our ship. We managed a little souvenir shopping ( had the brilliant idea of getting Jamie something from the House of McLaren - but everything - except the signage on the front window - was branded MacLaren ! ).
After the outer covering of a wheel from one of our suitcases peeled off ( sorry Kallista ! ), we bought 2 new ones . With the generous luggage allowance from Hawaiian Airlines, Violeta will be the beneficiary of presents that should take her through to at least her 10th birthday ! The only downside was that our hotel room was on the 3rd floor and there was no elevator !!

Dancing Musk Ox - an Inuit carving in soapstone - worth every dollar of the $7,600 asking price

Sleepless in Seattle

Slaking my thirst in the Amtrak sauna

The 4 hour train trip from Portland to Seattle wasn't as scenic as the SF to Portland leg. Less of the mountainous, heavily treed vista , more of the cultivated flatlands. The aircon decided to malfunction in our carriage, and there were passengers going ballistic as the temperature in the cabin soared to at least 18 degrees ! I tried to inject some humour into the situation by asking the conductor if he could turn the temperature up as I was catching a chill. We were advised that we could take any alternative seating on the train, at which the Librarian promptly said 'we're moving to business class'. The State of Washington has recently legalised the sale of marijuana - under strict controls of course. It becomes perfectly obvious as you walk along the streets and the smell of hooch from a passing pedestrian wafts by. The homeless still populate the street corners with their handwritten cardboard signs explaining their situation. Somehow you feel more empathy with those who offer something in return - a drum solo on some plastic tubs or a soulful refrain on the harmonica - than those you sit glassy eyed behind their begging cup.

A conservatory ceiling installation of Chihuly flowers

 

What to do in Seattle ? A visit to the Chihuly Gallery and Gardens - check. Dinner at Pike's Market - check. Coffee at the Moore Hotel's coffee shop ( I'll venture to say the best latte I've had for years ) - check. An afternoon at the 5th Annual Washington State Cider Summit - triple check !  I'm growing to like Seattle.

 

 

Postscript : We took the Greyhound Bus from Seattle to Vancouver, stopping at 4 towns in between. When we reached the border customs point, the driver said it was the quickest trip he had made. Canadian customs officers are experts at the art of interrogation. The Librarian took our passports up as I was collecting our ( now 4 ) suitcases. She was bombarded with what, where, why, how and who questions and as she was beginning to get flustered ( not surprisingly since I am the keeper of all the holiday minutiae ), I stepped in and said ' I'm just looking forward to seeing an ice hockey game'. Game over. Have a good holiday. So it appeared that we got the bus passengers through customs in only 30 minutes...the bus driver was rapt.....until the 2 backpacking American girls were taken aside and reappeared 60 minutes later. We were told in Vancouver that since marijuana has been legalised in Washington State, people are 'targeted' for a complete search of their luggage at the border. The sniffer moose was on a day off.

 



Beer, Beards and Berets

Fact No. 1 - Portland has the highest number of breweries ( 53 ) per capita of any city in the world.
Fact No. 2 - Portland revels in the beard : the funkier, the better.
Fact No. 3 - The beret, well it's a sort of beret meets cap thing, is an essential part of the attire of male Portlandionians ( I made that word up ).

And I was not going to disappoint - 1 and 2 were a given - and I had bought the requisite headwear in SF.



We spent 2 nights at the Portland Guesthouse. An innocuous name really, however the Librarian associates the word 'guesthouse' with 'youth hostel'. It was not until we got in the front door that she realised I had booked a gem. It's run by 2 gays guys so it was beautifully presented and in the perfect part of town. First night we had Japanese and it was the best meal I've had since leaving Australia - both for quality and value for money. Day 2 comprised of another journey on the hop on/hop off bus ( we've decided it's the best way to see a place if you don't have a car and are limited in time ). Portland is known as the Rose City and their Rose Garden is the most extensive I've ever seen. Powell's bookstore covers a city block and it holds more than 1.5 million books. And of course there's the beer. Where to start ? At a pub brewery of course with a tasting tray of 6 beers ( and an extra one thrown in because we were nice people ). We then settled on the one we each liked best and settled in . When we got the bill, we weren't charged for the tasting - the $8.50 cost was waived under the heading of  'super aussies'.

 

Before


After - call me a porter

And finally to what I hoped would be one of the dining highlights of our trip. Dinner at Roe - voted one of the Top 5 new restaurants in the U.S. in 2013. A 4 course degustation ( all seafood - except for dessert  ) for $75. With 2 choices in each course, we got to try all dishes. All I'm gong to say is we drank 2 bottles of wine and the Librarian used up all the aspirin that night. Another good night's sleep and onto the train for the 4 hour trip to Seattle, Washington. Lucky we loaded up with provisions in case one of the active volcanoes in our path exploded.

 

Life is like a box of chocolates

You're supposed to kiss your sweetheart as you cross the bridge

Wednesday September whatever. We haven't been buying papers so we're never sure what date it is ( and sometimes what day ! ). Oh joy of joys, the breakfast place that we have been trying to get into for days - Brenda's on Polk St - had vacant tables. It was highly recommended by your standard arbiters of quality : TripAdvisor and SF Dining. It serves Louisiana style grub - I chose a crumbed oyster, spring onion and bacon omelette with grits ( soft, buttery polenta ) and biscuit ( a scone about 4 times normal size ) and for the Librarian - poached eggs, molasses ham and hash potatoes. 2 big 'bowls' of coffee rounded it out . We left with full bellies, light by only $20 ( plus gratuity ) and whistling Tony Joe White's 'Polk Salad Annie...'gators got your granny'.

Then onto the hop on/hop off bus to use up the last 2 hours of our two day pass. Back to Fisherman's wharf for some sightseeing, more coffee and lunch at Bubba Gump's - popcorn prawns and beer for me, seafood gumbo and beer for The Librarian. Next stop Banana Republic via cable car to buy some spiffy dress jeans for moi and a free cup of coffee at Nespresso ( had the brand new Cuban blend - muy buen ). We then bade farewell to SF, took a cab across the bridge to the AMTRAK station at Oakland, checked our bags in and adjourned to the Warehouse Sports Bar where, through in depth research I had found out it was ONE DOLLAR TACO TUESDAY !!!!! It was also known as the safest bar in Oakland as it was where the local police drank. And there was an extra bonus - the train was running 1 hour late, so that gave us ( me ) 3 hours to enjoy the offerings of said tavern. At 10pm we left the Warehouse $57.29 poorer - food bill $11.50, alcohol bill $45.79. When we finally got into our roomette ( I've seen larger sardine cans ), I was assigned the top bunk which had 2 seatbelts  and no window , didn't really matter as I slept like a baby and work up in Oregon.

The Librarian's 'I don't think you need another beer look '.

“ THE PEOPLE UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED “.



The Eating House of the Rich and Famous

 WELCOME TO LABOR DAY.  IT’S ALWAYS GOING TO BE A RISK PLANNING ACTIVITIES ON A PUBLIC HOLIDAY…AND SO IT WAS. THE FREE WALKING TOUR ( SPONSORED BY THE SF LIBRARY )  OF THE 1906 EARTHQUAKE SITES DID NOT EVENTUATE – EVEN THOUGH THE WEBSITE SAID IT WAS ON. SO WE TOOK THE OBLIGATORY CABLE CAR RIDE TO FISHERMAN’S WHARF AND THEN BOUGHT A 24 HOUR TICKET ON THE HOP ON/HOP OFF BUS. WE BUMPED INTO A STREET MARCH PROTESTING OVER THE HYATT EMPLOYING NON-UNION LABOR. “WHAT DO WE WANT ? A UNIONISED WORK FORCE. WHEN DO WE WANT IT ? NOW !” HOPPED OFF THE BUS AT HAIGHT ASHBURY, PUT SOME FLOWERS IN OUR HAIR, AND HIT URGE BURGERS ( I ESCHEWED THE ELVIS BURGER – MEAT PATTIE WITH PEANUT BUTTER AND BACON – FOR A HEALTHIER OPTION : THE CHILLI CHEESE ). WE CRUISED UP AND DOWN THE PSYCHEDELIC PAINTED SHOPS, SPENT SOME TIME IN A BOOKSHOP ( SURPRISE, SURPRISE ) AND THEN BACK ON THE BUS. NEXT WE HEADED OVER THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE ( USELESS FACT NO.1 – IT CONTAINS OVER A MILLION RIVETS ) AND THEN TO THE HIPSTER SUBURB OF MARINA WHERE WE INDULGED IN A FEW GLASSES OF GRAPE JUICE AT A TRENDY WINE BAR. BACK ON THE BUS AND BACK TO THE PALATIAL POST HOTEL . AS THIS WAS OUR LAST NIGHT IN FRISCO, WE DINED AT THE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 'JOHN'S BAR AND GRILL'. THE WALL WAS COVERED WITH FRAMED PHOTOS OF CELEBRITIES WHO HAD DINED THERE SINCE THE 1930'S - THE FOOD WAS EXPENSIVE AND SO-SO, BUT I SUPPOSE WE WERE PAYING FOR AMBIENCE AND NOSTALGIA.

Now that's what I call a burger

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

What I know about baseball I've picked up from American movies, Trivial Pursuit ( if there's a sport question about baseball the answer is inevitably Babe Ruth ), and one of the greatest comedy sketches known to man - Abbott and Costello's 'Who's on First'. So it was going to be a great learning experience watching the San Francisco Giants take on the might of the Milwaukee Brewers at the A.T and T Arena. I was in two minds as to whether I should support a team that's named after a profession that makes beer over one that has a name in common with a Western Sydney AFL club ( and who's colours are orange and black ), but what the heck. When in Rome.....

The game started at 1.05, so we decided to get there at noon, just to make sure. Because it was the Sunday of a holiday weekend ( Labor Day on the Monday ), a small crowd of around 20,000 was expected, given the locals would be out of town. However 42,000 fans turned up ( the capacity is 50,000 ), which I put down to the fact it was STAR WARS Day. Should have twigged when I saw a guy in a hooded cassock - thought it was a bit Da Vinci Code weird, but then when a Darth Vader and a couple of stormtroopers walked past, I figured people who go to the baseball in the U.S. are a touch weird.

                                                 May the Force be with you.

We settled in to our seats which were, if I say so myself, not too shabby - 5th level, beween batter and 3rd base. First things first, I headed off for hotdogs and beers. Unfortunately I copped the Asian girl with little English, who was first day on the job ! Our conversation made less sense than the aforementioned Abbott and Costello routine. I finally refurned to our seats with a polish dog, an SF dog, a glass of nondescript Pinot Grigio and a pint of nondescript beer for only US$32 !!! Never again will I complain about the food prices at the MCG.
The game started with the Brewers scoring in the first innings, but after that the Giants took over and won 15-5. Man of the Match was the 'Venezuelan Vigilante' Pablo Somebody who mashed the ball every time he came out to bat. He even hit one ball out of the stadium and into San Francisco Bay.

                                     
                                                   Could be Pablo or possibly R2D2

After 3 hours of watching 'my team' hammer the opposition ( who, I have to say, delivered light beer ), we headed back to our hotel in the unusually named Tenderloin District to relax before dinner.
And that's another story....

San Francisco - A city of 2 faces

It was somewhat of a shock to the Librarian when, after the salubrious ( if somewhat dated ) digs we enjoyed in Honolulu, we moved to the Post Hotel in Frisco. The fresh paint and spruce up she had recently received didn't hide the fact she was showing her age. The room was one third the size, the view was of the tenement next door, the lobby staff were uninterested

Biscuits and Blues

Just finishing off the electricals

Custard tarts ? Who would have thought !

but as least the water pressure in the shower was good ! Breakfast was a savoury croissant and a cup of drip filtered java at a nearby hipster café and then straight into a bit of retail therapy followed by a tea tasting and yum cha in Chinatown. The city was alive and vibrant and apparently full of tourists on this fine Saturday of the Labour Day weekend. We're getting the knack of keeping to the right hand side of the footpath as is the American way. For dinner we ended up at a nearby classy Italian restaurant - and enjoyed two local fish dishes - halibut and sole - and 2 glasses of Californian white.

"When the lights go down in the California town people are in for the evening". So sang John Stewart in his 70's hit 'Gold', but nothing could be further from the truth in SF. It was like a can had been opened disgorging buskers and beggars on each corner - the majority being African Americans (  nothing had changed since we were last here 17 years ago ). So we decided to combine a late night supper with the Tennessee tones of Eric Thomas and the Rhumboogies at the Biscuits and Blues Club......"I'm a crosscut saw baby, drag me across your lawn".

Vulcanology 101 meets Patriotism 103.

Our 2 big full day tours were to Pearl Harbor ( Tue ) and the Volcanoes ( Thu ). Pearl Harbor is only a 30 min drive from Honolulu and we opted for 4 separate tours on the day. We bookended the start and finish of WW2 for the U.S. with the USS Arizona Memorial ( sunk by the Japanese on that 'day of infamy' ) and a tour of the USS Missouri ( where the peace declaration was signed in Tokyo Bay ). In a way, Pearl Harbor was America's Gallipoli - and it oozes with patriotism. The Arizona Memorial - floating over the sunken wreck of the battleship - is their Shrine of Remembrance. 

And then to Hawaii ( the island ) from Hawaii ( the country ) to get a ground and aerial view of the active volcanoes. Underground lava flows are occurring, and we got to glimpse a couple of spots where the flow was exposed from our helicopter. The rest of our day was all about lava,lava,lava. I was surprised that none of the souvenir shops sold lava lamps, but the Librarian stocked up on treats from the chocolate factory and a couple of the obligatory ' I survived the volcano t-shirts'.

Mai Tai's, sand and surfboards - just about says it all !

TEN THINGS YOU MIGHTN'T KNOW ABOUT HAWAII :

1. Some idiot introduced mongooses to control rats in the sugar cane fields and guess what happened ? ( Sound familiar ? ).
2. Hawaiians love the Australian sense of humour - it could be that they are laughing at me not with me.
3. The local coffee producers are marketing a juice made from the extract of coffee cherries ( that's the red bit that encases the coffee bean ) blended with pineapple juice. It's being marketed as a super antioxidant ( SAO ). I've done my bit for the cause and developed a Ginsao. If you haven't tried it, don't knock it !
4. The Rainbow motif adorns the number plates of all vehicles but gay marriage is illegal.
5. The classic cocktail ' Mai Tai ' was invented in Hawaii, but can you get one using the local rum ? They might as well rename it the ' Usain Bolt'.
6. Every letter is pronounced in the Hawaiian language - I love hearing them say 'telephone'.
7. 5 bob each way ? In trying to appease both the Brits and the Yankees, the Hawaiian flag is the Union flag combined with the American stripes.
8. It is suggested that Pearl Harbour could have been avoided. The general consensus is that the person in charge of monitoring the radar that fateful day relayed the following message : " Don't worry. they're ours ".
9. The bastards stole our macadamias ( they're the largest producer of macadamia nuts in the world ).
10. When asked what Captain Cook tasted like, the spokesman for the Chief who took the first bite said : " a cross between chicken and fish ".

My brother in law ( who we're meeting in Canadia later in our trip ) was told by his travel agent not to fly with Hawaiian Airlines. Well piffle I say ! They left Sydney on time and arrived in Honolulu ten minutes early. The hostesses had accents that were more akin to those heard on Fargo, but they assured me they were Hawaiian. The food was attributed to a bigwig Thai chef from Honolulu - but was somewhat limited. The only meal choice was a spicy chicken and rice dish which had enough fresh chilli to send the heart rates and sweat glands of the uninitiated racing. Honolulu customs was under the pump, with 4 International flights arriving at the same time. After 20 minutes waiting on the tarmac, we stepped onto the ' land of the obese and the home of the free '. Clearing Customs was a doddle. Only needed the perfunctory ' four fingers right hand, thumb right hand, four fingers left hand, thumb left hand scan and face photograph. I was tempted to ask if they wanted me to 'put my left foot in, put my left foot out, put my left foot in and shake it all about ' but The Librarian gave me the evil eye so I asked for a smiley face stamp on my passport and headed to the baggage collection area. Now I have travelled to most of the world's continents, but this was the first time that I'd arrived at the baggage carousel and found that some airport do-gooder had taken all the cases off and placed them in lines next to the carousel. WTF ! Do they realise that our brains cannot decode bags that are not in circular motion when we have been programmed that way from 'in utero'. $40 later and we've arrived at our self contained apartment at The Ilikai Resort Hotel in Waikiki ( I'll say that again - WAIKIKI !! ). The entrance to the Hotel was featured in the opening credits to Hawaii 5-0. That probably means nothing to anyone under 30. It's situated adjacent to the Yacht Marina from where the Minnow left on a 3 hour Tour ( explanation for non- Trivial pursuit addicts at end of blog ). So we checked in to our room on the 21st floor - not overlooking the beach - but a more glitzy view of the city,  and headed off for some retail therapy. Apparently the Ala Moana Center ( notice that I've picked up the American spelling - I've even dropped my u's ) is the largest outdoor shopping complex in the world with 290 shops. I think we missed 3 ! Lunch in the Food Court was a shared Local Boys plate which comprised of luau pork ( slow cooked pulled pork ), pork pieces and salted butterfish cooked in taro leaves, marinated raw salmon with tomato and spring onion, poi ( a purple starchy extraction of taro root - porridge like and tasteless but the staple carbohydrate of the Pacific Islands ), and a cube of coconut tofu to cleanse the palate.  After another few hours and miles ( America remember ), we returned to WAIKIKI, chillaxed for a few hours and I headed of to the local Food Pantry to purchase supplies for dinner - sashimi grade tuna, seaweed salad, potatoes, carrots, Californian MC, American gin, tonic water and Haagen Dazs icecream. Nice job if you can get it ! Dinner on the balcony then we realised it was probably 4 in the morning the day after ( or was it the day before ? ) in Australia so we turned off the aircon - did I forget to mention it was a balmy 28 degrees C ( stuff Fahrenheit ) and it's been that temp every day since Jimmy Cook  asked the local chief : " what are you planning to put in that pot ?" - and wished a fond 'Aloha' to the Polynesian gods who watch over all visitors to the Hawaiian Islands.

* The opening scene of each episode of Gilligan's Island shows the Minnow leaving from the Waikiki Yacht Marina *