Welcome to my blog. I document my adventures in travel, style, and food. Hope you have a nice stay!
All in Vacation
I'm in Portland this week so I can go to OSCON, the O'Reilly Open Source Conference. Melody came along so she could do some sightseeing while I'm at the conference, which I guess is only fair since for three years (two in Europe, one in San Francisco) she was in a conference for the better part of a week, time I spent playing tourist.
Our last full day in Vancouver picked up where we left off on the previous day's walking tour, then we worked our way towards Granville Island for lunch, followed by exploring the shoreline.
Our second full day of playing tourist consisted of going to the botanical garden and walking around the west end, including hitting the beach.
We both got a good night's sleep, and after grabbing breakfast, we were ready to start our day. The only thing we had planned for was doing a walking tour of Gastown and Chinatown, but we ended up also going to the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Vancouver Christmas Market.
We had the opportunity to purchase two-for-one Amtrak tickets, so Melody and I decided to make another trip to BC, Canada, this time to Vancouver. This makes the third vacation trip we've taken this fall, each for three or four nights. After having done long vacations the last few years, we chose to break it into smaller chunks.
Our last day had us driving from Port Townsend, along Hood Canal, then through Olympia with an impromptu visit to the State Capitol building.
Having seen many of the sites on the west side of the Olympic Peninsula, we set off towards Port Townsend to explore the north side.
After a tiring hike the day before, we did less strenuous hikes on our second full day, all around the La Push area.
Our first full day on the Olympic was dedicated to hiking along the Hoh River Trail.
Our second mini-vacation of the month is to the Olympic Peninsula, on the other side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Victoria.
Our last full day in Victoria included the Royal BC Museum in the morning and a walking tour of Old Town and Chinatown in the afternoon.
Our second day in Victoria centered around Butchart Gardens. We got up early enough to shower, eat breakfast, and head out to the bus stop. We decided to take the bus since the tours give you a couple hours at the gardens, and we figured we would want to stay longer than that.
Melody and I are on a quick trip to Victoria, BC. It's been about 25 years since I've been here, and longer for Melody.
Our last day in San Francisco was pretty leisurely, since the timing worked out that we didn't have to rush. That gave me some time for final thoughts.
We spent a large part of last Monday at UC Berkeley, and today was mostly spent at Stanford. Campus Mondays, I guess.
This was Melody's last day of the conference, after which we went down to have dinner in Saratoga with my mom and Mr. and Mrs. Evans.
Another conference day for Melody, and a day on the road for my mom and me.
Friday was Melody's second conference day, and my mom arrived in the afternoon, so I went down to pick her up.
Melody's conference started today, and I took the opportunity to head out on my own. She did have some free time in the afternoon, so we took a guided walk on Nob Hill, then went to the conference dinner (which was really dinner on your own in one of a series of restaurants).
The day started with going to the Palace of Fine Arts and ended with a play near where we're staying.
