Travelogue: July 20-31, 2022

A planned, yet somewhat out-of-the-blue hankering for some immersion into city life led Carol and I to Seattle, WA and Victoria and Vancouver, BC. For the record, more my request than hers. We've visited these cities before but this trip allowed for a deeper dive with three nights in each place and easy walking distance to all three city centers.

Our accommodations in each city couldn't have been more varied. From Pop Art and mid century modern in Seattle to a small waterfront condo in Victoria ending with a comfortable, older hotel suite in the rainbow district of Vancouver.

Travel Notes:

• Seattle's impressive Olympic Sculpture Garden is flat-out a 'do not miss' destination situated within a contemporary based park with sculptor giants like Calder, Di-Suvero, Serra exhibited. Not sure how we've missed it in earlier visits?
• If you're a fan of the REI brand and their products, the flagship store in Seattle was beyond impressive. An outside park with waterfalls surrounded the store and the massive post & beam interior featured their own in-house WA State ranger station!
• Victoria's downtown is a gorgeous mix of old and new with most of the visible construction centered around restoration projects vs. new construction. A refreshing site to see.
• We managed our Covid precautions by masking indoors, eating exclusively outdoors and social distancing. No doubt the diceest time was our last day working on our way through the Seattle's packed SeaTac airport.) Tip: don't fly home on a Sunday morning in summer
• The entire Northwest along with British Columbia were experiencing hotter than normal temps our entire trip. Seattle set a record for 6 consective days over 90f./32.2c. but being around water in all three cities, seemingly made the temps manageable.