San Francisco

Our final stop saw us return to San Francisco to stay with Ian and Hong Mei in San Ramon (35 miles east of San Francisco - past Oakland and keep going).

On the first day we headed to Alameda to get the ferry to San Francisco.  It's a great view as you head across the Bay towards the SF Ferry Terminal on Embarcadero.  Then on to Fisherman's Wharf.

San Francisco

New York City

A short flight south from Burlington VA took us to Newark Airport NJ followed by the airport train to Penn St station NYC.

Nik and Tanya live in a great little apartment literally on the south side of Central Park.  A terrific location for playing tourist.

First stop the Metropolitan Museum to see the Egyptian Galleries and an incredible exhibition on Chinese inspired Western fashion.

Vermont

When Paul worked for Object Design, many years ago, he got to know Lauren who now lives in Vermont, not far from the Canadian border, and only 3 hours from Montreal.

So we boarded the bus and headed south, across the US border to Burlington Airport where Lauren picked us up and drove us home to the, wonderfully named, Mad River valley where she lives with her husband Geoff.  It's a very alternative place so I'm not sure if mad refers to the river or the inhabitants!  The Vermont countryside lives up to its name (Vermont is French for green mountain).

Vermont with Lauren and Geoff

And it turns out that Portland has a rival in the beer making stakes.  I carelessly mentioned that we'd had some great beers in Portland and realized immediately that these were fighting words.  Vermont also prides itself on its many microbreweries.  The Saturday night Lauren and Geoff proved it by taking us to see their friends who throw an annual party in their barn - as you do.  They also play in a band.  Several local beers were on tap.

Barn Night

Montreal

Next stop Quebec and Montreal.  We stayed in a Days Inn close to Chinatown and Old Montreal.

Place Jacques Cartier Old Montreal

Old Montreal and the Old Port

Coincidentally it was their Pride week and we stumbled across a free open-air concert on our first night.

Fierte Montreal

Toronto and Niagara Falls

The only place Wiwat had definitely wanted to see on the trip was Niagara Falls, which fortunately is an easy day trip from Toronto.  We flew in Monday night intending to go up the famous CN Tower for Dinner with a View.  We had arranged a booking and Dan, a work colleague, was set to join us.  Sadly our flight was delayed due to appalling weather so not only were we too late, the cloud was so low we wouldn't have seen a thing.  Fortunately Dan took us to an excellent Japanese Restaurant instead.

Next day we were up early to join our minibus tour of a certain Waterfall.  Having been to the US falls many years ago, I can agree with those who claim the Canadian side offers a better view.  The river is flowing north when it goes over the falls so looking towards them from the Canadian side is just a much better angle.

We took the Hornblower (tourist boat) right to the base of the Canadian falls for the full experience.  Fortunately we got there early because the queue for tickets is a joke.  Massive great queue and two people serving.  They give you the sexy pink macs that Wiwat is modelling to keep dry, they mostly work.  Certainly I was a lot drier than when I did the Cave of the Winds walk along the base of the US Falls many years ago - stepping in the shower with my clothes on would have been drier! And their macs are a tasteful shade of neon yellow.

Niagara Falls

Calgary and the Candian Rockies

Next stop Calgary to stay with Jo's sister Cecelia and their mum.  Jo had flown in a few days before so she and Cecelia met us at the airport.

Cecelia very generously took us north and east into the dry plains of Alberta to a place called Drumheller, famous for its many dinosaur fossils.  The area is riddled with small canyons and home to the  Worlds Largest Dinosaur (25m high in pure fibreglass) and, more seriously, the Royal Tyrell Museum.  Wiwat is a huge dinosaur fan so this was a perfect birthday treat.


We spent the weekend driving along highway 93 between Banff in the south (about 130km from Calgary) and Jasper (300km to the north) and then back again.  It is an amazing drive and took us past lakes, waterfalls and even an icefield with a permanent glacier (which is sadly much smaller than it used to be 100 years ago).

Portland USA

First stop on our second 2015 holiday was Portland, Oregan, USA to visit Neil and Robin.  This was Wiwat's first time anywhere in North America.