Tour Guide Courtney at Sacre Coeur

Tour Guide Courtney explains the long-running rivalry between Paris and the citizens of Monmartre

Seattle Day 0 – The world’s biggest building

After we left the Clarkes, we drove down the I5 to the biggest building in the world (by volume), the factory where Boeing manufactures (or, more accurately, assembles) its wide-bodied aircraft, the 747, 767, 777 and 787. We’d booked a 2pm tour and needed to be there 25-30 minutes before. We got there 15 minutes before and remembered to leave (almost) all of our electronic devices in the car as they are strictly forbidden on the tour.

I’d missed my phone which was in a different pocket from the other stuff (iPod, Android, Netcomm Router etc) and by the time I found it it was too late. I ended up taking the battery and the sim card out and doing the tour with the constant threat of detection, expulsion and disgrace. Thomas had seen me disassemble the phone too, so he was nervous for me. Fortunately, we were undetected and could complete the tour.

The tour itself is pretty impressive. It starts with a video introduction to Boeing and then it’s straight on the bus to go out to the factory. The start point is different from the last time I went as they’ve built a visitor centre and exhibition (called the Future of Flight) specifically since. The bus takes you to the entrance to the first 747 hanger and after a short walk and a ride in a freight elevator you’re on a mezzanine level overlooking a giant space in which half a dozen 747-8 aircraft in various stages of construction look pretty small. The guide walked us through some fun facts and then ushered us out to the bus again to look at the 777 and 787 lines.

The planes have a large sign on them saying who they’re being built for and we saw the 90th 777 for Emirates on the line! The 787 line is even more impressive. Because of the system Boeing use for prefabricating parts and bringing them to Everett (in a fleet of four custom-built modified 747s called Dream Lifters), a 787 only spends 3 days on the assembly line! We saw ANA’s 13th, 14th and 15th 787s on the line in addition to about 3 others which I think means two off the line a day! Of course, at the moment, all those planes are currently sitting on the ground with ballast hanging off their wings while they wait for their engines.

We drove back from the factory and then spent an hour or so in the future of flight exhibition where the kids designed their own plane which they then had printed on a shirt. Dunno why the big companies take so long to design a plane. Thomas and Courtney got theirs finished in less than half an hour.

We set off again, this time with the aid of the GPS towards “Cliffy’s” place. My mate Michael Kleef moved to Seattle from Perth about 3 years ago with his family and we’d organised to have a BBQ.

When we finally got there (via an aborted attempt to get some wine at the local shopping centre) we were greeted by some cool chalk art.

The Kleefs were sitting on the front porch waiting patiently for us and we quickly started the process of catching up and getting reacquainted. Courtney and Dana got on really well and of course Thomas and Jordan disappeared to the XBox room.

We had a great time chilling on the back lawn and then Kleefy, Thomas and I went down to the local shopping centre to pick up some drinks and nibbles. We returned victorious with our prizes in tow and sat back outside while an amazing feast was prepared for us (our 4th home-cooked dinner in a row on this trip!).

Well fed, well watered and well entertained, we finally said our goodbyes and navigated downtown to our hotel. All was well until we got there and discovered that there were only 2 smallish beds and it was going to be up to 30 minutes to get a rollaway brought up. By this stage we were tired and grumpy and sadly some snapping happened. The beds all ended up being pretty comfortable though and everyone fell asleep pretty quickly in the end.

The last post

This may not end up being timed as the very last post on the blog, but it is my final one for our trip, or at least I’m writing this on the plane on the way home, so it seems fitting that it should be the last one.

Far out, we have had an amazing time. I never imagined in my wildest dreams it would be so good. I expected to be an exhausted, frustrated tourist, constantly struggling with a foreign language in a foreign city, without any of the comforts of home, without knowing anything about travelling, and trying to enjoy what should be a wonderful experience but really just wanting to be at home.

What I did not expect was to be blown away by all the learning we did in each city, to be able to drink in new landscapes and old architectures, and to have such a wonderful time meeting up with friends and family. I didn’t expect to see the kids have such a great time, and to watch Thomas and Courtney’s relationship find a new level, one that teeters on the edge of tolerance and almost sometimes even spills over into friendship.

Andrew and everyone else I know told me I would get into it, and I did. So thank you to all my beautiful family and friends who assured me up until the very last minute that it really would be good. You were right.

Goodbye Disneyland

A very lovely final day to top off an amazing trip. There was only a very slight hitch this evening when our shuttle (which we had booked and paid for online) didn’t turn up to take us to the airport. We then had to call a cab and even though she told us the fixed price was $95, she insisted on a 20% tip when we got there. What an interesting culture – to charge a compulsory fee and call it a tip.

Anyway we began our day by running late once again and checked out an hour later than we could have. Oh well, doesn’t matter, it was good the kids could sleep until 8:15 or so, after their very exhilarating but late night. Our tickets entitled us to a ‘Magic Morning’, which meant that we could have entered the park one hour before the official opening time and take advantage of no queues. We were going to do this, until we found out that the park opens at 8am. We dislike queues, but not that much.

Everyone had a ride they wanted to do, so our day was pretty much structured by that. The first one was Thomas’ choice: the Finding Nemo submarine voyage. This was totally gorgeous, just like all the rides here. We had to wait about 70 minutes for it, despite the advertised 45 mins. Apparently the subs broke down for a while just before we got on one. We passed the time by chatting to an Australian family just in front of us – dad Paul and kids Harriet and Oliver, with whom we got on with really well. You know you’ve waited a long time in a queue when you get to the front and say there’s 7 people in your party instead of 4.

One thing we hadn’t planned was the ‘A Bug’s Life’ 3D movie, and this was really cute and fun. They make it feel like there are bugs scuttling under your seat at the end.

We finished off with It’s a Small World, and Courtney shed a few tears. I was planning to cry but ended up being too happy. Disneyland has that effect on people!

Once we were at the airport we sailed through check in – yay, they had tickets for us! – but security was a real pain. Why did we even bother packing? They scanned and re-scanned, even though we had clearly laid everything out for them. Americans.

Finally we were through and  – yay again – all four of us were allowed into the First Class lounge, where it was just like the normal Qantas club in Sydney. Gosh I’m a snob now! But it turned out that the food is actually much, much better. Thomas noticed that there was blanched asparagus on the buffet menu and he alerted me to this fact straight away. Sweet boy. They also brought out platters of noodles, rice, teriyaki chicken and salads, so we had a very good dinner before boarding the plane.

Once on, we discovered that we had pretty good seats. Row 63, with no-one behind us, and on the A380 you can still recline. Also a different entertainment setup so not only could we stretch our legs out properly, we could watch and listen to stuff immediately. But the absolute highlight was seeing Thomas so excited about Skycam, which I have to say is pretty cool. We all watched our own plane take off.

I am torn between going to sleep and watching as of the hundreds of movies available. I am not exaggerating, there are literally hundreds, including the Best Movies (Oscars) from this year back to 1975!

2nd day in Disneyland – even more magic

I am SOOO glad we didn’t decide to go to Disneyland at the beginning of our trip. What a way to end off! And we still have tomorrow, to go to all the things we missed/want to do again.

But this evening ended with a show to end all shows – World of Colour. OMG. It is the best thing we have ever seen, ever.

I need to start at the beginning (a very good place to start ). We actually took more than a little time to get away this morning. We supplemented the paltry hotel offerings with coffee, bagels and bananas from downstairs. I say ‘supplemented’ rather than ‘replaced’ because I actually did use some toast and butter.

I then did some washing and drying in the hotel laundry. Just $2 per load. This is the cheapest washing we have done on our trip. Meanwhile the kids were arguing about who got to use the Android and it was hard to get them out the door. Can you believe it?. Only my family could possibly argue over devices when we are about to go to DISNEYLAND for the day!

Once we finally got there I ran to get new splash mountain passes, Courtney got a set of trading pins, then we went over to California Adventure Park to get Fast passes for World of Colour and a ride we’d had recommended to us called ‘Soarin’ over California’. This completed our duties in the Adventure park for a while, so we went back to Disneyland but first I went back to the hotel to rescue the clothes out of the dryer (about a 40 min round trip with lots of running. All exercise welcome at this point, due to the aforementioned tight jeans).

When I returned I couldn’t find them, at our designated meeting spot, even though I got back in record time. I had no credit in my phone, and just had to keep looking around. Then I noticed my phone was connecting to a wireless network called Coatsy Jnr… so I knew they were close by!!! I eventually found them in the shady spot. Courtney had passed some time queuing up to have a photo with Minnie. There’s ALWAYS a queue for these things, very cute.

By the way, Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth. They pump out happy music from every speaker all day, and it’s impossible to be in anything but a happy mood.

Thomas decided that he also wanted to get some trading pins. This investment was SO worth it – it kept them happy and occupied for the next 2 days. There are all these cool rules and trading etiquettes to follow. I also thought Courtney needed some Minnie ears – since everyone else in the park seemed to wear them. Seriously.

After this we headed off to Splash mountain and got some lovely fresh fruit on the way. All was good until we passed the actual ride to get in the queue. C was getting cold feet (and they were to get even colder) and Thomas was joining in. We convinced them both to come on the ride with a promise that if they hated it we’d never make them go on anything again. I was pretty sure they’d love it.

Well, they hated it. We also got very very wet. At the end Courtney was still crying, Thomas was mad, Andrew was trying to keep up his spirits and all of us were soaking… but I had a terrific time! I was hot and needed to cool off, and I love those rides! Plus I even remembered it from when I was 12 years old!! So afterwards I was in a great mood and gave them lots of cuddles and gently ushered them over to the Winnie the pooh stand.

On the way to our next ride, we saw that there was zero waiting time for Jungle Cruise, so we hopped on again. We had a different guide and slightly different jokes. Then the kids went on Autopia – a simple go-kart-ish sort of ride, and this seemed to restore their moods. They have been earning HEAPS of nice points and sending us broke!

By the time we eventually had some lunch in toon town,  it was nearly 4pm! Club sandwiches/salad for us, hot dogs for kids. We have been very impressed at being able to eat healthily in Disneyland. I was expecting to have to live on hot chips for 3 days.

Kids were having such fun trading pins that we bought them another set of 7 pins each. They get to accost staff members to trade (most staff members have them) and the answer is always ‘yes’ to a trade request. Cool.

We got stuck going behind the parade trying to get out to go back to Adventure park for our Soarin’ ride, so we heard the Mary Poppins ending 4 times! This was enough! (Actually just once was enough)

I ended up going on the Soarin ride on my own, because we hadn’t read the ride description when we got the tickets, which cautioned those who suffer from a fear of heights or from motion sickness not to ride. But when I came out I convinced the kids to come back with me, because it really was so fantastic, and assured them it was just a gentle floating version of Track Attack at Questacon in Canberra. They loved it. (Phew.)

We hung around trading pins, having ice cream, tasting churros (disgusting) and watching the Tron dance show. This park seemed boring compared to Disneyland, but to be fair it is still under construction. I then went for my second lot of exercise back to the hotel to get jumpers etc, met back in Disneyland for the college band. It was fantastic and Courtney even featured in it for a moment. I’m very glad the video camera didn’t run out of battery, it was flashing red at me the whole time.

At 8pm we went over to Adventure park, thinking we would have a restaurant dinner and then queue up for World of Colour. But there was a HUGE queue to get in – I guess everyone had the same idea – so we got a quick chinese dinner and although we turned up at the allotted time we, seemed to be back of queue when we returned, and had to stand up for SOOO long. We thought we wouldn’t get a good spot but… we did! We were told not to try for the front because you get really wet. So we went further back and boy was it fab. So much standing and really stiff calves – but worth it!

It finished at almost 11pm and once again we had a ridiculously late night. But this is going to work in our favour as we try to adjust to Sydney time when we get back. The kids won’t get tired until about 4pm, and we’ll only need to keep them up for an extra couple of hours the first night or two. They’ll . In fact I’m very tempted to keep them in that time zone long term!

Disneyland is magic

We have just come home on a big high from seeing the fireworks and ‘Fantasmic’ show at Disneyland. It was completely all-out, full-on, Hollywood, Disney and over-the-top-American, but it was SOOOOO fantastic! A brilliant ending to a day that started out a bit dodgy (the breakfast).

We didn’t get to the park until after 11am, and it’s now 12:15am, so that’s a pretty good day of entertainment! It was non-stop for me and Courtney, but Andrew and Thomas went home for a short siesta between 4 and 6pm.

This will be of no interest to anyone except us but I’m going to list all the things we saw/went on/waited for:

• Toy Story 2 laser ride (mainly cos only 20 min wait time, but turned out to be really fun!)
• Store Command shop – are we going to have to go to a souvenir shop after every ride?
• It’s a Small World – mum now I know why you cried so much when you went to see this without us
• It’s a Small World shop – – yes it seems we are
• Lunch – expensive but fresh and yummy at Bengal BBQ in Adventureland. Saw bananas for $1.79 each plus tax. Still cheaper than Sydney!!!
• Got fast passes for Indiana Jones – return time 5:50pm
• Jungle Cruise – very clever ride, cute ‘dad jokes’ from the guides, no shop attached
• Disney Train – could walk around whole of Disneyland 15 times in the time it took to get on the train. Did 1.5 laps of park, very pleasant. 
• Monorail – ah, the Coateses rule again. We had waited for a while and progressed in the queue only to just miss out on the next ride, but of course this meant we were now at the front of the line. Upon watching the people who had gone through, we noticed that some people waited at the nose of the monorail for a separate door to open up – this was the driver’s compartment, but it had seats. So when the next monorail came we got to sit up the VERY FRONT. Oh boy was Thomas happy. 
• Got Fast Passes for Splash Mountain  – return time was 9:45 – 10:45pm!
• A&T went home for sleep at about 4pm
• C and I watched the 4pm parade – fantastic. Very clever sound. The parade takes around 15 minutes to pass any one spot, but more than 30 mins to complete the whole route. So the music changes according to where you sit, and the dancers stay in time the whole way. Amazing costumes, choreography, props, music, everything.  
• Apart from Pirates of the Caribbean we did girly stuff incl. castles and carousels 
• A&T got back 6:30, watched first bit of parade again with them
• Indiana Jones ride – broke down while we were in queue! – took 50 minutes to complete, Fast Pass not exactly fast in this instance 
• Dinner – camp food, in fact not as good as some camp food I’ve had. But found out where to sit for Fantasmic
• Got spots for fireworks, got advice for this. Getting good at asking staff members what to do
• Chatted with American woman next to me. She said they had been going all day and didn’t have lunch until 4pm. I thought that was crazy, little did I know what was to happen the next two days!
• Everyone (in my family) on devices while waiting
• Fireworks very good but the highlight was the Castle being fantastically lit up, basically a light and colour show with the castle as well as Tinkerbell and Dumbo flying over it!
• Made a run for Fantastmic seating as soon as it was finished – us and 5000 other people. Got held up while they cleared out 9pm show. Then everyone did that fast panicked walking where you’re really running but trying not to show it 
• Bit uncomfortable sitting so ended up standing, which was fine because we were at the back of the section where everyone was sitting on the ground, and it didn’t disrupt anyone for us to stand or kneel, so a perfect view for all of us – what a show!
• Also, what a night – amazing weather, clear and dry, no wind
• Too tired for Splash Mountain, past 11pm already!!!

Goodbye Seattle

I was going to add to the title ‘Hello Anaheim’ but we didn’t get there until 1am so I thought it best to concentrate on one day at a time. On our last day in Seattle we managed to squeeze in quite a bit. We were packed up and out the door by 8:15am, which is really easy when you’re awake from 4. Well, at least I was. We went down to Pike Place markets which is famous for the fish place which throws the fish. But we had arrived either too early or too late and didn’t see anything airborne. We did see some great fruit and even got to taste some Washington cherries and orange raspberries!

Breakfast in a nearby café was underwhelming. Courtney ordered a kids pancake dish that looked a lot better than it tasted:

When trying to pay for breakfast we found out that our card had no more money on it, so we spent the next little while trying to access bank accounts and transfer money. The TravelCard has been pretty good but a little unpredictable in terms of which currency it decides to use.

At 9:30 we hurried to our next destination – the Seattle underground tour, which taught us lots of things to do with toileting in the late 19th century in Seattle. This was really fun, and the guide was terrific! His name was Jerry and he told a great story, had good humour and good eye contact, as well as being able to elaborate on facts when asked questions. He has broken into the top 3! He really knew his stuff. We were sad to be out of cash and so couldn’t really give him the tip he deserved.

Our next stop was the hotel, to gather our bags and check out. Then we were off to the Space needle, as by now our habit of getting up high was becoming quite addictive. (Just realised that didn’t sound so good.) I think many of the spectators were very enamoured with the view, but since it was not some amazing old city like Prague or Rome, a city skyline with some pleasant looking water didn’t really wow me – well hey, I live in Sydney.

By now it was 1pm and we decided to have lunch on the Microsoft campus. It was really fun to see where Andrew goes every year, and he also showed us where he’s going to be staying when he returns next week (which we are NOT looking forward to ). We met up with Chuck, who used to be on the Sydney DPE team with Andrew, and his wife Pilar also popped in especially to see us! It’s been quite a few years since we’ve seen them so it was lovely to have a brief catch-up, and we did this in the Microsoft museum where the kids were more than occupied with all the stuff on display. We also visited the Microsoft store and marveled at all the merchandise. Andrew’s favourite line is that, believe it or not,  Microsoft is the second biggest clothing company in the world. Literally, you can believe it or not.

By now it was 3pm and we had many hours to kill before our flight to L.A. We decided to try our hand at some shopping, since everyone had told us how cheap clothing is in the US. Courtney and Andrew both needed new jeans, because Courtney’s are too short and Andrew’s are too loose! (Mine are now too tight, but not enough for me to acknowledge that I have to go up a size.) however our Wal-Mart and Westfield expeditions were fruitless and a bit boring. When Eastgardens is your second home it’s just not exciting to visit shopping malls  overseas, and certainly not after all the exciting stuff we’ve done. Perhaps if someone could arrange an interesting and innovative tour about the history of Westfield Shoppingtowns…

We headed off to the airport in plenty of time and dropped off the rental car with no hassles. But then came our next checking in dilemma! It seemed there were no actual tickets for us. Thank goodness Andrew had enough credit in his phone to call Frequent Flyer in Oz and sort some stuff out. Something to do with processing our booking 9 months after the event and an expired credit card. Hmmm… anyway this one only took 50 mins to sort out and then we were through security with – wait for it – minimal hassle! In fact, one of the women looked at our toiletries and our zillion snaplock bags and told me I was really organised! (which I enjoyed)

It was 8:30pm and we thought we should probably eat dinner, since it was still about 5 hours until we could go to bed. We had fairly decent fish and chips (kids) and caesar salads (us).

After a smooth plane ride and shuttle back to the hotel, we arrived at the hotel at 1am, and crashed!!!

Home Safely

We made it home this morning after a long and uneventful flight aboard an A380. Lots more posts to post, but for now thanks to everyone who’s been following our travels and thanks especially to all the people who made our trip so special.

Lynden Day 2 – Cutting the grass

Day 2 in Lynden was bittersweet. Sweet because we got to spend some more time with the wonderful Clarke family and bitter because we had to say goodbye to ‘Becca, Samuel, and Meg.

Sam and I went for a walk up to the other windmill in Lynden to find a cup of coffee and spent a very pleasant hour wandering up the street, lazing in the coffee shop over a moderately brew and wandering back again. We worked out that the trick is to order an extra shot of coffee in whatever we get and this makes it less insipid.

We had left Thomas blogging and when we returned we realised that we’d forgotten to bring him the hot chocolate we’d promised him. Sam walked back up the street while I did some packing and then I drove up to retrieve her. I’m sad to report that the hot chocolate probably didn’t warrant the extra effort.

We finished packing and checked out of our comfortable, if a little peculiarly configured room, with its bath in the bedroom, its bed in the lounge room and its two bathrooms, one with a shower and sink and the other with a toilet and sink.

The sinks themselves were pretty cool glazed pottery jobbies that reminded me of the mugs that my grandmother makes and loves.

We made our way back out to the Clarkes and were greeted by a small face peering through the window.

The family had prepared us a feast with home-roasted granola, fresh pancakes of a variety of flavours and a pile of diced fresh peaches. The coffee wasn’t bad either . It’s so much fun sitting around a table full of people sharing great food and generally enjoying each others’ company. We’re very fortunate to have such great friends.

After breakfast, the smaller children were keen to show me how flexible their faces are.

Pretty impressive huh?

Next was the bit I knew Thomas would be most excited about. Lauren had asked me whether Thomas had ever driven a tractor as they have a small one they use for cutting the rather extensive lawn. Josh went and got it out and gave a detailed safety briefing and then it was time for Thomas to have a go.

To say that he was happy would be an understatement. He had a grin from ear to ear and burned up and down the paddock while Sam looked on with some apprehension.

The lawn was somewhat shorter by the time we managed to pry his hands from the wheel.

Lauren has rigged a tyre swing from a large tree in the front of their house and the kids are pretty acrobatic and absolutely fearless on it. Meg in particular impressed me with her desire to go higher, faster and more upside-down.

Eventually it was time to say goodbye.

We set up the camera on a makeshift stand and managed to zoom out far enough to fit us all into the frame.

As we were about to drive out, Samuel came out to show us that he’d done what he’d been told and put some shoes on. No one had told him they had to be his shoes.

What a wonderful way to spend our first couple days in the US. I was so pleased to be able to introduce Sam and the kids to the family I look forward to spending time with each time I go to Seattle. I know they understand better why that is now. They’re fantastic.

Lynden Day 1 – Rockets and Railway Bridges

We were awake pretty early because of the new time zone (8 hours West of London) and Sam and I went for a walk up the main street of Lynden. Lynden is a Dutch town (Lauren tells me that there are people in the old-folks home who don’t speak any English ). There is a sign in the main street explaining how this came to be.

 

The windmill theme is pretty strong in the town. Here’s our hotel, the Dutch Village Inn.

We stayed in the room in the front, right on the corner, at the base of the windmill.

While we were walking, some ominous clouds started gathering.

And by the time Lauren arrived to pick me (and Thomas) up to go and collect our rental car, it had started to rain quite hard.

When we got to Bellingham airport, I had the option between a Hyundai Lantra or a Ford Mustang. I needed to fit the rest of the family in the car as well so I chose the Hyundai with some regret.

I managed to find my way back to the hotel to pick up Sam and Courtney and then managed to find my way out to the Clarke’s all while remembering to keep to the right and to do the correct thing at the weird thing called a 4-way stop.

We spent the next few hours getting (re-)acquainted

After a delicious lunch we set out to do something pretty cool – launch rockets. We drove just up the road to the local park and made our way through the woods to a paddock (or, as they say here, a field).

We’d prepped two rockets before leaving and the first of these was quickly on the launch pad.

Thomas got to launch the first one after a loud countdown.

These rockets go high.

Next it was Courtney’s turn.

The smaller kids weren’t enamoured with the noise as you can see.

Sadly, the second rocket got caught in a thermal that a bald eagle and a red hawk had been soaring in a couple of minutes earlier and failed to return to earth before hitting the woods we’d just come through. Despite a fairly comprehensive search, we were unable to find it and Emma was very gracious about having lost her rocket.

One more rocket, this time a 2-stage job and then it was time to pack up. Some of the kids found a cool table to hide under (apparently we couldn’t see them, but the camera never lies)

We popped home to the Clarke’s (a 30 minute exercise including the newest verb to be added to the Coates family vocabulary, to “Potty Up”), then it was off on our next adventure – walking along an old railway right-of-way across some cool trestle bridges.

The kids had a wonderful time picking their way across the sleepers, looking at the babbling stream 40 feet below. Sam and Mary Ann spent most of the walk deep in conversation while Lauren and I had our work cut out picking Salmon Berries for the little ones.

We finished the gentle stroll in about 75 minutes and returned to casa Clarke for a BBQ sumptuous dinner of chicken and salmon (my favourite) courtesy of our wonderful hosts.

We left Courtney for the night and drove carefully back to our windmill, tired and elated after another fantastic day.