I have a bucket list of sorts. It’s very long, and I keep adding to it.
I never cross anything off, unless I do it (or die – which ever comes first)
Most of the things on my list are simple and achievable
Some… not so much, like; ‘take a year out and run a marathon every month’ (who am I kidding?)
Ooh and here’s a good one; ‘participate in the Paris-Dakar Rally…’ (hahaha! My sixteen-year-old self was cute!)

Taking the train to Seattle has been on my list for a while now, I just hadn’t found the right moment to do it.
I tried once, bought tickets in a hurry, didn’t check and got stuck on an Amtrak supplementary bus service for close to eight hours thanks to a four hour wait at the border!
This time I made sure I was booked on a train; two trains go from Vancouver to Seattle daily –at 6:40AM and 5:45PM.
There’s also a morning and evening service northbound from Seattle.
For the morning ride out, I got to Pacific Central Station early enough to pick up my ticket, check in and go through US Customs.

The train pulled out of the station around 7:00AM, which was a relief because everyone I’d spoken to about Amtrak Cascades said to expect delays.
A  second customs check was done just before the US border, officers board the train and quickly inspect documents – the whole process took less than ten minutes.

It’s a very relaxing and lovely ride; I can’t imagine a more pleasant way to travel, except maybe if I’d splurged and gotten a business class seat…
The journey took four hours, and beats driving by far.
The train stops briefly at five stations between Vancouver and Seattle to pick up and let passengers off.
The scenery is spectacular, starts off with an amazing seascape when you pull into Bellingham, then there’re mountains, scenic farms and incredible clouds.
There’re more beautiful sea scenery, factories and ports when you get closer to Seattle.
The windows are wide and perfect for viewing.

There were a few things I didn’t like about the journey…
The ticketing process is confusing and bizarre; I don’t understand why you can’t print tickets online.
Instead you print a confirmation, get to the station and look for some guy walking around with a list, if your name is on the list; you show him an ID and get your ticket.
The strange thing is, there aren’t any signs or information on how this process works, so if this was your first time you’d have to ask someone or just stand around aimlessly until you figure it out.

Check-in and Seat assignment again was another disorganized exercise.
People join the line thinking this is where they pick up their tickets (why isn’t there a ticketing kiosk?).
There’s a second line to the side for business class (faster check in) but it’s not clearly marked so people think it’s just a faster moving line.
The check-in line is also slow moving partly because you get there before you find out you have to sign your ticket.
Maybe they were having an off day, and it usually runs smoother.

I think most of my short trips to Seattle will be by train from here on.
It’s comfortable and economical; the return trip costs less than $100.00.
It’s perfect and a little like how I imagined train travel, I pretend I’m traveling somewhere in Europe.
Next on my list for train journeys is the West Highland Line.

In the meanwhile I’m thinking up excuses to go to Seattle.

I take a lot of pictures.
Some might say I take too many pictures; which is ok, because I do say that sometimes too
I have three passions at the moment; photography, baking vegan treats and the third… well, let’s not get into that; I really don’t want to write long essays.
Here are more pictures (of me! yay…!), this time in black and white.

I love black and white photography and I’ve been doing some experiments.
There so much to learn, it’s beginning to look like a new passion.

A new beautiful passion.

I walk a lot, and apparently I live in a ‘walker’s paradise’ with a 97% walkable rating on Walk Score.
I went for a long, long walk one morning a couple of Saturdays ago.
I was gone for four inspiring hours and covered a little over thirteen miles.
I walked along the water from Vancouver’s West End to Jericho Beach

I recently attended a talk on creating walkable and bikeable communities with a group of passionate and intelligent folks.
I don’t really consider myself passionate or intelligent when it comes to these (new) healthy lifestyle communities.
I do have a simple theory that people who live within beautiful landscapes walk more.
Now, I don’t have science backing me on this but I’m willing to bet my tattered sneakers that beautiful environments equals more time walking or biking.

Here are a ‘few’ pictures from my walk… enjoy!

The Erickson was named for its architect; Arthur Erickson
It was the perfect morning for a walk, the sun was out and everyone was in a pleasant mood.
Lots of relaxing activities on the seawall, not unusual for a sunny Saturday afternoon

There was a special water display that morning in Yaletown, it’s one of the city’s Dedicated Fire Protection System .

The Stop – Charleson Park, False Creek

Kites on Vanier Park, volley on Kits Beach and the busy Burrard Inlet.

Kits pool and the city.

I didn’t have the heart to post these pictures when the weather was crappy.
It’s not as depressing now that we have comparable weather.

The Old Hastings Mill Store was built in 1865, and moved by barge to it’s present location in Point Grey in the ‘30s.
It’s now a museum. I’ve passed by so many times and keep promising myself I’d visit.

Sunny days are here!

I cheated and took the Burrard Bridge back downtown instead taking the seawall through False Creek.
Got home sooner to enjoy the rest of my Saturday.
Click here to play my walk, you know… just in case the pictures didn’t do it for you
Or you need proof that I did indeed walk thirteen miles.

I managed to catch the Macy’s Flower Show while in New York.

It combines two of my favourite things, shopping and flowers.

Held simultaneously during spring at Macy’s flagship stores in five cities, this delightful annual event has been charming shoppers for over half a century now.

The show uses a wide variety of flowers, plants and trees to transform the store into a beautiful and colourful floral fantasyland.

It’s a perfect start to spring; every inch of the first floor enchantingly covered with flowers – colourful tendrils flowing from out of reach areas.

Display cases were infused with exotic flowers; there were live birds, stunning tropical plants, topiary gardens and shades and shades of flowers from all over the world.

There were chandeliers with butterflies, whimsical airplanes, a giant hot air balloon garden and displays with giant vases made to look like fireworks… little pink fireworks.

This year’s theme was “Spring is in the air” – and it so beautifully was!

Aisle displays

Pinks…

These poor birds! Poor things probably suffered some sort of eye damage from all the camera flash (flash is evil!)
And you probably can’t tell from my smile what a long day this day turned out to be.

The people… they were everywhere.
You really can’t go to New York and complain about the crowds, that’s  like going to Paris and complaining about the wide usage of the French language!

Everyone loved the birds, the flash photography eventually got out of hand and the birds had to be covered up.

Quelle relief! I wasn’t mad at all.

Frankly, I can’t imagine the time and manpower it took to put all this together.

The displays were truly stunning, I’d have spent the whole day there but alas, I had other awesome places to go.

All the flowery colours…

Outside window display.

I went to church on Easter Sunday.

Well, I sort of went to church… my sister and I visited Trinity Wall Street.

We spent time at the church’s historic cemetery.

It was peaceful and nice to take in the calm, away from the busy and craziness of the city.

The church is amazingly beautiful! the gothic architecture somehow manages to fit right in with the skyscrapers of Wall Street.

The cemetery dates back to the 1600s, as old as the church itself.

I like the contrast here; a graveyard behind the American Stock Exchange building.

I’m sure if I tried hard enough I could come up with something clever and ironic.

Here’s my beautiful sister, whom I don’t feature enough here on the blog.

The steeple in it’s heyday back in the 1800s used to be the tallest point in New York city.

Oh, and we were in New York to celebrate my sister’s birthday!