Speeding South

Brain cancer is...

Martinez

 ...heading home today.  Perhaps.

The train ride has been relaxing, as per usual.  Apparently Darrell and I slept through a 2.5-hour delay last night.  If we get in 2.5 hours late to LA, we'll miss the last train to Fullerton.  It's all part of the adventure.  Stay tuned.

In the meantime, we have some time to begin working with the photos from the trip.  Here’s a slideshow of our group’s evening escapades.  When we met for cocktails the first evening, boisterous Jeffrey the bartender hopped in for a selfie, and a tradition was born.

 Or Click here for the Evening Selfie Series video.

Drinking It Up

Brain cancer is...

...drinking up every last moment of an amazing trip and our last scheduled train ride.

With the gift of 29 months post diagnosis, we have built lots of memories through our travels.  It’s something like living in a series of paintings.  Every painting surprises us with its unique beauty, and when we live through so many paintings, we begin to sense the patterns and structures across the images.

First, we Ubered to the station in a white Prius.

That was only fitting because we always seem to Uber in a white Prius.

Second, Darrell was looking pretty sly at the beautiful King Street Station, as per usual.

Third, as we boarded, we met three Amtrak crew members we know from past trips.  How wonderful. But one lost her husband to cancer last month. Teary hugs.  We are all in this life together, aren’t we, Team D?

 Fourth, at lunch we met yet another couple enjoying life’s adventure.
 

Shirley and Charlie flew up to Seattle from the Hill Country in Texas just for the train ride.  It seems to be all about the ride, maybe?

Fifth, there are so many great water views that I need to put my camera down.

Old Town Tacoma

Cowlitz River (Hmm. Trusting my phone's GPS.)

Vancouver WA

Water has been such a part of our lives for the past couple weeks that (a) I have way too many photos and (b) it takes some time to prepare to live without water views...for a bit.

Clearly we need to get another trip on the books. 

Drinking it up.

(Signing off from Portland, where we posted pics instead of getting in some steps.  Internet, we love you.  See you in LA, Team D.)

Sleepy in Seattle

Brain cancer is...

...resting up before completing the journey home.

The three couples went their separate ways today to journey back to So Cal.  Our own journey required us to rise with the sun, above, at 4 a.m.  

We enjoyed the Amtrak Cascades train ride from Vancouver BC to Seattle WA.

The above pic (near Surrey BC, a bit north of the CA/US border) captures one view of the amazing waterside scenery.

Our luggage looked well traveled at the Seattle baggage claim.

Donna, your gift for my retirement, the green G tag, saved us by setting our little black wheelie bag apart from the masses of little black wheelie bags.

After checking in, we hoofed it (sorry!) down to the Seattle waterfront for a final taper seafood lunch at the Fisherman.  Here's the view from our table:

Curt says that we travelled all the way to Alaska to see whales, bears, and eagles, but Darrell and I had to travel back to the Lower 48 to see the above animal, named "barge cow" by Christine.

Why is Seattle all up hill, after we are fat and happy with a great meal?

Darrell calls this staircase "the death stairs, or the stairs that cause death." 

We made it up the stairs and are holed up now on the 24th floor of the Hilton Seattle, resting before heading back to the Amtrak station tomorrow morning. 

Today is the first day since embarking that we are not getting in at least five miles.  Tough.

See you soon, So Cal!

Our Grand Finale

Brain cancer is...

 ...soaking up every last minute together.

Tomorrow the three couples go our separate ways.  Tonight we had a great last dinner together, at the Lift.  In fact, the dinner continues.*  

I just happened to have my computer handy at dinner because I was completing photo transfers so each couple had every other couple's photos.  Thus I could post a photo in the moment.

You can imagine the conversation as we reflected on the past 9 or 10 days together.  How did it pass so quickly?

Darrell and I head back to Seattle on the train tomorrow. 

Thank you, dear friends, for enjoying this trip with us, physically or virtually.

*Two side notes: First, my seat as I blog is about where the photographer stood to take the photo, above, so my view is the same as yours, minus people.  Second, some of us can hear the revelry from the Lift from our open sliding doors in the Westin's Tower where we are staying, nearby.)

Sleeping on Shore Tonight

Brain cancer is...

 ...back on dry land.

We left our Silver Shadow ship when requested (repeatedly) to do so this morning in Vancouver, where we then checked in for a couple days to complete the post-cruise transition period.  (The view from our room is above.)


This is our first time in beautiful Vancouver, where the weather is smiling upon us yet again. We are staying near the huge Stanley Park, so we walked along the Sea Wall, visited the Vancouver Aquarium,

 had lunch (Tapering?  Yes.)

and appreciated the juxtaposition of trees, boats, and buildings.

Dinner was at the Keg and we are turning in early for one more day in Canada, eh?

Thanks for enjoying the trip with us, Team D.

Troubles in Victoria (Not!)

Brain cancer is...

...finishing a day in Victoria, British Columbia.

The commute to breakfast was tough:

Not!  We ate roasted peaches and omelets in our suite.  I suffered (not!) through a massage and facial.  

Lunch on deck was also troublesome.

Not!  Next we headed ashore and enjoyed tea at the Empress with Beth and Geoff, as we did with Curt and Barb on an earlier trip.

The weather today was wretched.

Not!  All in all we barely survived Victoria.  Not!

Still to come:  Dinner, where the topic of conversation is going to be our plan to taper off of our million-calorie-per day diet back to reasonable eating plans. (Not?)

We disembark in Vancouver tomorrow.

Love you, Team D!

Speeding Southward

(Updated 7/18/18 with photos.)

Brain cancer is...

 ..a little bit sad.

Today everyone slept in...in order to prepare for another 2 or 3 hour meal wherein we eat way too much and solve the problems of the world.

Updated 7/18:   We'll spare you from many food photos, but you've got to see the cappuccino.  (We can drink a lot of cappuccino in a three-hour meal.)  Our server told us that the baristas spend a week training in Malaysia on how to pour the milk into the coffee to make these beautiful beverages.

We also got in some miles and worked out at the fitness center.

The six of us enjoyed our final canapes. 

Then Andi and Darrell enjoyed pairings with the Sommelier. 

Next we all ate more than we wanted to at The Restaurant with Wendall, who is evil.  Below is our favorite table, Table 12.

We ended the night by watching the sun set off, aft, losing at Name that Tune, and dancing to life and to friendship.

Our last cruise day is tomorrow, at Victoria.  We are sad that Alaska is behind us. But we are happy for what's to come.