Day 12: G'day Mate!

Our hotel in Seattle was an extremely tastefully redone 'fraternal businessmen's club for successful participants in the Klondike Gold Rush', called the Arctic Club.  Despite having a lobby lined with headshots of 1920's businessmen, somehow the place was completely un-stuffy.

Bar at the Arctic Club has reasonable policies

We decided to have breakfast in bed (hippies are all about room service, right?).  Anyway it was a nice treat, followed by a trip to the gym.

We then took it easy until lunch, which was in an excellent sandwich shop named Bakeman's down the street.  Nothing fancy, but service was incredibly efficient and the food was outstanding.

Bakeman's Menu

Decor

Lovely pastrami and cheese sandwiches

After lunch is when the fun started.  We were about to head out, doing last minute organization of the car for our trip to Canada.  Water, check.  Coffee, check.  Music, check.  Snacks, check.  Passports, check.  Let me just look at the dates, I'm sure they're valid (dramatic music plays...)

My heart sank--my passport expired in March of this year.  This could have been a pretty big blow to our plans, if it weren't for some amazingly efficient federal workers in Seattle.  

The concierge directed us to the federal building, on a few blocks away.  It was easily identified by the protesters out front.  Unfortunately, it was not the right federal building... that was about half a mile away.  We found it, and after being sent back out to get a passport photo, I was able to file my papers.  They processed the same day, and I was able to pick up the passport at 3PM.  For such a boneheaded move, losing 2 1/2 hours really was not bad at all.

G'day mate!  On to Canada.

Traffic was kinda bad on the way out of Seattle.  I had forgotten what urban driving was like.  We made it, though, uneventfully to and through the border crossing and into 'the best place on Earth'.

Mile 2458: A pretty bold claim

Mile 2476: Arriving in the outskirts of Vancouver

Vancouver looks a lot like Hong Kong--the architecture is very similar

Due to our delay, by the time we got to Vancouver we were pretty hungry.  TripAdvisor came through with a recommendation for Tavola.  It was about a mile (or like 10 kilometers or something) away.  We walked over, through a tourist/shopping area that could have been in any major metro area.  

Tavola:  Burrata is a daily menu item

 If I was on the Newlywed Show and was asked what's Kate's favorite food, I would say burrata.  It is this creamy, much more flavorful version of mozzarella.  It is rare to find it even as a special, but this place has 3 varieties as regular menu items, and a daily special!  Kate was in heaven.

Vibe at Tavola: foodie, but friendly.  The owner brought one of our courses out, and chatted with  the locals at the next table throughout the evening.

The burrata special.  It arrived looking a lot better, honest.

Both the chicken and the pulled pork ragu (that's how they spelled it)  were amazing.

The owner was also an IPA enthusiast, and recommended this Oregon IPA.  Apparently they have an "IPA of the Day", which he goes and picks out daily.  Sometimes he gets excited and picks more than one, like yesterday.

Overall, an outstanding experience. 

Tomorrow: More Vancouver.