On September 8 we took the ferry from Vancouver to Victoria, on Vancouver Island with our bikes in tow. The ferry terminal was about 25k outside of Victoria, but a bike path leads right into the quaint city. We had high hopes of spending the afternoon touring the city, however, Martin kept getting flat tires. His patches wouldn't work and the spare tire already had multiple patches and blew threw them after only a couple minutes of riding. After we found a bike shop and purchased new tubes and patches we finally made it to the city. Victoria was impressive not only for the bike lanes but also because it had a quaint and historical feel. At the end of the day we found the brewery and some excellent IPA and nachoes!
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| On the ferry on the way to Victoria. The weather was amazing! |
Day two in Victoria wasn't an easy day. We stared out at the University of Victoria, where I was able to talk with the admissions office about some of their graduate programs. The school was impressive. After that we headed for the castle in Victoria and toured it's elegant rooms. Once we were finished with that we decided to bike downtown, however, that bike ride turned into a bike crash- with a parked car. I usually don't like to admit when I've done stupid things like this- but it was a hard earned lesson on biking the roads. No matter what the scenery is, always look ahead and watch for cars, parked or otherwise. Thankfully, all that happened was a very bruised knee, and ego.
We made it out of Victoria and on the ferry on the evening of the evening of September 9th. We crossed the border and were on US soil by the 10th. It was an uneventful border crossing, even with all our stuff! We went to Pikes Place Brewing Company in Seattle and headed for Portland the next day.
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| Portland is known as the Rose City, and for good reason. We visited the Rose Garden and were impressed by the wide range of roses and colors! |
Our arrival in Portland was a HOT one- it was 90 degrees and muggy! Our Portland tour guide and friend, Fernando, showed us what Portland has to offer. This city is so very different from east coast cities- it's super laid back! Their motto of "keep Portland weird" fits. Fernando took us on a 42 mile bike ride outside of Portland. The ride was a rail to trail system. It was cooler on day 2 and 3 in Portland, so biking was pleasant and exactly what we needed! After our bike ride we drove down the coast to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We were impressed at how many people were there! I guess the free samples draws in the tourists. Fernando then showed us some of the beautiful Portland Coast. We sat on the beach and watched the surfers and sunset. The Portland coast is exactly what I expected, beautiful!
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| Where we stopped at the Oregon coast was an old growth forest. I am impressed with the hugeness of the trees! |
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| Oregon Coast |
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| Oregon Coast, sunset and surfers! |
Yesterday, after a grueling 11 hour flight, we arrived in Seoul, with our bikes! My buddy from college, Henry, picked us up from the airport. A 16 hour time change is a little hard to adjust to, but we went out to dinner that evening at a traditional Korean restaurant. It was amazing and its been good to adjust to the Korean culture with Henry.
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