Over the last couple of months, I pondered taking the family on a late-fall trip to Montreal and Quebec City (trying to stay within the scope of my earlier rant regarding those who ignore travelling within Canada). After some conceptual planning, though, I realized there would be a monumental number of things to bring along on the plane to travel with our almost-a-year-old, and the cost of flying to anywhere in eastern Canada from Calgary (Seattle to Boston is less than half the price of Calgary to Toronto, for example) was not meeting my preferred joy-to-value ratio for travel-related, capital expenditures.
So, I have rejigged everything over the last couple of weeks and now intend to head west. I`m thinking the east will be a better visit in the spring, when we`ll at least have nicer weather to enjoy after the airline rape.
Our rough itinerary is below:
November 11 - embark on a leisurely 4 hour drive to Coeur d`Alene, Idaho, where we will spend the night (and probably visit Costco).
November 12 - head over to Bellevue, Washington (adjacent to Seattle, and another 4.5 hours of driving) for a couple of days to hit up the Lego Store, Seattle Premium Outlets, and the Museum of Flight (I`m looking forward to this, having done the sort of similar Boeing Factory Tour back in 2009). Hopefully, we can get most of our Christmas shopping done south of the border.
November 14 - make our way up to Victoria, BC for another couple of days. Will visit my cousin and do some wandering around downtown.
November 16 - drive over to downtown Vancouver and spend a couple more days eating copious amounts of sushi and ramen.
November 18 - start the trip back here, stopping in Osoyoos for a night to split up the drive.
While I really dislike the fact that we`re heading through the US, it will bring a welcome change of scenery over the ol` 12 hour, single-lane, wind-fest that is Highway 3 (not to mention 40% cheaper Lego prices).
Should be a pretty good trip; with any luck, I will be able to report in as we make our way there and back.
As good as done
20 hours ago
