More pictures and videos from the concert a little later in our blog, but we'll start at the beginning of our 2 1/2 week trip.
It's a long flight from Florida to Seattle but we're always happy when we can spot Mount Rainier from the plane -- we're close!
Scott picked us up at the airport and we headed for the Bainbridge Ferry.
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| Great front and back seating for the best views! |
glide across the water for about 45 minutes and arrive in another world -- pine trees, fresh air, amazing water views -- a wonderful ride not to be missed.
Then it's a fairly short ride from Bainbridge to our "home away from home" -- the Poulsbo Inn and a comfortable suite consisting of bedroom, fully-equipped kitchen, living room with sofabed and bath. I think we've been staying at the Inn for at least 15 years and enjoy the roominess of the Inn and friendliness of the employees.
Our first stop the next day was the Hot Shots Java coffee shop in historic Poulsbo where Scott is a regular customer every morning. Wonderful lattes and even nicer employees greeted us each morning.
Of course, before going for coffee, we had to make our usual stop at Sluy's bakery across the street. Fabulous pastries for our breakfast treat and of course we had to buy several loaves of their delicious bread.
In the afternoon, Mary K's son, Tom, arrived in Seattle from his home in San Francisco to spend a few days with us. Tom hadn't been to Seattle before, so Mary K scheduled a few days of sightseeing for him, starting with a family dinner at the Firehouse in Kingston.
I must show off Scott's beautiful meditation candle sculpture! You have to see this glorious work of art in person!
The next day we headed to Bainbridge and had a quick coffee at Pegasus Coffee
before driving Tom's rental car on the ferry and into downtown Seattle.
We visited a few neat places around the city before our Savor Seattle tour Mary K arranged in the afternoon.
And proceeded on to our first stop - Daily Dozen Donuts.
stopping to smell the flowers....
and visiting lots of vendors with delicious taste treats for us.
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| Ellenos Greek Yogurt |
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| Los Agaves for tacos |
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| Beechers for cheese samples - love the cheese curds! |
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| Pike Place Chowder |
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| Etta's for Crab Cakes |
After spending a busy day in Seattle and taking another Bainbridge ferry ride, we drove to Kingston to take a look at the construction of Scott and Kristi's new home. In February, 2017 they were celebrating Kristi's birthday in New York only to receive a telephone call that there was a huge fire in their beautiful home in Kingston and it was a total loss.
They decided to rebuild and you can guess why after you see their beautiful view.
The new home has now been under construction for well over a year, but it's going to be a beauty, with an anticipated move-in at the end of this year. Here are a few photos of the new home which will be even more beautiful than the previous one.
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| Front |
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| Back - Facing Water |
We're looking forward to their "Open House" -- it's been a real ordeal for Scott, Kristi and the children!
The next day, Mary K and Tom made it a day of sightseeing marvelous Seattle.
Couldn't resist stopping at this very cool shop ..Totokaelo...for a quick look on our way to......
Marvelous sweets and coffee at lovely and chic General Porpoise
We strolled through Pioneer Square
And made our way to the Space Needle.
A quick walk through Post Alley to find a favorite....Rachel's Ginger Beer.
We ended our adventurous Mom & Son day with an absolutely delicious dinner at The Pink Door, a unique dining experience in beautiful surroundings ....difficult to find, but well worth the hunt...arriving just in time, before the restaurant was filled to capacity and the pink door closed!
As soon as we boarded the ship (at about 2 in the afternoon), our stateroom was ready -- inside was fine with us and this was one of the larger inside staterooms we've ever had.
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| Our Cruise Calendar! |
We were told that lunch was being served in the buffet (yes, included in the price) and it was varied and delicious.
We then took a little time after lunch to explore the ship which is older, smaller but very clean and beautiful.
That evening, we had our choice of dining in the dining room or the buffet. We chose the buffet again and the prime rib was wonderful.
We went to one of the outside decks to bid adieu to beautiful Seattle.
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| And, attempted to see Scott's new home and property as we passed. |
After dinner was Entertainment! in the gorgeous theater.
The singer was a 4 time grammy nominee, Cyndi Wheeler...
and she had lots of showmanship and a beautiful voice. Wonderfully enjoyable and...yes...also included in the price! Can you believe it?
We paused, on our way to the casino, to admire the admire the beautiful sounds of The Ocean Quartet.
The casino was open and we tried our luck, but quickly went on exploring the shops which were also open.
When we woke in the morning, we were in Vancouver, surrounded by a beautiful port, condos and office buildings.
We even enjoyed breakfast on the ship before disembarking!
If you follow our blog, you know that the first thing we do when arriving in a city is to find the Hop On Hop Off bus. We didn't have to go far in Vancouver - the kiosk was actually inside the port. We bought our tickets, walked outside and the bus was there!
We bought a 2 day pass which entitled us to 2 different routes -- the P route which heads to Stanley Park and then winds around the city -- and the C route which transported us through many different neighborhoods in the city.
We jumped on the P bus, headed toward a beautiful ride through Stanley Park, a monumentally awesome park, with miles of amazing and breathtaking sights of land and water!
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| Getting close to our hotel. |
This bus took us just around the corner from our hotel - the YWCA Hotel. An unusual name but a very interesting hotel with a great story behind it...and it's not just a hotel for women!
There were three reasons we chose this hotel after looking at Trip Advisor (as we usually do when planning our trips). The location near the Rogers Arena (where Elton John will be in concert), and, of course, the price. Vancouver is a very expensive city and this hotel fit within our budget. It was also refreshing to read that 100% of the profits of this hotel are donated to single women and children. We were happy to be able to contribute.
We entered a cheerful lobby with very friendly employees at the front desk.
And we loved the pillars in the lobby with tiles handmade by participants in their project.
Our room with private bath was one of the roomiest and cleanest in all of our travels.
We were just in time to shower and dress for the Elton John Concert at Rogers Arena, just a few short blocks from our hotel -- we were excited to say the least, especially when we put on our flamingo glasses and feather boas to celebrate the "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" concert.
This amazing entertainer sang 23 songs with no intermission and came back, dressed in a robe, for an encore of 2 more songs. A once-in-a-lifetime adventure for us!
Here is the Setlist for September 24, 2019 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
1. Bennie and the Jets
2. All the Girls Love Alice
3. I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues
4. Border Song
5. Tiny Dancer
6. Philadelphia Freedom
7. Indian Sunset
8. Rocket Man
9. Take Me to the Piot
10. Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word
11. Someone Saved My Life Tonight
12. Levon
13. Candle in the Wind
14. Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
15. Burn Down the Mission
16. Daniel
17. Believe
18. Sad Songs Say So Much
19. Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
20. The Bitch is Back
21. I'm Still Standing
22. Crocodile Rock
23. Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting
Encore
24. Your Song
25. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
After the concert, we decided to go to Frankie's....right next door to our hotel.
Great drinks and a delicious French dip sandwich....As we gobbled down a salad and sandwich, we both said -- at the same time -- "Did we forget to eat today?"
Late to bed for the two of us, but we were ready early in the morning for our second day of the Hop On Hop Off -- this time we grabbed the C bus around the corner. went past the Stadium near our hotel,
and drove through Chinatown....
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| Intricate dragons on the lamp-posts. |
We stayed on the bus and decided to get off at the Gastown District....lots of interesting little shops and restaurants. One of our favorite Vancouver neighborhoods, Gastown is named after Jack Deighton, a ship's sailor turned barkeep in the 1800's. Known as Gassy Jack because of his talkative nature and penchant for storytelling he was such a beloved character that he was honored with a Gassy Jack statue near where his saloon stood in Maple Tree Square.
Strolling through Gastown, we paused at another unique sight in this historic Victorian era district...a rare (only 6 in the world!) clock partially powered by a steam engine. Every quarter hour, the two ton steam clock shows off with whistling and shooting stem from it's five whistles, in it's version of The Westminster Chime. On the hour, it sounds a toot from all five whistles.
After finding shops where we found our souvenirs -- mainly an ornament for our Christmas travel trees -- we decided to take a little rest on a side street where we saw some sturdy benches, made to look like an ornate lidded box.
turdThen we noticed that there were some great stacks of these "boxes" displaying matching shoes!
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| What a great little shop! |
After a full day of sightseeing,
A look around Vancouver's largest shopping mall...Pacific Center...where our big indulgence was at Saje Natural Wellness Shop.
Let's take a rest and late lunch! We found a lovely restaurant, The Flying Pig
We always have our eyes open for architectural delights and this building was one of them!
Public Market (around the corner from our hotel).
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| Lots of construction throughout Vancouver; but, it didn't stop us! |
and Vancouver Public Library. 
We made a quick stop at Parq Hotel and Casino, which turned out to be ho-hum. We expected more so didn't stay long
The most exciting sight here was the Bentley outside the casino!
A little more sightseeing the next day...
We boarded our train and settled back for a relaxing and beautiful ride to Seattle!
What a way sightsee! 
The next day was Scott's birthday and we celebrated at the Loft in Poulsbo.
Karin and Mary K enjoying the party.
Before we left Seattle, we were able to have dinner with our favorite police officer, Valeria Nau of the Poulsbo Police Department. We'll never forget Val for finding the person who stole Dick's wallet a couple of years ago and proceeded to spend, spend, spend on his credit card. Val arrested the perp in 24 hours and caught them red-handed with plenty of evidence! ("perp"??...I guess I've been watching too much Forensic Files!)
We had a fabulous 2 week trip with the highlight being Elton John's Farewell Tour. Good luck, Elton and Farewell Yellow Brick Road!
