Fun time sailing San Francisco Bay!

We went sailing yesterday!

There are a lot of boat tours that do San Francisco bay, but we wanted to do something a little different. A sailing company called Adventure Cat Sailing Charters does catamaran tours of the bay, and we've never been sailing on a catamaran style vessel.

What a great time!

Doing Some Time on Alcatraz

Yesterday, we did some time on Alcatraz. And, we saw somebody who really did do time on Alcatraz!

It was another great day in San Francisco, and we spent about four hours touring the island of Alcatraz. This island in San Francisco Bay is best known because of  the inescapable federal prison that existed there between 1934 and 1963. We're going to tell you a little about the best way to do this tour. And, it is a tour that you really should do some day!

The Streets of San Francisco

I was a young teen when this 1970's series starring Karl Malden and a very young looking Michael Douglas was popular. So I don't remember it very well, but it would sure be interesting to watch it now that we've seen some of those streets!

We did a hop-on hop-off bus tour yesterday. It took us all over the streets of San Francisco!

Hello San Francisco!

We've been wanting to visit San Francisco for a long time. In fact, even before I met Ruth I've been wanting to visit. The closest I came was way back in 1988 when I went to a conference in San Jose, only a few miles south of the Bay. But I flew into San Jose airport at the time, and never did see the city of San Francisco itself.

But we're here now, and we're pretty excited. We don't think five days is enough!

Seattle's Pacific Science Center

We had tickets to the IMAX 3D theater located at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, right beside the base of the Space Needle.

We had a choice of movies to see, and because we're leading up to Veterans Day (Rememberence Day in Canada) we thought it was only fitting to go see D-Day 3D - Normandy 1944.

Time flies when you're having fun

Tomorrow morning, we fly to San Francisco! Can you believe we have already done four days in Seattle? Wow.

I know we've already told you about some of the attractions we've seen, but there's been a lot more going on behind the scenes...

Seattle Underground Paranormal Experience!

Many of you will remember the popular 1984 movie "Ghostbusters".

Well on Saturday night, we became Ghostbusters ourselves when we joined the Underground Paranormal Experience searching for spooky happenings in the underground passages that once formed Seattle's streetfronts back in the late 1800's.

Seattle Architecture Tour

We got on the bus at 9:20am in order to get downtown by 10:00am for our tour.

The Seattle Architecture Foundation does quite a few different tours, but because it was our first time in Seattle, we figured we had better do the "Greatest Hits" tour in order to see the most interesting buildings that shape the city's skyline.

What it cost for a month in Korea

This is actually our October expense report, but we'll give a little more detail about our costs in Korea since 28 of the 31 days of the month were spent in Korea itself.

Overall, the trip was slightly more expensive than we expected. But we had a lot of help from friends and the people we met along the way. Korea is probably one of the most expensive places to visit in Asia, except for Japan and the larger cities of Singapore and Hong Kong. It's certainly not as cheap as what we've heard regarding Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and that area.

Pike Street Market and the Space Needle - Seattle

Friday started off as a rainy day...welcome to Seattle!

We took the bus from the north end to downtown. It was about a forty minute ride and the bus stop was right out front of where we're staying. Pretty convenient, and priced at $2.25 ($2.55 CAN) per person.

The one bus brought us right downtown.

Time Travel to Seattle!

We were sitting in Seoul's Incheon airport yesterday afternoon, waiting for our flight to Seattle. About a hour before boarding, I got an email from our couchsurfing host in Seattle informing us that her sister and niece had been in a car accident and that she was not going to be able to host us.

So all of a sudden we were going to be arriving in Seattle, with nowhere to stay!

Last day in Korea

Sitting at Seoul's Incheon International airport, awaiting our flight to Seattle, USA.

We had a great last day in Seoul. We went and visited a palace, then an interactive museum, then dinner with friends...a fantastic way to end our first visit to Asia!

Busy hiking trail...but worth it!

The weather here in Seoul has become perfect for hiking, and so we decided to take advantage of it. High temperature of about 16C (62F), and with clear sky and sunshine. Perfect to hit the trails.

Seoul is a huge city, and Korea is a very mountainous country. Depending on what you read, there are about 37 different mountains that you can climb that are located in the greater Seoul area.

Which one did we decide to climb? Well, the tallest one of course!

Wandering around Seoul

We didn't have a plan today, so we just made things up as we went along.

Besides, part of traveling like we do means that we have to spend a certain amount of time on the internet researching our onward travel, so we did take some time this morning looking up some things regarding our upcoming travel day on Thursday when we fly back across the Pacific Ocean to Seattle, Washington.

Back in Seoul (part 2)

Sunday morning, we were up at about 8:30am. June's mom made breakfast, and what a meal it was! Not used to eating that much food at that hour, and some if it was a little different for us. There was squid, and seaweed soup. I found the soup a little strong tasting at that hour. And squid has a nice flavor, but it's a little rubbery. But the beef and rice was really tasty.

Good thing we had lots of food though, because after breakfast we went for a hike with June, and headed up the mountain behind where her parents live.