Shaun with his coffee and doughnut in a vegan coffee shop in Seattle
The coffee shop to person ration in Portland must be almost 1:1. This was a very welcome find, especially in the middle of winter, in what has most assuredly the most pathetic sun we have ever seen. It was like we hadn’t yet seen a winter sun, until we hit Oregon’s budding barista capital. It was the most insipid sun I had ever seen. Being an African, it made me very sad. But instead of sitting around freezing our nether regions, we headed for one of the many trendy, sparsely furnished, vinyl playing, hipster hangouts, and ordered some of the worlds best coffee, or so their groupies claim. We were sporting no facial hair, no bicycles, no messy-shag cuts, our clothes weren’t thrift store enough and I’d say we looked a darn site too happy and carefree, but we were welcomed anyway.
Portland has a wonderful feel about it, it’s a city, but feels more like a town. There were loads of people on bicycles (even in minus temperatures and in the dark), and everyone seems to be doing things at half pace. This tells you a lot when it comes from a Capetonian (we are known for doing things at half pace too). It is beautiful, but I get the feeling it’s not the place to visit in Winter, there are incredible waterfalls and forests close by, but at those temperatures it made it impossible to enjoy them for any length of time with the kids. Portlands vegan culture is massive, not a surprise given the size of the real-from-the-roots hipster population. Restaurants are slated on review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor if they claim to be vegan and offer milk, and almost all fresh food is ‘organic certified’. It definitely brings home the difference between first world and third world problems. That said, we were rather surprised at the number of homeless people living in the city. After chatting with a couple of them it was also surprising to find out how well educated some of them were. America seems to be a contradiction in so many ways, it’s been interesting, but sad, to see it first hand.
After a few lovely, but short, days in Portland, we scampered on up to Seattle. We were given the warmest welcome by some of our South African friends who moved over last year. It was such a welcome relief to be in a real home again, surrounded by friends, another 3 year old (our kids were ecstatic), and SOUTH AFRICAN ACCENTS!! After being on the road for this long, and feeling homesick and tired, this was the best respite we could have hoped for. Catherine, Marcin and Marek (their 3 year old) welcomed us, looked after us and were hospitable beyond anything we could have asked for. There are some people in this world who just know how to open their arms to others, and I feel like we have been blessed enough on this trip to have been welcomed into more than our fair share of these homes. What a happy place this world would be if everyone got the same warm welcome and encouraging pat on the back that we have received on our adventures. Texas and Washington State will remain favourites of this trip even if only for the hospitality we received (but they have a lot more going for them besides).
The NFL Super Bowl final happened to fall on the weekend that we were in Seattle and the excitement behind this was that Seattle Seahawks were in the final, and won – for the first time ever! We were invited to a real American Super Bowl party, replete with game blaring on the big screen, children rampaging through the house and all the men chatting in the kitchen!! It was great. A wonderful opportunity to meet more fantastic, friendly Americans and be drawn into their happy homes. Half of what makes travelling so awesome are the friendly faces you meet along the way. New places, epic landscapes and exiting cities make for a memorable adventure, but it wouldn’t be complete without the people. We have been blessed in having both.
For the week that we were in Seattle, the kids got to socialize again with other children and seeing how shy they were initially, made me wonder if we had just spent 4 months de-socializing them. They quickly got used to throngs of kids though (thank goodness no lasting damage there), and really enjoyed their week of ‘normal life’ as Cath carted me and 3 kids to all of Marek’s weekly activities. What is normal and routine for so many was a breath of fresh air for us, and a little reminder of what is waiting at home. We had a hard time convincing the kids we had to move on, but Canada was waiting, or so we hoped…
Just to set the scene here, we didn’t have time to get our Canadian visas before we left South Africa, so naturally thought in the States it would be easy as pie, and we could just do it here. This was not so. We called, emailed, visited biometric centres and Canadian consulates, all to no avail. After a very frustrating couple of weeks and still coming up with nothing, we decided we would just drive to the border and bat our eyelashes, get the kids to wave and we’d drive on through. So anyone who’s been to Canada is probably laughing already. We packed up our things, waved a ‘final’ goodbye to Cath, Marcin and Marek and set off on our way. After a 2 hour drive to the border, some eyelash batting and not so much waving from the kids (they were asleep), we were basically detained. Apparently the Canadians are rather fussy about who they let through their borders, and we didn’t make the grade. Whether it was simply that we arrived unannounced, or whether my being ‘written up’ for taking a ‘deadly weapon’ into the Canadian Embassy in Portland played a part in this, which it well might have, (for future reference, Leatherman’s with a blade longer than 1 inch are weapons and will get you in big trouble!) or if it was just the grumpy border control agent we were lumped with, but our advice for all our troubles and lack of being able to find out any information, was to drive to Los Angeles and visit the visa office in person. So in this day and age, we were expected to drive 2000km (one way) to see if they can help us. For real!?! So we were escorted back to the US border where thankfully they welcomed us back in, and headed back to Seattle feeling rather glum and defeated. We arrived back at our amazingly hospitable friends to an awaiting dinner and glass of wine. Turns out we were the only ones who thought we stood a chance of crossing without a visa. Everyone else thought we were exceedingly optimistic and a wonderful friend of mine has now coined the phrase, “we pulled a Wuth” and tried anyway. Clearly doing ridiculous things is something we seem to have made a habit of.
We now have an extra 2 weeks in the States and are able to slow our return journey across the north of the country, head down to Colorado and hopefully fit in some more skiing before having to wind our way back to New York. Still so much to do, and only a month left to do it in! It is both exciting and sad to think that we are nearing the end of our trip. We long for home and freely admit that 6 months on the road is hard work, especially with children, whilst maintaining a company. Knowing what this time has meant to us as a family, and what we have learned about each other and ourselves along the way, is something we wont easily forget. At this point in our trip however, the name of the game is perseverance. Thank you to everyone who has showered us with love and support for our journey thus far. We are at the point where we are drawing on all the love we can get. Xxx
