Flying blind

Vancouver was great, and customs was relatively uneventful. Coming back to the states the officer found Matt's bags of loose leaf tea rather interesting. Of course it didn't help that they were packed in perfect little paper-bag bricks. I guess it was a good thing we opted to skip on the Cuban cigars.

While up north I acquired a new found respect for ramen noodles. Yeah, you read right. Ramen, baby. There was a Japanese place right by our B&B that served sushi and noodles. We went there twice. Of all the wonderful food options within walking distance, we went out for noodle soup two times. The attraction might not have had anything to do with the food; maybe it was the service. One afternoon we decided that we wanted to try Korean food. Bust. We went to several restaurants and finally gave up on any hope of understanding what was going on with the menu. The ramen place was similar. Lots of Japanese characters which were interrupted periodically with English. The ratio of Japanese to English seemed a little skewed to me, though it was nice to see at least a little English, not like the Korean places. There were a few pictures on the menu, but again, not nearly as many pictures as there were Japanese descriptions. Well, we knew that we wanted soup, and that was good enough apparently. When the server came over and found out we wanted soup, not sushi, she immediately started asking questions. What type of noodle? Meat? Broth base? Somehow I ended up ordering teriyaki chicken with ramen noodles and miso broth. As the server walked away I looked at Matt and asked, "So, do you suppose she's going to bring us soup?" He shrugged.

We went to the aquarium one afternoon. I must go to an aquarium every time I leave town. I must go to the Seattle aquarium! The beluga whales were by far the coolest. They smile! They're so peaceful the way they just float around. They swim for a bit, and then they just stop moving and float up to the surface. Amazing. They induced entertaining conversation as we walked back to our room:

Matt: So, do you suppose they have to kill the whales to get the caviar?
Me: I would imagine they could just be sedated and someone reaches in.
Matt: Possibly.
Me: Wait, aren't whales mammals?
Matt: Yeah, they are.
Both: Huh!

Anyone know where beluga caviar comes from if not from beluga whales?