Daisypath Anniversary tickers

Daisypath Anniversary tickers

Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Back from vacation!

Sadly, I've returned from my fabulous vacation! Even though I had one less day in the Pacific Northwest, I still had an amazing adventure! I walked SO much in those six days! Here's a run-down of my experiences!

Sunday-Up bright and early. My wonderful brother took me to the airport before the sun came up. My flight was uneventful, thankfully! A short layover in New Mexico...then on to Seattle! Tammy and her mom (who was visiting too!) picked me up at the airport and we headed off on a waterfall discovery adventure. We went to three different waterfalls and hiked A LOT! Remember, I still have jelly legs! :) I actually was pretty impressed with myself! We wandered home, through the gorgeous mountain ranges!

Monday-my birthday! Happy 31 to me! We took Tam's mom to the airport and went off to a Seattle landmark...the Pike's street market! The fish throwers were there in full force, throwing giant salmon and halibuts! Hilarious! I absolutely salivated over all the fresh produce and flowers for sale, sadly wishing it could come home with me! We ate lunch at a great crab house right on the water...clams and mussels! YUM! We got pedicures, relaxed for awhile, and then headed out for dinner. Dinner was a great seafood restaurant on the lake. It gets about 20 kinds of fresh, never frozen seafood daily! I had some delighful ahi and my first experience with wine. Let's just say, I'm pretty fun after MUCH less than I used to be! Thankfully, the cowboy game was on and I was able to cheer happily and without reservation! No eagles fans in the whole place!

Tuesday-Space Needle! We walked over to the Seattle Center (the site of the Seattle world's fair!) and I did my most touristy adventure 600 feet up to the top of the needle. It was an absolutely beautiful day and my pictures turned out GREAT! We walked around the Seattle Center for a while after that and had a great picnic lunch sitting by this enormous fountain. All the water was choreographed to music and it was a great thing to watch! We were in the hot (hot for Seattle!) sunshine, and I actually got a sunburn! Go me! Afterwards, we walked back to Tam's apartment and went to see The Women...cute, but at times depressing!

Wednesday-off to Canada! We headed out in the morning, the first gray day outside since I'd come to Seattle! Crossing the border was only about a 5 minute adventure! Hooray for us! Guess I didn't look threatening. We made it to our hotel about oneish. The nice people let us check in early! We walked to Yaletown, a big restaurant district, to find some lunch. Afterwards, we walked around to get our bearings and find some tourist information. We ended up finding out about a bus that had 23 stops throughout the city. There was an additional pass that included five of the biggest Vancouver attractions. We decided that was the best plan and went to bed kinda early to prepare for the busy day!

Thursday-the walking begins! We caught the bus around 9:30 and headed off to the Vancouver lookout...basically the equivalent of the Space Needle. Afterwards, we headed to Stanley Park, a 1000acre park at the tip of downtown. It's absolutely beautiful! It houses the Vancouver Aquarium, home to a three month old baby beluga whale! They also have some dolphins, sharks, turtles, sea otters, sea lions, and lots of fish...but the highlight was the precious beluga! They have an outside viewing area and an underwater viewing area as well. After we were done at the aquarium, we decided to walk to the IMAX instead of riding the bus because brilliant Stephanie thought it was at 5pm. We HAULED across the city only to find out that the next show was at 6, and it wasn't even the one we wanted to see! We ended up going to a pub for some dinner and waiting until 7 for the 3D IMAX. Afterwards, we took a cab home because we were exhausted and tired of walking!

Friday-the adventure ends. We got up early again, but the buses were running WAY late! I think it was almost 45 minutes off schedule! We went first to Chinatown to the Classical Chinese Gardens. It was very pretty, but not something I would have paid extra for. Afterwards, we rode the bus back to our hotel, stopping along the way to grab some food at a great French restaurant. We headed off to the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver. It was CRAZY! The bridge never stops moving! The gorge is wide enough to let two 747's side by side through the ravine without touching wing tips! Nuts! On the other side of the canyon, there was lots of hiking and roaming around. After spending about three hours there, we were pretty exhausted and decided to head back to Seattle. We got in the car at 5pm. By 6, we were on the other side of Vancouver. At 6:46PM, we got to the US/Canadian border. At 9:20, we were finally into the USA! Two and a half hours to get across the border is RIDICULOUS! We got back to Seattle about 11PM. I think I completely collapsed into the bed at that point!

Saturday-flying home. Not much to do...except get on the plane. My flight home was uneventful. Michael picked me up at the airport, with Liberty in tow. I slept in my own bed!

There's my trip in a nutshell! Well, I'm pretty verbose, so I guess not QUITE a nutshell! I posted a whole bunch of pictures on Facebook, but if you don't have access to that, here's the link to the album.

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=31226&l=98395&id=777629419

I go back to work tomorrow, not happily at ALL. I'd much rather stay off work for another week. Thanks for reading!

1 comment:

The Peacock Pearl said...

sounds fun!!!! and happy belated birthday! i thought of your birthday on dave's birthday and then forgot! :(