Seattle and British Columbia

So its taken me a few days to start this post because I was scared of all there would be to write! Sam and I had such a great time together on our trip. I can honestly say it was one of my favorite trips of all time and we came home closer to one another than when we were when we had left! 

Day 1: We had 5 days of non stop adventures starting with Sam's sister Christi taking us to the airport where we flew out to Seattle. Upon arriving in Seattle we jumped on their light rail train and took it to the very last stop downtown. We walked with our luggage down to Pike Place Market. I had been so excited to visit there and it did not disappoint! There were lots of funky shops and stands. We tried weird jams and breads as we walked through the market. I really wanted to visit the famous Pike Place Fish Market, and we walked up right in time to see them throw a fish! We didn't spend too much time looking at the goods to buy but did have lunch there. I found a yummy middle eastern restaurant where we grabbed some chicken shawarma, yum yum yum! While at Pike Place, we found the famous 'gum wall' and added a piece each! Sam found a musician he liked and threw some money in their guitar case. Sam has been on a mango kick lately and purchased a fresh mango from the produce stands which we ate after lunch. It was really tart and actually a disappointment... oh well, all a part of the experience. As much as we loved the market and all the fun shops on the streets around, it was sad to see so many homeless/drug-addicted people all around us and in the park next to Pike Place. 

Rachel, the market's mascot

We headed away from the market and walked along the pier. It was such a beautiful day and we explored all the shops along the pier, and even considered visiting the Seattle Aquarium and taking a ride on the big ferris wheel (but we didn't, both were too expensive for what they were, okay we're party poopers). I ended up buying a tiny sampling of this amazing fudge from a shop on the pier, 1/8 of a pound to be exact! We kept heading towards our next destination Pioneer Square. So to my dismay, there wasn't as much in that area to see and do as I thought. We shared some tacos from a place we were recommended to go by a local we chatted with in the streets. Sam tried a 'Cow Chip Cookie' from a little bakery across from the park. It was only around 4:30 at this point and we had walked down near where our bus would be leaving later that night to go to Vancouver. At this point we decided we either needed to change the time of our bus, or go find something fun to do to kill the rest of our time (Sam and I are probably the only people who saw everything they wanted to see in Seattle in 4 hours). So instead of paying more money to get on a new train to Vancouver (which would take an hour longer than our bus), we took a public bus back up to Pike Place and went to see Iron Man 3! The timing worked out perfect and by the time the movie got out we were able to catch another bus to the Amtrak station with time to kill!

The pretty atrium at Pioneer Square

Pioneer Building, don't ask me what that is

 We got on our bus at 9:30PM and got into Vancouver around 12:30AM. At this point we were starved and  headed to the 24 hour Burger King. However they made us walk through the drive-in and wouldn't let us in the restaurant. We were surprised as to how many people there were walking around Vancouver at this time of night, especially for a Tuesday. But this gave us an opportunity to chat it up with a local girl in the BK line. She was on a bike and gave us her opinion of places to go and see (none of which we actually did) and described to us what some of the pretty lit up buildings around us were. Sam told her we wanted to buy her meal for her because she was so helpful! How cool of Sam! I think he was kind of sad that a young(er) girl was out so late at night alone... what a guy. We decided we had walked enough for the day and grabbed a taxi to take us to our hotel. We're pretty sure he conned us into paying more money than we should have, but gave us a little tour of Vancouver at night, which was good because we didn't have time the next day to see any of the places he showed us!

Day 2: We knew we didn't have a ton of time to see Vancouver so we left our hotel and headed towards a bus stop that would take us to Stanley Park (the #1 attraction to see in Vancouver according to TripAdvisor). We rented a tandem bike to ride around the park! This was definitely one of the highlights of our entire trip. Words and pictures cannot describe how great that bike ride was. We had another beautiful day (where was the rain that we were supposed to have?! no complaints here!) and the fresh air and wind in our faces was so invigorating! It was truly a beautiful place from every direction. We rode along the seawall the entire time with the bay on one side of us and the park on the other. There were lots of beautiful monuments and picturesque scenery to snap pictures of, but I only posted a few on here.

Our tandem bike!

View of Vancouver from our spot of the seawall

Sam liked this message on a bench in the park

 After our bike ride we took a cab that took us to our ship! We spent the evening exploring, dining and hot tubbing before calling it a night.

Day 3: Today was our first stop off of the cruise ship. We were in Nanaimo, British Columbia on Victoria Island. We knew there wasn't much to do in town, but were pleasantly surprised that there was a complimentary shuttle that took us to the downtown area. There, the locals had a farmers market set up for the cruise goers. At noon we were able to watch a cannon being fired off. Sam was very impressed by that! Then we walked around all of the cute shops in town (not Sam's first choice). Sam wanted to find another place to rent bikes so we asked around to some locals if there was anything like that in the area. We decided that it wouldn't be worth it since all the parks we wanted to visit were a ways away. We made sure to grab a Nanaimo bar before heading back to the ship to go swimming. These Nanaimo Bars are a baked good that originated in the town. I had a bite and left the rest for Sam.

Here is a link to the recipe http://www.nanaimo.ca/EN/main/visitors/NanaimoBars.html

Hot Cocoa in front of the ship

the delicious Nanaimo Bar

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the sun in the heated pool on the ship. Then more dining of course as well as enjoying the movie Red Dawn before bed (well, I feel asleep). The ship had lots of newly released movies playing all the time. We got to watch Here Comes the Boom the next night!

The sunset in Nanaimo

Day 4: Today was Victoria! I had been so excited based on all the pictures I'd seen of the city. Of course we woke up to the sound of rain! Our first day of rain (when it was supposed to rain the entire trip, we consider ourselves lucky). But it was really only a light sprinkling, so we headed off the ship and into the city. We saw the gorgeous parliament building as well as the Empress hotel (both designed by the same man). We took a self guided tour of the parliament building and peaked into the hotel lobby. Hmm, once again, we saw the sights fairly quickly. We decided to splurge and head up to the Butchart Gardens. We took the public bus there, and it was extremely crowded. Once again, Sam, the gentleman, offered his seat to an older woman who was also on her way to the gardens and he stood almost the entire ride (45 minutes).

In front of the Parliament Building in Victoria

The weather was clear by now and it was the perfect temperature to explore the gardens. Sam especially liked the effect of the overcasted sky.

The Sunken Gardens

kisses everywhere

The Japanese Gardens

 We both were so glad we decided to see the gardens. Everyone we had encountered from getting to Seattle that found out we were heading to Victoria told us we had to go. Words and pictures can't do them justice, but we were amazed at the gorgeous settings around us and the abundance of flowers and beautiful trees. After we finished exploring we headed back to Victoria where I explored some of the shops and then we headed back to the ship.

Another benefit to the rain was we saw this beautiful rainbow over the city!

Our last sunset of the trip

 Day 5: Today was crazy! We thought we would be able to walk right off of the ship because we had no checked luggage, but we didn't leave our room early enough for that and we walked straight into madness. The line to get off of the boat was SO long it wrapped around the entire 7th floor of the ship. The gangway was so congested with people exiting the ship into customs that they had to stop allowing people off. At this point I knew Sam and I were in trouble. Our plane was leaving in just a few hours and we would still be in line at this rate! I spoke to the main employee at the guest services desk and told her our dilemma. She told us to wait where she could see us and she would have us escorted off of the ship once they were allowing people off again. She took us through a private door and we got to leave from where the guests staying in the private villas and penthouses left. Woohoo! We got to skip the entire line and most of the line on the gangway. I'm sure there were some not too happy guests that we went in front of, but this woman had the power! We still weren't in the clear though! We had to power walk to the light rail station, and then take our 45 minute ride to the airport. I finally thought we were good to go when we arrived at the airport, but the security line was at least a 45 minute wait! I haven't had to wait that long in a security line in years! I was panicking until I saw our plane was delayed! A miracle that bought us an extra ten minutes. We made it, although Sam and I weren't able to sit next to each other (just across the isle from one another, not too far) since we were almost the last ones to board the plane. I told Sam we'd make a great team on the Amazing Race, but then we both laughed because he knows I get fiesty in situations like that one and that would never happen. My aunt Onalee was kind enough to offer us a ride home from the airport. It was so good to be home, but I still cannot say enough good things about our time away. We were able to visit 4 amazing cities in 5 days. We both hope to return to British Columbia together one day.