Friday, June 15, 2012

Seattle, Vancouver, & Whistler Trip Report - Day 1

Matt had a conference in Vancouver, BC, Canada at the end of April/beginning of May.  His way was paid so all we had to do was pay my way and find someone to watch our kids.... done and done, I said and off we went to "O Canada" for 7 nights.

A huge thanks to Matt's mom, Marcia, and my friend, Brittany for taking turns watching our kids.  I hadn't left Willa for more than a few hours since she was born (except when I spent 2 nights in the hospital to have Clark... I need to get out more!).  I had no idea what to expect being away from her and Clark.  But I can report that I was just fine without the kids.  I was really excited to come home and see them, but it was nice to have a week without them in tow.

Day 1 - Saturday, April 28

We flew from Memphis to Seattle, Washington on an early flight.  The conference was in Vancouver, BC, but we hadn't visited the state of Washington together yet so we thought we'd fly in and out of Seattle to save a few dollars and cross the state off our list (only 8 more states to go!).  It was a great choice.  We loved our night in Seattle.

We took the Link Light rail from the airport to our hotel downtown.  We pricelined a hotel and ended up at the Crown Plaza on the 28th floor.  Our view was awesome!  We could see the Puget Sound, the distant mountains, and lots of the city including Pike's Place and the Space Needle.




We checked in around 2 pm, napped, and then went out to explore a little of Seattle and get dinner.

We aren't foodies. I wish we were, but we just aren't.  But for some reason food was a big part of this trip.  Vancouver has great restaurants and tons of them.  Anyways, in Seattle we ate at a seafood restaurant on a pier right on the Sound.  We had the best clam chowder.  Matt got crab legs and steak and oh, they were so good.  Here we are on the pier outside our restaurant.




During dinner, we watched the ferries cruise around.  So we decided to take the Bainbridge Island Ferry after dinner to see the city from the water.  Gotta love ferries.  So cheap and such a great way to see the city.

On the ferry...






I really liked the looks of Bainbridge Island.  We didn't leave the ferry terminal, but it was so pretty.  It was like entering another world.  You get on the ferry, leave the hustle and bustle of the city, take a short ferry ride, and end up in a beautiful quiet residential but rugged place.  The picture below kind of shows what I'm talking about.  You can see the little blue house tucked away in the woods with the city in the distance.  Two worlds within one picture.  





We (meaning Matt) took so many pictures on the ferry.  The Puget Sound is so pretty.  We had typical Seattle/Vancouver weather the whole week... very cloudy and rainy as you can see in our pictures.  But we just dressed right and enjoyed our vacay.

After the ferry we walked around a bit more.  We walked around Pike Place Market



and then stumbled upon the Gum Wall.  It was so disgusting and cool at the same time.




I don't know much about it other then lots and lots of people have stuck their used gum to a wall in an alley and I really liked looking at it.  And no, we didn't have any gum with us so we couldn't contribute. So sad.

3 comments:

Katie said...

I'm kinda on love with the gum wall. It makes for some really artistic pictures.

sinika said...

That gum wall is so disgusting, yet cool.

Moe said...

nasty gum! Aside from that, I love the pic that shows the city contrasted with your little island. Very cool :)