Saturday, March 12, 2016

Spring Break in Seattle/Vancouver

So as soon as I got off the plane from New Orleans, 4 days later I was departing for Seattle. I had to travel for 7 hours, getting in to Seattle around 11pm the first night, which felt like 1 am to me. Cynde was able to pick me up from the airport which eliminated a lot of stress of finding the train or getting an uber when I was unsure of where I was going. The first night was dedicated to a little bit of catching up, ewing and ahing at Cynde/Jake’s apartment, and setting up my space and the air mattress.

Saturday, March 5th: Day 1
It was a beautiful first day waking up in Seattle! We slept in a little bit but got going at a decent hour. We went to a fancy schmancy Amazon building so the dogs could get in some dog park action… yes… in the Amazon building. Nice views from that dog park, and amazon is a legit company to work for. Brunch and drinks happened at the Local eatery. And then we went on a troll to check out South Lake Union. More drinks followed and we started to plan our evening and day trip to Canada.

That afternoon we packed up a bag of items to go to Bellingham, WA to stay the night at Cynde’s aunt’s house. Bellingham is about 30 minutes from the border, and broke up the drive to Canada. On our way we stopped at  a Lulu Lemon outlet where I spent some $$ on leggings and a new coat. Once in Bellingham, yummy Italian food happened and I passed out pretty quickly due to the busy day.

Sunday, March 6th: Oh, Canada!!
We woke up pretty early to hit the road. This was my first time ever out of the country! I was so excited to put my new passport to use! The scenery in Canada was BEAUTFIUL. Once we got to Grouse Mountain, we realized that it was a popular ski destination, and we were not the most prepared. We checked in for our ziplining reservation, and they told us to check back 30 minutes before to see if they would have 5 lines open, 3 lines, or would have cancel and refund us. As we waited we checked out the cabin situation, explored a little bit, and had a drink. 3 lines were open on the snowy day and we were grateful that it wasn’t going to be a total loss. T

Ziplining was so fun and absolutely beautiful! We were dressed in workout gear and whatever coats we had. Thank goodness I purchased a coat from lulu lemon for this! My peacoat would have been a horrible coat to zipline in. (I don’t do winter very well) We had to walk back up the snowy mountain in our tennis shoes, while hanging on to our zipline gear. It was quite the trek.

After ziplining we headed to Granville Island where we had delicious cocktails at Liberty distillery. We then headed to the market there and indulged in some shopping, a little clam chowder pot pie, and took in the scenery. We hit the road to go back home to Seattle and got in pretty late that night. Another easy night to fall asleep after the crazy day.

Monday, March 7th: Back to Seattle
Cynde took off on Monday to spend the day with me and show me around her new city. We had brunch, walked down to Puget sound and took in the Sculpture garden. We rode on the Great Wheel and took in more city views and views of the water. We explored Pike’s Place Market, saw the original starbucks, and did more shopping! I checked the gum wall off my list, as well as seeing the guys throw fish! So much walking ensued on this day! We had enough time to check out Kerry Park where the skyline view is BREATHTAKING. Jake got off work and we had dinner at Duke’s. More delicious clam chowder!

Tuesday, March 8th:
Cynde had to go back to work, so I was on my own. I was able to get an Orange Theory work-out in at 8 am, and went back to shower and dress for the day. I purchased a City Pass which got me into 5 city attractions at a significantly lower price than paying for each event separately. On this day I went to the Chihuly Gardens, went to the top of Space Needle, and went to EPM. Chihuly was amazing, the Space needle was cool too, but I was pretty underwhelmed at the EPM. That whole day was a lot of walking and reading. Plus I was sore from working out in the morning.
We had a girls’ night in with some of Cynde’s friends and I drank way too much wine. #vacation

Wednesday, March 9th:
I skipped out on working out on this day. I figured one day of working out on vacation was enough. I slept in and finished off my City Pass. I had a cruise tour situation, and a visit to the aquarium. Both were just alright and helped me kill some time. On the cruise the tour guide told me that there is a Chinese room in Smith Tower that has a special chair. The chair was given to the chinese room by a China empress and legend has it that whenever a woman sits in the chair, she’ll be married within the year. I was like, “omg… I have to go sit in this chair!” It was really rainy, so I took an uber to this building, just to find out that the Chinese room is closed until July! WHAT?! No chinese legend marriage for me I guess. (this gives me another excuse to visit in the summer).
For dinner that night we went to Paseo’s. A place I had seen on the Travel Channel as a great place to eat and it was. I am sad that I could only eat half of my sandwich and never finished the other half.
Cynde, Jake, and I chilled on my last night in. The night before of too much wine was fresh on my mind. We watched the Democratic debate and looked at our Vancouver pictures and GoPro footage of ziplining.

Thursday, March 10th: The final day
Woke up at a decent hour to pack and get my last adventures checked off the list. I went back to the original starbucks when there was ZERO line and got some cool mugs. I had a yummo breakfast in Lowell’s in Pike’s Place on the top floor where I could over look the water. I did some more shopping in the market (like I needed it). I then started my trek to ANOTHER Starbucks. The Starbucks Reserve and Roastery. This place was SO COOL. I had heard that Seattle was full of Starbucks, but you don’t realize that there is literally one on every corner until you get there. I am pretty sure I passed 3 starbucks while in the airport going to my gate…


I went to see Cynde’s work and sit with her while she ate lunch until it was time for me to make my way to the airport. I am typing this as I sit on the plane headed back to Dallas. It was a delayed flight, but I am grateful to have a direct flight! It was such a great trip, but I am looking forward to getting home and back into routine! The countdown to summer begins!  

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