Vancouver & Whistler

While Chuck's mom, Pat,  was here, we decided to take a little trip up to Canada. She really wanted to see Vancouver and we were excited to explore the city a little more!

We left early on Saturday morning with no real plan except to sightsee at Stanley Park (like we did when we took my sister up there) and potentially drive the Sea to Sky Highway depending on the weather.

Around noon we finally arrived in Vancouver and found our way to Stanley Park using only our memories, as we couldn't use our phones without getting charged a whole lot for data usage. This is when we discovered it's really difficult to get anywhere without GPS and that we are basically helpless without our phones.

Anyway. We were pretty hungry so we followed signs to a restaurant that I now can't remember the name of so we'll call it the Stanley Park Restaurant. It was really nice outside so we sat on the deck and had some delicious burgers and fish & chips. We also discovered that Vancouver serves only sweet tea unless you ask for unsweet. This became a whole ordeal for us, as we had advised Pat earlier in the week that in Seattle, there is no such thing as "sweet tea" so therefore no reason to order "unsweet" because the waiter will be confused. So Pat kept getting sweet tea brought to the table, thinking it was unsweet and therefore adding Splenda to it, making it twice as sweet. We laughed pretty hard. All this to say- is anyone besides us surprised that Vancouver serves sweet tea, just like the South?! I didn't know Vancouver had such a sweet tooth. We felt right at home. :)

 

Next, we rented bikes from the same place as last time and took off on the 6 mile ride around the park.  Pat couldn't remember the last time she'd been on a bike but she picked it back up pretty quick and rode like a pro!

 

Unfortunately it was pretty cloudy but it was still a nice ride with some nice views. After the ride, we returned the bikes and made a Starbucks stop before we headed to the Sea to Sky Highway, also known as Highway 99.  Everything we read about the drive on Trip Advisor said this was a must do and I'd have to agree. Although, again, it could have been a little better without all the clouds.

As we drove, we made stops whenever we saw a sign that said "Point of Interest ahead." One of our stops was at Shannon Falls- a waterfall only a short 3-5 minute hike from the parking lot.

 The road kept going and we kept following it, all the way to Whistler. We had heard of Whistler before as some of our friends discussed taking a ski trip up there, but we had no idea what to expect.

 Whistler Village was a pleasant surprise and was totally worth the long drive North of Vancouver. Whistler Village was the host mountain resort for the 2010 Winter Olympics and hosted a lot of the events nearby.

 The Village was so cool- shops, restaurants, hotels, and it all looked brand new. There was a Tough Mudder event nearby earlier in the day Saturday so the place was packed with young people who had come up for the race. We also found out the next day that a friend of ours, one of Chuck's LGO classmates, Jane, was also at Whistler Village at the same time! She's living in Portland while working for Nike on internship but had driven up for the weekend to go skiing. Cue: It's a Small World song.  Chuck and I were bummed that we didn't know at the time because it would have been great to meet up for dinner or drinks with her!

Instead, we found an Irish pub in the Village that was going to have live music and decided to eat dinner and have a couple of drinks. The food and atmosphere were pretty good and the band was awesome. They played mostly country, like some John Denver classics, which was kind of weird for an Irish pub but also awesome.

After our long day of sightseeing and driving, we decided to find a hotel and stay the night in Canada. (We had packed overnight bags just in case.) Whistler was completely booked, so we drove south towards Vancouver. Well, after stopping at about 5-6 different hotels and finding out they were all booked, as well as getting a little lost in Vancouver (again, no GPS = helpless Americans) we decided to just drive back to Seattle even though it was already 1 am. Luckily we had the Super Moon out to light the way home.

 

Sleepless in Seattle

 

In the last two weeks we had two visitors- Chuck's dad and then Chuck's mom.

 

The weather was gorgeous (most the time) for both of their visits and we tried to cram in as much stuff as we could so they could both see as much of the Pacific Northwest as possible while they were here. Their trips can be told pretty well by pictures. We took a LOT of pictures. (Please note- these pictures are in no particular order.)

 



 

The San Juan Islands. 

We visited Orcas Island and just as a piece of advice to anyone who plans to visit the San Juan Islands- make sure you plan to spend at least 2 days here. We tried to do the trip in one day and spent most of our day just traveling. Driving from Seattle to the Ferry, waiting for the ferry for 2+ hours, riding the ferry... We saw some gorgeous sights and had fun, but think it would have been time better spent if we had allowed a whole weekend for it.

Of course we showed off Pike Place Market.

 Fresh donuts. Yum.

 

The gum wall. Ew.

 

 

We took a Duck Boat tour because, while they are extremely cheesy, they are a great way to see a city and who wouldn't have fun riding in a vehicle that can drive on land and water!?

 



 

 

 

My favorite part of the tour was when we floated past the Sleepless in Seattle house. Too bad Tom Hanks doesn't actually live there. 

 

Watching airplanes land and take off from the lake was a highlight as well. 

 



We went back to the Ballard Locks, the same place Chuckie and I visited a month or so ago. It's so pretty on a nice day and watching the boat elevator (I don't think that's really what it's called but that's what I call it) is pretty entertaining. We also got to go underneath to the fish observation room and watch some salmon pass by which was pretty cool!

 

 

The weekend his mom was here we took a trip to Vancouver and Whistler. I took about 100 pictures that day so I will save that adventure for its own post.

All in all I think they both got to see not only a good portion of Seattle, but a good portion of the Pacific Northwest! We love having visitors because it makes us go out and do and see things that we may not go do and see on our own. With only 8 weeks left in Seattle I'm not sure how many more visitors we will have but with all of the LGOs, Sloanies and other MBAs from Amazon, we will hopefully stay busy and make the most of the remainder of our time here!

 

 

Oh Canada

A few weeks ago, Chuckie and I were discussing what we should do with my sister while she was out here visiting and he suggested taking a day trip to Canada. Vancouver is only about a two and a half hour drive from Seattle, so we decided to do it! Sami flew in late Saturday night, so early Sunday morning we were off to Vancouver- the 3 of us and Chuckie's LGO classmate Gold.

Now, this is gonna sound a little crazy, but, this trip to Canada was my first time ever leaving the United States! So I was VERY excited! The drive was scenic and pretty easy. We got to the border, answered a few questions about why we were visiting, how we knew each other, where we were from, and then boom! We were across the border!

Literally less than 3 minutes across the Canadian border, Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." came on which gave us a good laugh. We decided that was our theme song for the day.

As we were driving into downtown, I snapped this picture out the window of the stadium, called BC Place, where the opening and closing ceremonies were for the 2010 winter Olympics. When we passed it at night leaving town, it was all lit up with different colors and looked really cool, but unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of it that time.

Our first stop was at Stanley Park, one of the largest parks in North America. It was a little chilly, but we had our hearts set on riding bikes around the park so we layered up and braved the cold. (It wasn't THAT cold, I'm just making it sound more intense.)

Before you see this next picture you have to know what I was TRYING to take a picture of, because it makes it even funnier. I thought Chuckie was riding right behind me, so I was trying to get a picture of him on his bike. I was taking the picture without looking because we were riding and I didn't want to lose focus and fall off of my bike. So I made a face just in case a small part of my face ended up in the picture and I snapped. Later when I looked at my pictures, I found the result.

 

 

He is SO FAR BEHIND ME and I got WAY MORE THAN JUST A LITTLE OF MY FACE in the picture. It's so ridiculous. Sami cried from laughing when she saw this picture. Last week on the blog I put a picture of us on a hike and said it was maybe the best picture ever taken of me and Chuckie. Well, I think this one definitely trumps that one.

 

Anyway, moving on...

 

Chuck proved to us that he could eat a banana and ride a bike at the same time.

 

 



Gold, Chuck and Sami at a pretty spot along the bike trail.

After biking, we drove to the public market on Granville Island. We walked around and watched a guy juggle knives while balancing on a ladder, went in and out of all the little shops, did some taste testing, and bought the most delicious donuts. Next we drove to Gastown, an older part of Vancouver with cobblestone streets and brick sidewalks. It reminded us of Boston, so we liked it!

Then we saw a building that looked strangely similar to the Flat Iron building in NYC, except this one was a lot smaller.

 

We had some drinks at a cool place there and then walked to an Irish Pub for some "comfort food that feels like a hug." It was tasty.

Right before we left Canada, we had Chuck snap a few pictures of us in some traditional sorority girl poses so Sami would feel like she got the full "spring break" effect, even though she was in cold and rainy Canada and her classmates were in warm and sunny Florida, and neither of us were/are in sororities.

It was a great day trip and a great way to start off Sami's visit!