08 Sep Pacific Northwest Date

We are back in Dallas and had a great trip. I wasn’t planning on doing a vacation re-cap as I try not to talk about me or day to day stuff, but after a few readers suggested that I do, I thought why not?! Maybe I should do more personal posts to connect more with each of you. I have some highlights, a longer version, as well as some pictures. I apologize that 100% of these pictures I am in my workout clothes with no make-up!

Thank you to Shay, Charity and Amanda for the beautiful guests posts! I am way behind on everyone elses blog, but looking forward to reconnecting.

Also, a friend suggested I wrote a post on how to travel on a budget and how to eat on a budget, so be looking for those in the near future. And, we are already in discussion of our next trip and I would love to hear any ideas or favorite places that you all have too!

Highlights

• 12 uninterrupted days with Colby
• Wonderful weather
• Amazing hikes
• Beautiful views – God is so creative!
• Sleep – after the first few days, I was able to sleep in past 5:30!
• New experiences and places
• Time with our friend in Seattle
• Prayer for others – loved being able to pray silently for flight attendants, waitresses, strangers, etc
• No responsibilities; no cooking and no cleaning!
• Good food and delicious cocktails
• Did I mention 12 days with Colby? 😉 I’m addicted; I wish the time together never had to end.

Vancouver

The day we arrived in Vancouver the city was celebrating 125 years of Stanley Park (biggest park in Canada), it was a beautiful day filled with live music, food stands, and a big festival. We did the Grouse Grind hike on Grouse Mountain. Wow, hikers beware; this is not for a beginner. Now I know why there is a warning sign before starting the hike. It’s a 1.8 mile hike STRAIGHT up. The climb is 2,830 stairs. I’m usually winded after 2 flights of stairs, so do the math. 😉 They prohibit hikers from going down because it’s so steep, but just as anything is, it was rewarding when we finished. The hike was the highlight of our time in Vancouver.

Victoria

We loved Victoria as it was a quaint city on the water which made us feel like we were over in Europe. We enjoyed the parks there, went on a 20ish mile bike ride, went whale watching and due to rain, went to a museum!! This is rare for us as we never have been to a museum together, but when the rain started and it was the #1 attraction on tripadvisor we decided to go. We really enjoyed it. The whale watching turned out to be a complete fail. After we couldn’t do it in New Zealand last year due to bad weather, we thought this was our chance. They told us there Is a 95% success of seeing whales, but alas 4 hours later, no whales! It’s funny how easy the worldly part gets a hold of me as I was pretty bummed. After praying through it and realizing, ‘Caroline, you are on an amazing trip, the Lord is present with you, the fact that you didn’t see whales really in the scheme of life, ISN’T that big of a deal’ I was able to cheer up. We have a life time guarantee that we can go back at any time and they will take us back out. Let’s hope if we ever land back in Victoria we remember which whale watching company we were with. 😉

Seattle

We took a ferry over to Seattle where a friend picked us up and took us through the downtown area. We started at the Pikes Market where we saw the original Starbucks and ate lots of food! Side note: All health freak in me goes out the window when traveling. I wish that weren’t the case, but let’s be honest, when you are not at home and constantly on the go it’s hard to eat healthy. It doesn’t help that my husband is a sweets addict and our friend insisted we try all the local foods. The Seattle highlight was spending a full day hiking out by Mt. Rainer which was so gorgeous and awesome.

Portland

In Portland, we went out to Mt Hood and hiked all day out there. We also went to the rose gardens, and did a full day of hiking out by the Columbia Gorge which was so fun! It was about 11 miles of hiking, so by the end of the day we were exhausted. There were actually parts of Oregon that made us feel like we were in New Zealand again, but only for a second 😉 We saw some beautiful sunsets, ate at delicious restaurants and were glad we included Portland in our trip! For those who are interested, friend me on facebook as I posted a lot more pictures there!

The Grouse Grind.

Queen Elizabeth Park

Parliament

Bike Ride

Mt. Rainer

Tamawanas Falls

Multnomah Falls

Bridal Veil

Wahkeena Falls

Portland Sunset