I needed a vacation. Bob needed a vacation. It was our first anniversary as a married couple, so what better excuse could there be to take a vacation? After some back and forth on where we each wanted to go and where our money would allow us to go, we settled on Washington and Oregon. Since we wanted to spend our actual anniversary in Seaside, OR and Seattle, WA instead of driving through Idaho, we left a couple days early. The first day was largely uneventful. We spent most of the time driving with only pit stops for food, bathrooms and gas for the car. The first night we crossed the border into Oregon and then stopped at a truck stop to sleep, in our car. Bob thought it would be a fun adventure, I just tossed and turned... Not the most romantic part of the trip but worth it to save money for the fun cities.
 |
| Snacks for the car ride |
 |
| Leaving good old Utah |
 |
| Proof that you aren't in Utah, in case the sign wasn't enough |
 |
| Pretty lake on our drive |
 |
| Cool bridge that is raised to let boats through |
 |
| Oregon Mountains |
 |
| All this greenery is just a glimpse into what we would see |
The next day we hit the road again. We were in Portland just before noon, so we stopped for lunch. Turned out our sandwich shop shared a parking lot with Voodoo Donuts, so we had to take advantage of our good fortune and get donuts for dessert. They were delicious of course! Then it was back to the road, or so we hoped. Turns out Portland streets are horrible! There are a lot of one way streets, and a lot of streets with "No left turn" signs so while we could see the freeway, we couldn't actually get to it! We probably drove in circles for an hour trying to get on the right freeway, and I can definitely tell you that I won't be moving there anytime soon. Finally we made it to Seaside, OR. It's a cute little beach town and we enjoyed driving around looking at the cute houses and main road before checking into our hotel. After checking in, and settling in, we took a nice walk down to the beach where we played until the sun went down. Then we headed to the boardwalk and browsed the shops on our way back to our hotel. Once back, we played in the pool and hot tub until we were too tired to stay up any longer and hit the hay.
 |
| You can buy a coffin full of donut, who knew? |
 |
| Bobby's giant bear claw |
 |
| My Reese's peanut butter cup donut |
 |
| Voodoo Doughnut! |
 |
| I'm in love |
 |
| I think Bob is as well |
 |
| Only in Portland |
 |
View of the outlet river into the ocean
from our hotel room |
 |
| Our room |
 |
Our room was supposed to cost how much? We didn't even pay a quarter
of that price... |
 |
| Bob's pretty happy with our hotel choice, and savings |
 |
| Welcome to Seaside Beach |
 |
| Bob at the Seaside Beach |
 |
| Me at the Seaside beach |
 |
| Reflecting on life.... Or just keeping the sun out of his eyes |
 |
| Bob and Brittney 1 Year |
 |
| Drawing pictures in the sand for me |
 |
| Bobby loves me too! |
 |
| A huge dead jelly fish washed up on the beach |
 |
| Our sandcastle |
 |
| Enjoying the beach |
 |
| The fog started rolling in just before sunset |
 |
| Bob taking pictures of me taking pictures |
 |
| The sunset on the beach. This is the picture I was taking. |
 |
| More of the pics I was taking of the sunset |
 |
| Beautiful sunset |
 |
| This is the life |
 |
| Lewis and Clark monument overlooking the beach |
 |
| A whale skeleton in the aquarium window |
 |
| Ferris wheel on Main street |
 |
| Starfish connected to street lamps on Main street |
 |
| Arcade on Main Street |
 |
| Diner on Main street |
The next morning was our anniversary. Bob woke me up to let me know he had a quick errand to run so he would be back in an hour or so. While he was out, I packed up our bags and got ready for the day. When my hubby got back he had long stem red roses in a gorgeous bouquet, as well as a cute little pink parka, a new hat he had crocheted for me, and a couple other cute little odds and ends. I didn't think the parka would be necessary since we had seen only sunshine and blue skies so far, but as soon as he brought it to me the rain started! After a quick breakfast and checking out of our hotel, we were on our way to Seattle! After checking in to a new hotel and settling in again, we went to one of the best rated restaurants in Seattle (according to Yelp!) called "Bizarro's". They don't take reservations or call aheads but they were already on an hour wait when we got there so we went to the bar next door for some drinks while we waited. The bar had the best lemon drops ever! Finally we got a call letting us know our table was ready. The restaurant was aptly named, as the decor was very bizarre. There were tables hanging from the ceiling with the full makings of a tea party glued to it, there were decorations from every culture, and everything from kid toys to grandma's afghan. Every inch of the place was covered, but it was pretty cool! I ordered "The Cow" which was essentially the best steak I have ever had sliced on a bed of arugula and topped with goat cheese butter. It was the best food I have ever had! Bob got the lasagna, and he seemed to think it was the best lasagna ever made as well. We finished up with some Girl Scout Thin Mint ice cream, which really tasted like the cookies without any cookies actually in it. After dinner, Bob and I did some night sight seeing and went back to our hotel.
 |
| Hubby of one year! |
 |
| My flowers |
 |
| My beautiful roses |
 |
| The hat Bob made me for our anniversary (it's an owl) |
 |
| Driving through the rain to Seattle |
 |
| Bridge our of Oregon and into Washington |
 |
| Coming out of a tunnel to nothing but green |
 |
| Soaking wet and still smiling |
 |
| On the side of the road playing in the rain |
 |
| Blowing kisses to my man |
 |
| Finally enjoying the rain |
 |
| Pit stop to play in the rain |
 |
| Seattle skyline |
 |
| Go Sea hawks! |
 |
| Go Seahawks! |
 |
| Seattle sky scrapers |
 |
| Bob waiting for his food |
 |
| He is so excited to be here! |
 |
| A sample of the decorations hanging from the ceiling |
 |
| Anniversary dinner |
 |
| This was under the glass of our table |
 |
| This note was under the glass of our table as well. |
 |
| My food is really good! |
 |
| My meal |
 |
This was in the bathroom and the radio just
kept saying random hobo names, I wish I
could remember them, because I was
thoroughly entertained the entire time I was
in there! |
 |
| Girl Scouts Thin Mint ice cream |
The next morning we headed back into the heart of the city to sight see again. We stopped at the Pier but the rain was coming down pretty hard so we didn't get to ride the Ferris wheel or spend much time there. Instead we made our way to Pike's Place market where we got to window shop, browse through a wide array of unique stores and watch the fishermen toss fish to each other. Finally we headed to the space needle. We were going to eat at the top of the tower but they were having a special event and had tripled the price of their normal food. Instead we had food in the food court where there was an art exhibit set up, so we browsed for a while. Luckily by the time we made it to the top of the Space Needle, the rain had stopped and it was just very, very windy! After taking in the view, we headed to the Science Museum next door. We spent hours wandering through the maze of exhibits, most of which were hands on so they were really fun and interesting. Finally it was time to head for Olympia to visit my sister-in-law Ana and her kids. Ana met us at a cute little Italian restaurant were she bought us dinner and we visited for a bit before heading to her house where her kids had set up a Welcome/Anniversary party for us. We spent hours playing, and catching up before we all hit the hay.
 |
| Fountain on the pier |
 |
| Pretending to swim away from the giant lobster |
 |
Bob and I would like a giant piggy bank like this one,
but only if it comes full of money |
 |
| Bob playing with the statues |
 |
| Sometimes Bob can be a little....crabby! haha |
 |
| Gum wall |
 |
| Poster wall |
 |
| Soaking wet, but still smiling with my hubby |
 |
| Fish display in the Fish Market portion of Pike's Place |
 |
| Picking a fish to throw |
 |
| Tossing the fish behind the counter |
 |
| Getting ready to catch a fish |
 |
| The fish is blurry, but he caught it! |
 |
| Bobby and the dolphins |
 |
| A little touch from home! The Spaghetti Factory! |
 |
| The space needle |
 |
| Standing in front of the space needle |
 |
| The original sketch of the Space Needle, on a napkin... |
 |
| It's really windy, but he is a good sport and poses for me anyway |
 |
| See how windy it was? |
 |
| We are on top of the world, or at least it feels that way |
 |
| My sweet man |
 |
| Madly in love |
 |
| Seattle skyline and harbor |
 |
| View of the harbor |
 |
| Bob and I on top of the space needle |
 |
| This is how high up we are |
 |
| The Seattle skyline from the top of the space needle |
 |
| On top of the Space needle |
 |
| The tourist pic they give you if you go to the top of the Space Needle |
 |
| T-Rex skull |
 |
| Bob's hand vs T-Rex foot |
 |
| What I would weigh on other planets |
 |
| What Bob would weigh on other planets |
 |
| I'm scared of being eaten by giant praying mantis' |
 |
| Scorpion! |
 |
| Yes, Bob is holding a cockroach. I didn't touch it. |
 |
| The butterfly room was closed, but we could see through the window |
 |
| Weird half lizard, half fish |
 |
| In the wind simulator (it got up to 78 mph) |
 |
| We have hot faces |
 |
This is a photo of what my face would look like if it was the same on
both sides... I look like I have 1970's hair. |
 |
| Bobs face if it was the same on both sides |
 |
Some of the leaves I picked up while at the
Space needle |
 |
Jonathon at the Italian restaurant rocking
my hat |
 |
| The anniversary party had a pirate theme |
 |
| Bobby the blind pirate |
 |
Lolli trying to figure out how to blow up
balloons |
 |
| And she got it! |
 |
| So she made them hair decorations |
 |
| And I had to join in! |
 |
| Lauren didn't understand why I don't like birds and wanted me to hold it |
 |
| So I did |
 |
That devious look is the bird deciding it was
going to fly at my face about half a second after
I took this pic |
 |
| Someone found my camera... |
 |
| Already trying out her duck face... |
In the morning after a silly string fight with the kids, breakfast and some long, sad good-bye's, Bob and I were heading home. We spent the entire day driving stopping only for food, bathrooms and gas again. I had my camera out taking pictures all the way back and we spent a lot of time day dreaming of moving to either Seaside or Seattle since we loved every second we were in each one, and talking about how much we missed our pets and couldn't wait to cuddle some kitties. Finally 16 hours later, we pulled into the driveway and all too soon our long awaited vacation was over!
 |
| Taking in the scenery on our drive home |
 |
I will miss you Washington and Oregon, we just don't have this kind of
greenery in Utah, even in the mountains |
 |
A tree farm
|
