Part 2: Vancouver...

We arrived to Vancouver before noon. After our amazing time on the Amtrak we were so excited to be there. We decided that after our non-stop adventures in Seattle that Monday we were going to veg out. Sort of a 'fly by the seat of our pants' kind of day. We took a short cab to the hotel, and it was beautiful. We had such a great room with an amazing view. We grabbed lunch and were off. We went to Gas Town. It's a cute little area with shops, restaurants, and coffee shops. It was very European. We stopped off at a coffee shop and read our books for a while. Our entire trip we had our books on us. It really was a highlight to just stop, grab coffee, and read our books. I guess what I loved most was that we had nowhere to be, no one to look after...just no plans. It was wonderful! The sun was shinning, but it was cold. It was such a different type of cold that I have never felt before. Again, tho, we walked so much that it never was too bad. We walked all over Gas Town and decided that we were going to see a movie. We saw Gran Torino. It was really good. We liked it a lot. After the movie it was FREEZING! It was the first time in my life that I actually wrapped my face with a scarf. It really does help. If your face and hands are warm, the cold isn't too bad! We had a great time on day 1 in Vancouver!

The view from our room.

The steaming clock in Gas Town.


My hub by Mr. Gas Town himself....no, I totally forgot what that little statue man was.

After the movie....BURRRRR!

We grabbed dessert at the hotel when we got back

Day 2: We got up, had our breakfast and coffee, and were OFF! We took the sky train to catch the little water taxi to Granville Island. Granville island is like Pike place market, but inside. We LOVED it over there. We shopped around and again found us a cozy place to settle in and read while we drank our coffee. Those of you that have read the Twilight series knows how hard it is to put the books down. Especially in book 3! (I almost finished it while we were away and LOVED it...I'm currently a little over 1/2 way thur the last book. OH MY, IT'S SO GOOD!)!! We spent a good part of our day at Granville Island. We took the cute little water taxi back, and walked around to Stanley park. Once we were there we decided that we wanted to rent bicycles the next day and see ALL of Stanley Park. It's so beautiful. I guess it would be like Central Park in New York. A place you have to see. I loved it because everyone has their dogs, people just sit out there reading, kids were playing, and so many were either running, walking, riding bikes, and roller-blading. It is a very active city. One lady said to us that it does not matter if you drive a Ferrari there....it's parked and you are riding a bike or walking everywhere. I loved that! We walked home on Robson street which, they say, is like a Rodeo drive in LA. Tons of shopping. Tonnnnns of shopping. It was fun shopping, but quite a beating. When you are dressed for cold weather and you walk into a warm place you immediately get hot, so we'd take our stuff off then have to put it back on...again and again. We finally were like window shopping is just fine! Once we got back to the hotel we rested for a little bit and then got ready for dinner. We went to this really cute restaurant in Gas Town. Afterwards we came back and called it a day.

A cute little carving that was done in a tree.

Waiting our our water taxi.
The cute little water taxi.


Granville Island...the spot where we camped out!


Another book stop later in the day.

Walking to Stanley Park....did we ever WALK on this vacation. It was the most walking we have ever done.

Day 3 in Vancouver was probably my most favorite day of our entire vacation. We got up early and had breakfast and coffee then took the shuttle to visit Capilano Suspension Bridge. It was BEAUTIFUL! I can't even put into words how amazing it was over there. It was like ALL of your sense experienced it. From the sound of the waterfalls and river below to the smell of the trees, it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Since it was the 'off season' it was not crowed in the least. Matt and I took our time walking all over the place. We enjoyed it so much. The pictures do not even do justice to how beautiful it truly was. After the Suspension bridge we took the shuttle back to Stanley Park. We rented our bikes (and looked REAL cute in our helmets), and off we went to ride all around the park. It was so much fun and quite the workout. I had a bell on my bike so every time I wanted to stop for a photo op, I start dinging my bell. I loved that little bell. By the end of our bike ride I had codes for my dings. 1 ding was me just checking in and saying hi to Matt. 3 dings was 'I love you', and dinging continuously was 'STOP for pictures'! It was fun! Riding around the park was GORGEOUS! I loved seeing Vancouver from the park. After we checked our bikes back in we went to Starbucks for a little r and r! We finally got the energy to walk back to our hotel. We did not take one cab ride our entire trip. If you could get there by foot, we did. When we got back to the hotel we crashed! We were so exhausted from everything we had done the entire vacation that we decided we'd eat at the hotel and call it a night. That's exactly what we did!

The entrance

About to walk across the bridge!

Capilano Suspension Bridge.

We are tree huggers. Aren't they HUGE???

We love nature....HA!

A cute little tree house.

Me and my hub!

More bridge pics. I took a MILLION that day.

What we do best. JK, everyone's gotta kiss on the bridge right?


A video for your enjoyment...

Us in our gear ready for the COLD bike ride.

That's a good look, huh? Me and my 1 glove.

A view from Stanley Park

More views...

And more views....

I really like how this picture turned out.

Last day....time to go home. This was a BIG day in Vancouver it was exactly 1 year until opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics. There is sooo much being done over there to prepare for the Olympics. Everyone is pumped, and since it was exactly a year away they were celebrating it. So Thursday morning we got up, packed, grabbed breakfast, checked out, and went to a coffee shop that was recommended to us by a local. We were SO sad that we did not find this place on Day 1 in Vancouver. WE LOOOOVED IT, and we would have spent WAY more time there! Up until this point we tried many-a-coffee shops and ZERO compared to Starbucks. No really, we gave each place in Seattle and Vancouver a fair chance, and not a one compared. We are coffee snobs..I'm just going to put that out there. We like our Americano's done just the right way with just the right amount of espresso. If you are a true coffee lover, then go to Starbucks and order a grande Americano with cream and 1 splenda. Your life will never be the same. :) Or fix it like you fix your coffee. You will love it! We had about 2 hours to burn before we needed to leave for the airport. Cafe Artigiano was a highlight for sure! Matt read the paper and got caught up on US news while I dove deeper into Book 3. I read over 300 pages while we traveled this day. It sure left you dying for more that's for sure! We were SO ready to see our little luv bugs. We missed them so much, and we were so sad that we had to wait until Friday morning. We got home a little before midnight. Since we were used to being 2 hrs behind I got us all unpacked, started a load of laundry, and even read some more (I lacked 2 chapters when we got home).

We had such an amazing time. It was so beautiful, romantic, and so many first time experiences. We had a blast!!! I HIGHLY recommend BOTH Seattle and Vancouver to go visit. We loved both so much that we do hope to return again someday. (I'd actually like to go back in the summer time when it's not soooo cold). I am thankful that Wells Fargo canceled their conference because I'm not sure I would have seen everything that we did on my own. And sharing it with Matt was wonderful!!!

Our final Americano's! The best of the week!

Catching up on the Wall Street Journal. He's not too big of a fan of the bailout plan....Let's hope it works!

All good things must come to an end.