Friday morning we got up early and headed on the road to Port Angeles, WA. We took the ferry from there to Victoria, Canada (on Vancouver Island). The ferry ride was about 1 1/2 hours and was so beautiful! It was fun to see Victoria from the view of the boat.


Dad and Nate having some bonding time..

We loooved Victoria, it was so gorgeous, the weather was perfect, and the building and downtown were so pretty! We explored downtown and then took a bus to the Butchart Gardens. The gardens were amazing!!! We walked around everywhere but our favorite was the sunken garden. It was really special to be at the garden with my mom because she took her mom to the garden when she was about my age. We took a picture next to a warthog, the same place where she took a picture with her mom!



After the gardens, we had dinner at the best Indian restaurant I have ever been to! It was right across the street from our hotel. We ate until we were stuffed and then went back to the hotel. I was so tired I laid down on the bed, just wanting to rest for a minute and didn't wake up until the morning!

My Mom, Dad, and little sister Ally came to visit last week. We had so much fun with them! They flew in late Wednesday night and Dad and Ally stayed until Monday night and my mom stayed until yesterday! Their first morning here we went to the Columbia River and had breakfast at a cute cafe and then walked along the river. We walked down to a few little beach areas and Ally almost got attacked by a hissing goose...


Nate was at his last day of teaching so we met up with him after and headed into Portland. We stopped at the food trucks on Alder street and each picked out something to share. Dad got some seafood Pad Thai (suspicious since it was seafood and spicy, something only he and Nate like..), Mom got dumplings, Nate got Asian tacos, Ally got a BLT ?? out of all of the choices! and I got a Chunky Monkey waffle. Everyone loved the food trucks and it was fun to share and try a lot! Then we went to Forest Park and did a pretty hike. The weather was perfect and it was fun to see my family amazed by the greenery! Nate and I will really miss how beautiful it is here! Next, we went to the rose garden, the flowers were perfectly in bloom.



After our hike, we were going to head back home but it was rush hour, sooo we decided to hit some more food trucks! (With my family pretty much half the fun of vacation is eating good food. We plan our trips around it!) We went to a different group of trucks and split some margherita pizza, pulled pork fries, and nutella crepes! Then we went home to play some games.

This weekend we headed up to Seattle to see a Mariners game. We left Saturday morning and got to our hotel by noon.

It's not a roadtrip without cream soda!


We dropped off our stuff and then took the light rail downtown. I have never been on a light rail before and it was so awesome to see the city from up above.

We loved looking at all of the beautiful buildings downtown.


We went to Pike's Place first and looked at all of the little shops and stands. Nate was so happy to be able to get some huge samples of smoked salmon, his favorite. I loved all of the flower stands filled with peonies. We bought lunch from a couple of different places. We got a roast chicken sandwich and orange blossom donut holes from one place, the best chowder and sourdough bread from Chowder, and a pastry from Piroshky Piroshky (the line outside of this place was huge, so we had to try it).

Pike's Place!


We walked along the waterfront and saw the huge ferris wheel and then to see the Space Needle.


Our feet were pretty tired by this time and it was almost time for the game, so we headed to Safeco Stadium. Nate was so excited to see the stadium and watch the game. It was really fun and a close game!

At the Mariners game!

This big Hawaiian guy from 50 1st dates threw the first pitch! i actually met him when I was an extra on Hawaii Five-0!




The next morning we slept in and then got some donuts for breakfast. After that we drove all around Mercer Island and walked down to the water. Mercer Island is so beautiful! It feels like you are in a jungle and all of the houses are so amazing.



Then we drove to the Ballard Locks. It's a place where boats come in from the ocean, into an enclosed place. Then they suck out all of the water, fill the area with fresh water, and then the boats are let into the fresh water. It was really cool to see!



From there we walked to a farmers market. We didn't end up buying anything, but I just love walking around farmers markets and trying all of the samples! Then we had lunch at a place that we had walked by on the way to the market that looked really good, Portage Bay Cafe. They had the most amazing breakfast foods!! We shared french toast and a huuuge chorizo quesedilla with guacamole and roasted potatoes. They have a bar with tons of kinds of fresh fruit and fresh whipped cream that you can go to and add anything on your food. I put soooo much whipped cream, fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and coconut on our french toast. It was amazing! By the time we finished, it was almost 4, so we headed back to Vancouver. It has been so much fun doing little weekend trips since the weather has been nice. In a few days my Mom, Dad, and little sister Ally come to visit! We are so excited for them to come!!! My mom is staying for a week longer, which will be sooo fun! Then a few days after she leaves Nate's parents are coming to visit! A few days after they leave we will be moving to Arizona!!! We are so excited to have our families visit and show them all of our favorite things to do out here, it will be a fun way to end our time out here!

One of our favorite things about Portland is the food. If anyone knows me they know I love to eat good food and I looove dessert(mostly all things chocolate). Nate and I soon found out that Vancouver has no good places to eat. They rated Subway as the best sandwich shop... Anyways, after going out to eat in Portland, I fell in love with every place we went. One of the best things is the million food carts that are everywhere. They have the BEST food and are so cheap! We have gone to about 4 of the different larger food cart spots, and there are still a ton we haven't tried. Here are a few pics of some of our favorite places to eat here.

Urban Fondue:
This is the first place that we ate, when we were visiting Vancouver/Portland to see if we wanted to move here. It is still one of our favorite places to eat! (The smoked cheddar fondue and heath bar chocolate fondue are our favorites.)


Pine State Biscuit:
Nate's sister,Nicole, & I discovered this place when she was visting! We were going to a bakery to get some sweets and saw a line out the door for this place. It smelled so good, we had to try it! The Reggie sandwich is amazing! Biscuit, fried chicken, bacon, cheese, & gravy (aka heart attack sandwich, but it is so good!) They also have the best apple cider and marionberry jam.
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Salt & Straw:
Delicious ice cream. Favorite flavor= almond brittle with salted ganache & also honey balsamic strawberry


The largest group of food trucks we have found (on 5th Ave). Nate usually gets a gyro and I usually get a falafel wrap here. The dumpling truck is also so good too! All of the trucks looks so good here!


Good Food Here Food Trucks:
Best Mac'n'Cheese and hawaiian food truck with malasadas!!



Blue Star Donuts:
Fun flavors and so good! (Voodoo donuts is good too but I can't find a picture from it. I like this place best though.)


Pearl Bakery:
This place is so cute! It is right across the street from Powell Book Store so we usually stop here after. They have the best hot chocolate with tons of whipped cream, delicious bread, and the donut looking thing is called a gibassier- it is my favorite! It has orange peel in it and is so light and fluffy.

I kept trying to get a funny pic of Nate sipping his hot chocolate, this is the best one I got (:


This pizza is from the Pyro pizza food truck. It's really good. My favorite margherita pizza here is from Lovely's Fifty-fifty though. It's amazing. Nate is eating PB & Jelly fries from the Potato Champion truck. They are delicious too and have satay peanut sauce and raspberry chipotle jelly.)



These are only half of our favorite places! I think it's safe to say we have gotten a lot of good eating in since we've been here!