Seattle & Vancouver

The tall dr and I spent a wonderful week on the Pacific West Coast.  One of his best friends from college that he ran track with at Auburn, lives in Vancouver.  I was dying to meet the infamous Laurier, so we decided to head his way!  We spent half of our time in sunny Seattle and the other half in beautiful Vancouver, Canada.  I had never been to either place, so there were lots of places I wanted to go and lots of things I wanted to do!  It was a busy week, but it was also one of the best weeks.  Caution-long post!

We were up bright and early for our flight to Seattle!

#earlymorningselfie

Beautiful Mt. Hood!

#airplanepic

We stayed in downtown Seattle and had amazing views from our hotel room!

#pugetsound 

I never find my name on anything, anywhere...but in Seattle, they love the name Virginia!

#soexcited

While out shopping on our first day, I found Christian Grey's building!!

#50shadesofgrey #escala #luxuryliving

I spy the space needle!

#beautiful

Visiting Pike Place Market was must-see for me!

#bucketlist

Our second day in Seattle, we took a three hour tour of the city...we got to see all that Seattle had to offer!

#kerrypark

We went to where all the ships are docked...Deadliest Catch docks here!

#boatseverywhere

This is the Sleepless in Seattle house...I literally screamed out loud on the bus when we saw it!

#favoritemovieever #seemedbiggerinthemovie

The Space Needle!

#sotall

Right across the street from the Space Needle is the facade they use for Grey's Anatomy!

#iscreamedagain #somuchtosee

He never smiles for pictures!

#tongueout

The Space Needle had a selfie machine!

#socool #beautifulviews

He's finally on board with taking "outfit" pics before dinner each night!  ha!

#hesagoodsport

Thank you Meghan Henig and Matthew Bishop for making this recommendation; hands down, the BEST steak of my life.  If you're ever in Seattle, GO!!  

#filet #stilltalkingaboutit

I was smitten with my 1/2 bottle of wine!

#weneedtheseinbham

We thought there was no way we could eat this whole thing because it was so huge...but we did!

#oops

My GQ man!

#strikeapose

Another must see on my list was the first ever, original Starbucks!!

#bucketlist

I waited in line for an hour, but the entertainment made it worth it!

#wouldnthavemissedit

The tall dr was a good sport and waited with me for my special drink!

#itwasworthit

The best sugar free caramel soy latte I've ever had!

#vente #nomakeup

We sat by the water and had our coffees and pastries!

#piroshky #delish

We burned off our big breakfast by walking through Pike Place Market...if only I could have bought some of the beautiful flowers!

#greatprices 

Another must see for me was the fish counter in the market!  I was dying to catch a fish, but unfortunately, they weren't throwing them while we were there.

#bucketlist #fishfishfish

The infamous gum wall!

#gross 

Another must-do for me was to ride a ferry boat.  I'm a huge Grey's Anatomy fan and a trip to Seattle wouldn't be complete without seeing a ferry boat!  The cars were lined up and ready to drive onto the boat to Bainbridge Island!

#ferryboat

We had a "Mer-Der" moment on the ferry boat!

#greysanatomy #socool

After a long day of walking, we had a magical dinner at the Pink Door.  It was delish and the views were AMAZING!

#smileforthecameraplease #took10tries

So yeah, we kind of looked like twins that night!

#bluelinen

We rented a car in Seattle and headed north to Vancouver.  The line for the border crossing wasn't too long!

#passportsneeded #ocanada

Right after we crossed into Canada, we stopped for snacks.  Y'all, these chips are life changing.  I'm not even a chip person, but I fell in love with these all dressed Ruffles!

#cometotheUSAplease #wishihadboughtmore

Laurier took us downtown to his friend Doug's new coffee shop, Moja.  It was super chic and we felt pretty fancy getting to sit at the counter in the special bar stools!

#coffeewasamazing #mojacoffee

Doug hooked us up with free everything!  The pastries were as good as they looked!

#icouldgetusedtothislife

Thanks, Doug, for giving the royal treatment to us Alabamians!

#allaboutwhoyouknow #mojacoffee

Next stop in Vancouver was the beautiful Granville Island!

#absolutelybreathtaking

We took a water bus around the island to check out all the views!

#aquabus

I try to buy a Christmas ornament every time I travel to a new place; I found a great one on Granville Island and the sweet lady personalized it for me!

#readyforthetree #firstcoupleornament

While Laurier did some work, we kept ourselves entertained with very cold beverages!

#itwashot #italianspritzer

Vancouver is the home of my fave brand, Lululemon.  Thank you to Laurier who drove us WAY out of his way to take me to a massive one!

#iwassquealingwithexcitement #itookoffrunning #imadeafewpurchases

The next day, we drove out to see the Capilano suspension bridge.  They had recently added this cliff walk...it was kind of scary!

#dontlookdown

300 feet in the air!

#thetalldrisscaredofheights

Before we walked across the suspension bridge, we enjoyed a tasty burger and hot dog from the Grill!

#coolatmosphere 

I picked up these cute little guys for my girls in the gift shop!

#mountedpolice 

Can't believe I did this...it was WAY shakier than I thought it would be!

#holdontight

We made it across!

#hallelujah 

I already knew this, but he has the wing span of an owl!

#longarms

And not surprisingly, I have short arms!

#canadagoose

I spy the Lululemon headquarters!!

#lulucrazed

The Primeau's took us to "West Van" for a beautiful dinner on the water!

#icouldlivehere

West Van was absolutely gorgeous!

#nohumidity

We had a delicious dinner at the Beach House!

#dinnerwithaview

These two are something else...best friends doesn't even begin to cover it!

#oysters

We had the best table!

#lucky 

I think we clean up pretty well!  ;)

#hefinallyposedforapic

Thank you to the weird man eating behind us who put this napkin on the tall dr's head...it made for great dinner entertainment!

#neveradullmoment

Our hosts, Gladys and Laurier!

#lovethem #wishwelivedcloser #hopeipassedthetest

After a delectable dinner, they took us downtown to enjoy some authentic French macaroons!

#ihaveasweettooth

Our next stop was Theater Sports on Granville Island!

#ilovedit #improv 

Ready to see some late night improv!

#weneedthisinbham #laughedmybuttoff

On our last night, the Primeau's hosted a lobster boil.  These beauties were flown in fresh from Newfoundland!

#boxfull #lobsterseverywhere

Josh "manned" the pot!

#fillherup

Yep, I was squealing!

#firsttimetoholdalobster

Not gonna lie...I was a little anxious about "cracking" and eating my first whole Lobster...thank you to all who helped me!

#omg #delicious

This was the aftermath!

#worththework #soneat

Unfortunately, our time away came to a close and we had to head back South.  Thank you to Erica for recommending Tim Horton's...it helped the long plane ride back be a little less painful!

#timbits

I think we were delirious in Houston!

#passingthetime #airportselfie