Oh Seattle. I love you. Your people are laid back and I never want to leave the waterfront. Vacation was incredible. I ended up touring down the west coast of Washington with my aunt and cousin and I can not wait to go back. The first night we woke up at 5 am and quickly showered and hopped into the car. Alberta roads are incredibly quick and it felt like we made it to Merrit, BC in no time at all. I have been through the mountains many times so this part of the trip was more just getting to our destination. We did however see the oddest thing at the Merrit Boston Pizza. These two girls were eating dinner with their pants half off. Maybe it is a new fashion statement I am not quite aware of yet.
The next day we woke up semi early to get out of the scariest motel in the world (seriously, totally gross) and hit the border. We were Seattle bound. Luckily we did not have much trouble navigating the road way to and around Seattle. We only ended up getting lost one night and then decided that we should probably use the Tom Tom. Looking back I wish we would of spent a whole week in Seattle. There was so much to do and see. We walked down to the waterfront, went on a duck tour, shot up the Space Needle, shopped at Pike Place Market and visited Jimi Hendrix. Next time I would take more time to walk around downtown and experience all of the little independent shops and restaurants. Food was the one thing that we really didn’t focus on. Once we finally found an elusive grocery store we bought some staples and mainly stuck to eating dinners out. I will be back to Seattle as soon as possible, I just loved it.
After Seattle we were Forks, Washington bound. Yes, we did the Twilight Tour. Forks was a cute little town but you could tell the Twilight fanaticism was dying down. I would never go back to Forks for twilight but I could have easily spent the entire summer there enjoying the beaches. La Push was cute and Ruby Beach was to die for. Next time I go I want to spend more time in the national parks. It was incredible driving through the coast with water 5 or 6 feet away. One day I will end up by the beach, but until then I will miss it every day.
After leaving Forks we had the driving day from hell. Twelve hours through mountains, rush hour and smokey interstates. Luckily our hotel in Spokane was easy to find, clean and super comfy. After a night of good sleep we decided to find breakfast and hit the mall for a bit of retail therapy. We did not have a lot of time due to the fact that we did not want to lose daylight while driving through Banff to our last hotel. I actually managed to not take a single photo while we were in Canmore. Partly due to the fact that we were only four hours away from home and wanted to leave ASAP, partly out of sheer sloth.
After embarking on a road trip being at home has never felt quite so good. I can stretch, use the washroom and do whatever I want. With that being said I would never hesitate to do another one. There is something so unique about driving to your destination. I would have missed a lot of experiences had I chose to fly down to Seattle. I have not yet done the official weigh in post vacation but I feel like I am up a couple of pounds. My choices left a lot to be desired but there really is no reason to dwell on it right now. I am already back to eating healthy and have resumed my workouts. After all I do have a half marathon to train for.
