Vacation Day 9

Day 9... July 13

Today we cruised the Inside Passage. It was so beautiful. We spotted a few whales and hundreds of dolphins playing in our huge wake. (Tim missed the dolphins because he was in the ice cream line again) The water was so calm, you could hardly tell we were on a boat. The passage was very narrow with just a few hundred feet on each side. We headed for the gym first thing this morning and hopped on the treadmills. The gym had floor to ceiling windows of the Inside Passage, so it made working out that more enticing.

Vacation Day 8

Day 8... July 12

Bon Voyage! Today we disembarked from Vancouver aboard the Norwegian Sun and headed for Alaska. We were greeted on board with champagne, music, and all you can eat buffets. We headed straight for the ice cream bar and on deck bbq for the ribs, in that order. We read that the average cruiser gains 7-10 lbs on their cruise. Scary, but we were well on our way. We met up with Tim's parents on the cruise and thoroughly enjoyed their balcony view from their room the entire time. (Our room had no window)

Vacation Day 7

Day 7... July 12

We woke up this morning in Vancouver, Canada! We drove in yesterday after hitting a major traffic jam. Driving in Canada is a little different! Seeing speed limit signs such as 100 km instead of 55mph was great! (That only amounts to 60 mph) After walking the main street in Vancouver (Robson St) last night we were ready to hit Stanley park on bikes. Basically it is a huge park that has a one way biking/walking path all the way around with views of the city and beaches right on the path. It goes for about 10 miles. I haven't mentioned much about weather yet, but I think we experienced 4 of the best days both in Seattle and Vancouver with highs in the 80's. So after our long bike ride we decided to skip all of the touristy things and head to the beach to lay out. It was a very relaxing day. We went to a nice dinner at the C Restaurant on the waterfront and had some of the best fish ever! Probably the classiest restaurant we have ever been to. After dinner we took a mini ferry over to Granville Island to walk along the docks. Vancouver really is a great city!

Vacation Day 5 and 6

Day 5 & 6... July 9 & 10

Today we discovered that the direct route in Oregon may not be any faster than the scenic route if you get stuck behind an RV, which happened en route to Portland. We stopped in Portland for donuts...yes donuts. Before we left on this trip we were watching one of those travel channel specials that was an episode on "most outragous places to eat." Of course Tim was not going to miss out on Voodoo Donuts where they put just about anything you can imagine on top of a donut. Tim got the Voodoo vegan donut and to his surprise he pulled the little pretzel out of the donut's heart and it was covered in red jelly. He continued to eat it further and discovered that the inside was bursting with red jelly. Humorous... From there is was on to Seattle. We found the best way to see Seattle is to get a Seattle CityPass. These passes only cost $50 dollars and you get up to 6 attractions. We opted for the harbor cruise, Experience Music Project (where Tim was excited about the guitar exhibit boasting many famous musician's guitars and I walked up to Michael Jackson's white glove without even realizing it was in the place) Science Center (with incredible butterfly exhibit), IMAX 3D Theater, and a ride up the space needle on both days we were there. We also biked all over Seattle to the University of Washington and Pike's Place famous market.

Vacation Day 4

Day 4... July 8

This morning we woke up to rain and oil leaking out of the car! We found a place to have the car looked at in Lincoln City, since there was nothing in Neskowin. We dropped the car off at the shop and unloaded the bikes and started biking down HWY 1 in the rain to kill time. This might be my least favorite memory of the trip. Of course Tim was flying down the HWY as I tried to keep up, cars whizzing past us and rain still falling. I came to a stop after not being able to keep up the hill on my bike and of course started to cry. After a few moments of Tim teaching me how to actually use the gears properly on my bike we were off again and I started to smile as I saw a big sign for outlets coming up! After my first purchase at the outlets I remembered that Oregon has no sales tax! I knew the day was going to only get better. It turned out that the car was fine. The people at Jiffy Lube in SLO forgot to properly screw the oil filter back on. grr! So we got back in the car and headed to Pacific City to hike giant sand dunes! It was hard work climbing up the giant dune, but way more fun running down. Then it was off to the Tilamook Cheese Factory (pretty much the only thing Tim really wanted to do in Oregon) We sampled ice cream and cheese galore! We have never tasted better ice cream. I havn't seen it in the stores around here.

Vacation Day 3

Day 3... July 7

After our delicious farmhouse breakfast we hit the road. We didn't know how long the trip was going to take, but we left at 9am so it felt like we had plenty of time.... Over 10 hours later we arrived in Neskowin, Oregon! The picture of me with the Cal Poly sweatshirt on is in front of Crescent City, which is the last major city before you reach Oregon. We stopped for lunch at the Smith River and saw tons of elk in Northern Ca. We then continued all the way up the coast going 55 mph (Oregon HWY speed limit) until we arrived in Neskowin at Ryan James' parents beach house. Neskowin is a super small town just outside of Lincoln City. It was so cute with a small community of beach houses and one local cafe. We spent two days at the beach house exploring. The picture of the big rock on the beach is the view from the deck of the beach house. The rock is called "Proposal Rock".

Vacation Day 2

Day 2... July 6

Today we discovered the town of Mendocino. It was such a quaint town, we only wished we could have spent more time checking it out. We stopped and watched some surfers just above Fort Bragg and then drove the the end of HWY 1 and met up with the 101 again. We took several scenic sections through old growth redwood groves. We stopped in Fortuna and stayed at a farmhouse bed and breakfast (pictured below) I even got an hour massage for 20 bucks here!