~*~Pammmies~*~

smilejenn

Your honeymoon sounded like the perfect vacation! How long were you gone for? What was your itinerary like? We're probably a couple years from taking that vacation, but I would love to hear your thoughts on the cities. Did you happen to blog about it or post the photos online?

Pammmies

We went for two weeks, so we spent around 3-4 days in each city. It was cool because we used every mode of transportation short of riding a horse while we were there. My only complaint was not getting enough time in Portland, but we rented a car and drove out to the Oregon coast for a day- I HIGHLY recommend it.

We flew to Seattle, and stayed at the Sheraton downtown in the business district. If we make it out there again we would probably rent a car so we could see more areas, and go to Mt. Ranier to hike.. we wanted to do that but ran out of time. We took a ferry to Alki Beach and then to Bainbridge island, both were really cool. Of course we did Pike's Place and  saw the original Starbucks (which was packed, so we didn't bother going in) and went to the Space Needle. I am a huge Pearl Jam fan so we went to Mike McCready's bar and hung out one night. Oh and we rented kayaks from the University of Washington campus and kayaked on Lake Union (or Lake Washington, I can't remember) and got to see the houseboat community and some wildlife.

From there we took a clipper boat to Victoria (stock up on the Dramamine!). It is such a pretty city, and it's on the water so we ate dinner watching the sunset every night we were there. We walked through the Empress Hotel, which is a big deal because the Queen of England has stayed there and they do a high tea every afternoon. We didn't do that, it is a bit pricey. The Buchardt Gardens are a must see! The city also has a China Town, and a nice shopping area. We took the bus to the gardens and didn't need a car to get around at all, but we were staying close to the Empress, which is in the center of everything. Then we took a Ferry to Vancouver, but we didn't get to see any whales

I liked Vancouver, but a bartender in Seattle who was from there kinda scared me into thinking it was really unsafe, so I was on edge there the whole time. Robson Street is the big deal shopping district, it has it all from Gucci to Gap. We rented bikes one day and rode around Stanley Park, Vancouver's version of Central Park which is along the water. There are also beaches (not like here at all, hard to explain), and some islands you can take a ferry to. We also hit up a bunch of late-night happy hours, which was a lot of fun. We went to the Gastown area for dinner one night- it was really nice, but the area around it was a little sketchy after dark, so we took a cab back to the hotel. It wasn't bad at all like the bartender said, but we stayed in the more touristy areas, that were always packed with people. Oh, and in Canada they do not tip as much as Americans, so the cab drivers loved us!

Then we took a bus from Vancouver to somewhere else, where we took a train to Portland. As I said, everything short of a horse and buggy! If I had a choice, we would live in Portland. It is so beautiful out there, the trees, the mountains, the water! How I miss it! We went out to the coast the first day we were there, and drove along the water. We had lunch in Astoria (where they filmed Goonies, a really cute beach town) and went to the Tillamook dairy factory. We sampled cheeses and ice cream, it was heavenly! We drove around and checked out the different areas (I was looking for a house to buy since DH was still in law school and didn't have a job lined up yet..) and walked around downtown. I would have liked to try skiing at Mt. Hood, but we were exhausted by this point of the trip. The cool thing was when we were flying out of Portland we could see all the mountains. It was really cool for this Flat-Floridia girl

Wow this is long, and this is just a summary! I can give you more details in regards to hotels and resturants if you are interested, and I have pictures on my snapfish account if you want to pm me your email address. DH planned the whole trip, and I believe he booked all the hotels through priceline, so we got some good rates for nicer hotels. I was really impressed with all the research and planning he did, considering he also had finals!  

Pammmies

yikes that is long!

smilejenn

Wow! Thank you for taking the time to type up all that information for me! I will definitely be PM'ing you my email address!

That is definitely my dream trip, and hopefully we'll have the time to do it in a couple years. Here's my dilemma. We already have a our big vacation planned this summer, but we have a large amount in vouchers with United that needs to be used up this year. DH doesn't have a lot of vacation time left, and we'd only have a long weekend to play with. Since the airfare would be free, I thought it might be a good time to go somewhere far away and completely different than FL. (ie the northwest) I was thinking about Seattle or Portland. Would you recommend the later? We'll have our toddler along for the ride, so we won't be going out at night or eating four course meals.  

Pammmies

Hmm.. that is a toughy. I think if you are going for longer than a couple days, then choose Seattle. Overall there would be more to do and see.

But then if you are renting a car, you could always head out to the Oregon coast if you went to Portland. I am indecisive!

Maybe the pictures will help you decide  

smilejenn

Thank you for sending me the photos - they are beautiful! I'm still torn about which city would be better for a short trip. They both look like fun I wish we had passports already - Canada looked amazing!