Onward to Seattle

Happy Friday people!  Did anyone else feel like this week took twice as long as a normal week?  What's up with that?!  Half way through I actually forgot what day it was; neeedless to say, I'm pretty stoked it finally Friday!  Well, guess what I have for you...yet another Olympic/Seattle post.  Enjoy!

After we woke up at Lake Crescent rested and rejuvenated (with only the teeniest hangover) and went on our wonderful little hike to Marymere Falls we packed up our things and hopped in the car.  We continued down the 101, the highway that loops around the park and stopped in Port Angeles for a light lunch.  Then, we intended to make our way up to Hurricane Ridge for the spectacular view.  Sadly, the ridge was a bit foggy that day, but we decided to drive up as far as we could until the visibility was too low to see anything.  Just an heads up, if you intend to drive up to Hurricane Ridge make sure you stop at the visitor's center in Port Angeles (on your way to Hurricane Ridge)...they have a web cam that shows the HR visitor's center at the peak and you can get an idea of what the visibility is like at that moment.

It was sprinkling as we were going up, so there were lovely little droplets on everything.

Making our way up.  I'd say we got about half way up before we decided it was too foggy and headed back down the hill.

Still, the view of Port Angeles and the bay was gorgeous from where we were.

After our attempt at Hurricane Ridge we continued driving east toward Bainbridge Island, where we took the ferry over to Seattle.  I had never been on a ferry where you drive your car on board, so that was a cool experience for me.  And lucky for us, the rain had cleared about an hour or so before and we had a beautiful view of downtown Seattle as we crossed Puget Sound.

Before heading to the hotel we grabbed a couple bánh mì sandwiches in Chinatown at Saigon Vietnam Deli (Antoine was over the moon about these because they were very traditional and incredibly affordable).  After we checked into the hotel and basked in its awesomeness, we decided to take a little walk around downtown and grab a bubble tea at Bobachine.  We were pretty tired so we decided to turn in early in anticipation for all we had planned for our anniversary the following day.

Stay tuned next week for the last of the Seattle posts and hopefully a fun post about ventriloquist dummies...which will have absolutely nothing to do with Seattle, I promise. Have a great weekend everyone!

Vancouver: Part Three (Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Chinese Garden)

On the last full day of our trip we decided to get up early and head to Chinatown, which was within walking distance of our hotel.  We got their around 9:30am, on a Saturday, and the neighborhood still seemed to be asleep.  Chinatown itself was a little sad looking with its array of local vagrants and panhandlers, but our primary reason for visiting was Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's Classical Chinese Garden.  I had had several people recommend the place as a must-see, so we put it on our list.  Since we got there before they opened at 10am, we walked around to the other side of the garden where there is a public Chinese garden. This Chinese garden is free and open to the public yet is connected to the the classical garden.  It's a little more run-down than Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's garden, which charges admission, but it is still worth a visit. 

The entrance to Dr. Sun Yat-Sen's Classical Garden is just next to the public garden.  Red Chinese lanterns flank the entrance, making it easy to spot.  Again, since we went during the off-season, the garden was crowd-free, with only a couple other groups there visiting.

Though we were lucky to have a break in the rain and the sun came out, I have to admit that Winter isn't the best time to go to the gardens.  While it was still beautiful and worth the experience, I can only imagine how breathtaking the gardens are in the Spring and Summer months!  I'd venture to say that it's probably well worth braving the crowds to see everything in bloom and flourishing.

See you next time (or at least I hope), for a recap of some random highlights from our trip!  Seriously, I hope you come back because I'm going to let you in on one of the best things to do in Vancouver...something I didn't believe was going to be as awesome as it was...