Uh, grab your passport.

It started as a pretty normal Friday night, going to dinner with friends. 

I got picked up after work, Troy goes, so uh you should grab your passport. 

We ate some delish cuban sandwiches. Super messy, left grease stains on my clothes messy,  but super delish sandwiches.

 After hanging out at a park for a while, Troy and I started north. 

Why? 

Well, why not. 

We stopped at Deception Pass on Whidbey Island. 

Saturday morning, after some exploration of Deception Pass (we saw a whole troupe of scuba divers), we kept on going North. 

We made it into Canada by 10 am and spent the whole day in Vancouver. 

The bridge to Deception Pass

In the park at Deception Pass

USA/Canada Border

Canada!

                                        They don't stamp your passport, which made us sad.

Vancouver. 

Stanley Park.

It's like Vancouver's version of Central park, except it's also right on the water. 

There were beaches. 

Not so many people out at 11, but by the time we walked back passed this part a few hours later it was packed full of swimmers and sunbathers. Tons. 

Canada Goose. 

The rose garden.

Troy amazed by the giant heated pool that sits right on the beach.

Planning to come back just to swim here. 

Sidenote, always keep a swimsuit in the car. 

Walking through the park.

Supes sunny out all day.

Park bench sitting. 

Driving through downtown. 

God Save the Queen.

Look what I found.

Haven't been to Nando's since leaving London!

Delicious Peri Peri chicken sandwich.

Troy doing some important international business in the Marriott. 

Checking out another part of the waterfront. 

We walked through Yaletown, the swanky part of downtown. Lots of shopping and open air restaurants. We were both surprised how cultured and nice and clean and fancy and awesome Canada is. 

Stereotype has been smashed. 

We happened upon the International Jazz Festival and lounged for a bit.

               

                      Stopped at one last view point before we headed back to America.

Panorama!!

So spontaneous trip to Canada? Check.
Next time be a little less spontaneous and pack clothes, toothbrush, deodorant, concealer.... you know just a few things. 

Monica Getting Magic-ed

I forgot this part. We did a brief walk through Pike's Place before the Mariners and Monica got pulled into a street magic trick.

The sound gets off track about mid video. 

I blame my phone.

BFF W/E

After months and months of badgering Monica, she finally fronted the cash for a trip out to see me in Seattle. 

She informed me of her trip by, out of the blue, asking me to pick her up at the airport in three weeks. 

She's so sneaky. 

She got here on Friday night around ten. I was excited, can you tell?

We immediately went downtown. We happy houred it up at  Pesos.

We ate delicious tacos and flautas and watched sloshed people mingle. 

The next morning I was too excited to sleep, just like at any sleepover. 

I took Monica downtown Bellevue, showed her my place of business, stopped at a coffee shop, and spent the rest morning at the fancy mall where I introduced Monica to Madewell, where she bought an entire outfit. 

We brunched at Lot No. 3. Delicious pork belly eggs benedict and avocado bacon scramblers all around.

We drove into Seattle, the Capital Hill neighborhood to be exact. It's ripe with hipsters, vegan bakeries, and vintage shops. We each tried on a few retro looks but no purchases were made. 

I became famished because it had been two hours since we last eaten. We walked over to Cupcake Royale. Their flagship bakery is in Capital Hill. 

I really like red velvet cupcakes. 

After the hipster watching, we headed downtown, stopped at the City Target and then made it to the Seattle Art Musuem. We utilized my membership to get in for freezies. 

The China room. Every third panel is a mirror, makes it look like the room goes on forever. 

We then met these guys for a Mariners game.

Rangers v. Mariners. 

We left after five innings. 

Mon and I ended up at Joey's for a late night snack and cake.
There's always room for cake. 

The next morning, I took Monica to church where she met all my peeps. 

After church we headed back downtown.

We literally ran to the terminal to make it onto the ferry in time. 

The rickshaw-esque guy made fun of us as he pedaled alongside us while we ran through the crowds of asian tourists. 

We rode the ferry out to Bainbridge Island. 

It was Monica's first time on a real boat. 

She was very excited. 

See? See all the excitement?

I wore my boat shoes for the boat activity.

 Monica was creeping on this pretty dude, this photo also displays the pretty landscape.

We lunched at That'sa Some Pizza. 

Pizza maker guy gave us free sauce for our cheesy bread, who doesn't love getting free sauce?

I was not prepared for this photo. 

I liked the picture of Monica crawling on the sign better than the one of her actually sitting on top of it. 

We wandered the quaint main street in town.

Then rode the ferry back into Seattle. 

That night we partied with ward peeps at our weekly movie night and stayed up passed Monica's bedtime.

On her last day in town we went to Snoqualmie Falls. Sadly the little hiking path down to the base was closed, so we spent a grand total of fifteen minutes there. 

My gnome coat. 

Vandalism. 

As Monica put it, We do what we want. 

Monica + Katie BFFs 2013.

Waterfalls.

The rest of the day wasn't much photographed. 

We went to XXX rootbeer for lunch, mostly because the BBQ place I wanted to go to in Issaquah was closed for Memorial Day. Still delicious though.

We got a few chocolates at the Swiss chocolate place cause we were close. 

Then, mostly as a time filler, and for ole times sake, we went to the dollar theater in Renton. 

We fulfilled Monica's love for Bruce Willis and watched a Good Day to Die Hard. 

We stopped by Ikea, mostly because it was next door. 

Did some light shopping, and ran over to the airport. 

And just like that she was gone again.