10 Year Anniversary Trip Continues...

Day 3 we decided to venture out of the city and go up North through a couple of the islands. Our first stop was on a ferry to get us over to the first island.

The trees are so big, its nearly impossible to try to capture how this looks in person!

First we stopped in this cute little beach down to roam around in the water. Apparently this area sees Whales during a few months out of the year- we clearly caught it at low tide.

This picture cracks me up- he didn't like the sand on his feet so he stuck them out the window to clean them...while driving! Have no fear Washington has the slowest speed limits imaginable and there was no one around.

Next stop- hiking and another beach...if there's one thing we did on this trip it was a lot of walking and hiking- no sitting still on our vacations- and we wouldn't have it any other way!

Our last stop was Deception Pass- by far my favorite beach and well worth the drive! This to me is one of those hidden gems of Washington that I could have spent hours exploring. Every twist and turn of this beach made for more incredible views! I loved the huge rocks and the way the water splashed up on them- it was so gorgeous!

 

When were were on top of the bridge we were able to FaceTime with the kids so they could see the views, it was really neat. Jaxson was so interested while we were gone on everything we were doing each day, so it was really neat to get to share that experience over the phone- gotta love technology!

If that wasn't enough for one day we finished off the night with more fun back in Seattle. The concierge at our hotel had told us about this unique restaurant called the Pink Door. The most unique part is there is no sign- just a pink door in the middle of an alley. This place was packed and you had to have a reservation- by far the best Italian food ever! And if the food wasn't enough, we had table side entertainment! That particular night the entertainment for the night was a trapeze artist whose swing happened to be right in front of our table!

After dinner we went back over to the market to check out some of the tourist attractions in the area- first up the famous gum wall...smelled like peppermint and was GROSS!

Then down to the pier to finish off the night on the Ferris Wheel.

Our last day in Seattle was out to Mount Rainier- several hours in the car, but well worth the drive! Mount Rainier is so amazing! The park is gorgeous with several unique bridges and curves to the road, beautiful waterfalls and rocks carved up to make roads- it was so neat to see it all in person!

This is called reflection lake, it was towards the end and really made for the most amazing view of Mount Rainier.

After our fun day at Mount Rainier we headed back to our hotel for our last dinner in Seattle. For this dinner we took the ferry over to Bainbridge Island. We caught the ferry at the perfect time and captured the beautiful views of Seattle from the water.

We ate at this neat little local burger place that was right on the water. The food, the drinks, the table...all of it was amazing!

The ferry back to Seattle departed pretty late but we were able to see Seattle in the dark...very dark :)

10 Year Anniversary Trip

Last month we had the blessing to spend 8 wonderful days in Washington doing a road trip for our 10 year anniversary. When we started planning this trip we knew it was a toss up on how the weather would behave- much to our surprise the weather was amazing and we couldn't have asked for a better week! Our flight out was very early- traveling to the west coast doesn't exactly make for convenient flight times- so our first day was very long....like we were up for around 21 hours! The flight into Seattle of course made for amazing views from the sky!

We had talked to our friends who live in the area about where we wanted to stay and I knew I wanted something that had a local flare- nothing that was a franchise chain, but something with character. We instantly selected the Alexis off the list that they recommend and the hotel did not disappoint.....like we were in a suite...way more space than we needed, it was perfect for our five days in Seattle. How amazing is this room!

Our hotel was just a few block from everything which was so convenient. Our first stop was to the market- which was amazing!

We finished off the day at the Space Needle. When we got there it didn't look like that long of a line, but the wait was a couple hours long because they can only allow a certain number of people up at each time. The time slot we were given was perfect- right when the sun was setting! The views were amazing- this last picture with Mount Rainier in the background is one of my favorites!

Day two we kicked off with an amazing breakfast and we did the underground tour. The history on Seattle is incredible, we really enjoyed this tour! The pictures don't tell much of a story- but the stories we got from the tour were both shocking and hilarious!

The rest of the day was spent with our friends Thaddeus and Shari who we met when they lived in Texas. They grew up in Seattle and were great tour guides for us to give us some suggestions to make our trip incredible! They have 3 adorable boys who we hope can meet our kids one day.

After we left them they recommended that we check out Alki Beach to see beach front views of the Seattle skyline...once again their suggestion did not disappoint! There was a small sprinkle over the city that made a beautiful rainbow and on the other side a beautiful sunset! It was a great stop, these pictures don't do justice to how gorgeous this was in person!