Introducing...

The soon to be Mr and Mrs Nelson!!

I could not be more thrilled.
I feel like such a lucky gal to be able to spend forever with this guy.
He is so kind, patient, loving, FUNNY, and all around awesome.

OH Canada!

Russ and I woke up really early the next morning and drove a couple hours to a ferry to take us over to Vancouver Island, Canada.
It was such a beautiful boat ride! That area is gorgeous. It was a bit chilly, but we stayed out on the deck and watched all the green islands go by, and hoped to see wild life (whales).

We made a short stop at San Juan Island.

Once we got on the island we drove around, found a place to stay and went to visit the famous Butchart Gargens.

It was amazing! We were told we went at a perfect time. Supposidly, the flowers were in the fullest bloom.



I had never seen so many bright, beautiful tullips.
They were huge gardens. Each area was from different parts of the world like Japaenese gardens, Italian..


This is one of my favorite pictures of this guy.

After we walked through the gardens, we stopped for Gelato and sat on the stairs to take in all the gardens while we ate it.


That night, stayed at a really pretty castle like place.
Surprisingly, it was inexpensive, and beautiful!


We went for a run that night around town. It was SO great. I LOVED it. For one, that night Canada had just advanced in hockey and everyone was going nuts! There had a been a big game that night that they won and everyone was stoked! As we were running, everyone was driving by honking their horns, and hanging out of their cars, and people on the streets were screaming at us in happiness asking if we watched the game. It was fun. After our run we stretched on the grounds of this pretty place...




Always having a good time :)


The next morning, we woke up and walked through the pretty gardens of our hotel and walked the streets of Victoria.


Victoria is such a pretty place. Lots of great buildings, fun little shops and restaurants right on the water, I loved it.







Later that day, it started to rain a a bit.
We took cover for lunch in China Town!

Victoria has a cute little fishermans Warf we spent the rainy afternoon at.


I would love this little warf house...so small, and oh so cute.

Evening in Victoria..


The next morning, we woke up early and went WHALE WATCHING!



It was so neat being out in the middle of the ocean and seeing these massive whales swim near you.

And the best part, I didnt even get sea sick...just a bit cold!

After the amazing whale watching, we had a quick bite of "Poutine" which was supposidly a real Canadian treat of fries with gravy and cheese curds.
It was actually really good!

Right before we were headed to jump on the Ferry back to US of A, I got to feed a wild little creature watching us eat our fries. He was SO SO cute!





Back on the ferry and back to the US!

Seattle!

On our way from Spokane to Seattle we made a couple fun stops along the way.
We drove through The Gorge which was beautiful.
We also stopped just outside of Seattle in a cute little town called Snoqualmie. There was a beautiful waterfall we went up to.


As soon as we got into Seattle it was about 7pm. We hopped on a ferry, which I thought was fun. It was the first ferry Ive been on that you just drive your car on to. We headed over to Bainbride Island where we were staying that night with one of Russ's family friend.
Our ferry ride over...

This guy is a successful lawyer in Seattle and had an amazing little cottage of a place on 20+ acres.
That night we just chatted with the Mr and Mrs over some yummy rhubarb pie and went to bed.
The next morning we went for a beautiful run! If all runs were that pretty it would make for an easier time.

We got to take a little path in the forest, it was awesome!

The pretty road leading back to their place.

After our run, we got showered and ready, had breakfast and took a little tour of their amazing place!
Russ got to stay in his own place, a cute little apartment over the garage.

I stayed in a really nice basement apartment in the basement of their pretty home.

This house is just surrounded by beautiful lush land, and ponds, and gardens, and horse pastures. It was such a cute little, well big, quaint place just outside the city.





In the back, they had really pretty pastures full of horses and open fields. Everything was so green! We went at a perfect time of year!

I love their barn. The color was so different cute.

I LOVE dogs. They had the greatest dog that loved to play fetch more then any other dog Ive ever met.
I could throw that ball a million times and it would be right back at my feet.

If I was tired for a bit, it would lay it at the bottom of my feet and just stare at me. If my legs were close enough together, it would actually put the ball in between my legs! It was hilarious. He literally placed the ball right here.

We said our goodbyes and headed back on the ferry into the city.
When we got in the city we stopped at the famous Ivars for fish and chips and clam chowder.



We were so luck with the weather! The weather was perfect in Spokane and perfect in Seattle. Not one ounce of rain. We were really lucky.
We saw the space needle..

The gum wall...







And of course Pikes Place!
I was so excited to see Pikes place. On my BUCKET LIST, one of the things on my bucket list is to catch a flying fish at Pikes Place. However, I didnt know I would have to purchases a VERY expensive fish to do this. But, I think I will still cross if off the list since I got to be there in the action while I saw it done.

The flowers were so beautiful! And really inexpensive. You could get a whole bouquet for $10.



The market was cool. Lots of fruits and vegetables, some Ive never even seen before, all different kinds of foods, like chocolate pasta. And of course, the famous pig.
I think this is such an...awkward picture. Love it.

Also, great entertainment.

Pike place, you did not dissapoint.

After the market, we drove around the city and saw a few more sites. We went to a really pretty garden and to see the Locks, a small canal they fill up and lower to get boats in and out.
Russ's cousin lives in Seattle and was nice enough to let us stay with her and her family. We drove to her house, after a somewhat long detour ( I led us astray..oops. I was the navigator and made Russ miss our turn and ended up on a highway that didnt turn off forever. Again..oops)
She had made us a delicious lasagna dinner and took us for our own personal tour of the city. She wouldnt let me take a picture of her.
They took us to the troll under the bridge.

That is an actual VW car under the trolls hand.

I really loved Seattle. We had such an intense schedule and trying to get everything in. We wish we would have had more time in each place, but Seattle was a lot of fun!