Vacation is defined as, "freedom or release from duty, business, or activity.
Amen, I don't think that could have been said any better, but that is what I did this last weekend had some freedom from business for awhile. My friends
and I decided to take a trip up to Seattle/Vancouver this weekend just to get away and it was awesome! Vancouver is one of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen!
Megan and I flew up early Thursday morning where we met Leslie, Syd, Morgan, Matt, and Zane in Seattle.
After a quick breakfast and some crazy stories from the night before (like them discovering a piece of poop in the hot tub that they were in) we made our way up to Vancouver. Vancouver was so beautiful and an amazing city, but one suggestion for everyone who might go up there is don't stay in the Radisson in downtown Vancouver. We named our hotel that we stayed in for two night's p2, which stands for porn and pizza. Pretty much every other store was either a pizza place or a porn joint which happened to also be the heart of the red light district.
Our hotel hallway somehow had the smell of a rotting dead person mixed with a new carpet smell, it was horrible and I can't decided which was better: the fire alarm that went off at two in the morning one night or the music being so loud that it felt like the club was in our bathroom the other night. One moment that I'm still laughing at is getting stuck in a small elevator with at least 10 people crammed into it.
I thought half my group was going to die after the 30 seconds we had been in there. It sounds like a complete waist of time to go up there, but it wasn't in any way, shape, or form because that just made the experience that much better.
We started our journey to Lynn's canyon which is a GEORGOUS area with a huge suspended bridge that looks over waterfalls and an amazing lake.
Besides that, you got to walk around a forest where we came to a small but beautiful green pond that would have been the perfect place to swim in, but it was so cold!
We also made our way to Stanberry Park. This park is huge; it covers the whole tip of a peninsula that you are able to view all of Vancouver. They had pretty much everything there from totem poles to rose gardens (ok, dead roses)
to a miniature train (we didn't get to see that because they were having some sort of labor dispute, but we did happen to see a black squirrel when we were walking over there!).I think the thing that I wanted to do the most was take a jog around the park. I don't think that I would ever make it around all the way, actually I know that I couldn't, but that is what I kept thinking the entire time, that I just wanted to run!
Other than that Vancouver also consisted of shopping (as usual), but the prices up there are horrendous! If there is one reason why I couldn't live up there it would be because of how expensive everything was (wait, minus the porn…that stuff was like 25 cents for a sneak-peak—don't worry I didn't look!).
But Vancouver also consisted of really great food, more shopping, me loosing my voice (I had some pretty great looks from people when I would open my mouth), incredible candy (Clodhoppers and Maynards, if you ever get a chance to try them jump at the opportunity), and being rejected by my friends for liking tootsie rolls
(I still think that is considered a candy bar guys. I object to all six of your objection votes and vote that my favorite is tootsie rolls).
After a great time up there we headed back down on Saturday to be able to spend all of Sunday in Seattle. Despite our not so great hotel in Vancouver we were blessed with an awesome one in Seattle. The first thing I got to do when we got to the hotel was run in the gym! It was so nice! I really liked Seattle and thought it was a really pretty city. I have been up there before on soccer tournament trips,but I had forgotten how great it is. Seattle reminded me so much of San Francisco I had to think twice at times where I actually was! We didn't have too much time there, but we did have a chance to go on an underground tour of the city.
Apparently, I know I don't have all my facts strait but you'll get the picture, a 13 block radius of Seattle burnt down in the late 18th century.
Now I'm not really sure why they did this, I wasn't paying attention, but they built on top of the city that already was there, so some of the buildings that you are looking at in Seattle the first floor is underground and the second is at main level. It was one of my favorite parts to be able to walk under the streets and actually see the full city that they had under there. It has been there for years and at different times in history it has been underground shopping, a place to put earthquake debris, and currently today they use it for tours or because land is so expensive the owners of the shops above ground also use it their space for storage. I just thought that was a really neat and how they have this whole other life underground!! Oh and I forgot to mention that a lot of people have seen ghost down there, but unfortunately I was not able to see one, maybe next time!
And there you have the gist of my "vacation" that I went on this weekend. There were so many great laughing moments like: "Zane me that," the high five that was not really a high five by Leslie, counting 1-7 every time we left a store or sight seeing place, poop in the hot tub, stomps inside our minivan, the double flush, chanting-chanting-chanting, measuring body sizes with Morgan's belt, Zane's and Syd's fighting, "Hey guys, hey guys this is my pleather jacket", and so much more!
Basically I just want to say to 1-6 that was a zane-tastic trip, Zane on, Vancouver/Seattle!! Zane, LIZ!
Our teams pumpkin, I think, should have won the whole entire match, but instead we lost. 
I think we need a new judge, but her name needs to be Sue or our pumpkin won't make sense! I think we did good Leslie and Bromley. We'll get them!
I thought it was pretty creative, a bum crack.
