It doesn't Always Rain in Seattle

I haven't seen my cousin Storm in too long and these last couple of days with her have been great. She totally made us feel welcome in her home. Even her three cats put up with Maggie invading their space.

Let me tell you it is great fun going to all these different places and figuring out where to go and what to see, but there is nothing like seeing a city through the eyes of a local. They know all the cool places to go, how to get there and more importantly where to park. I think, as a tourist, most of the day spent going places is wasted on finding a place to park. When you travel with locals, you get to sit back and relax knowing you are being taken somewhere great.

We did so many things it is hard to mention them all. One of my favorites was going to Seattle and seeing the famous Pike Place Market. It is in all the movies where you see the guys throwing fish, which is neat, but the best part of the market is all the snacky food you can get. We got chocolate covered cherries, bags of candy, hazelnuts, cheese, and of course coffee. I also bought a silver bracelet that has "Happiness is a Choice" etched in it. It is a really nice reminder for me to, not sweat the small stuff. The ironic thing is that the woman had to bend it pretty hard to keep it from slipping off my rather small wrist and now I can't take it off. So happiness is still a choice, but taking off the bracelet is not, I am stuck with it. But I like it so whatever... We really enjoyed talking to all the different vendors. Most of these vendors are farmers and independent people that are so passionate about what they are selling.

The next day we went to another country...the Greene's second time in Canada. We drove around Vancouver and went to the Granville Island Public Market, where we ate more snacky goodness and drank more coffee. We also drove through the famous Stanley Park.

I must make mention of the food in Washington. We have eaten in some of the best restaurants and had some of the freshest food of the trip so far. My new favorite fish is Sockeye Salmon. Yummy!!! The coffee here is also great and not just at Starbucks. There are hundreds of little mom and pop coffee places. I must also mention that even thought this has been an extremely cold April for the upper west coast, we had two beautiful sunny days here. Debunking the myth that it is always raining in Seattle.

Thanks again to Stormy, Rainy and Dan for showing us such a good time!

Click here to see all our photos from Seattle and Click here to see all our photos from Vancouver