Seattle, Vancouver and Friday Harbor Part I

For this year's guy's trip, we decided to head out to Seattle and Vancouver.  Matthew had thrown out the idea of doing a Washington trip and from there we went with it.  None of us had ever been to that area of the country so it would be something completely new for all of us.

Day 1: Matthew met Dad and I in the Seattle airport.  We were only staying for one night in Seattle before heading up to Vancouver so we were ready to get settled into our hotel and start exploring the city.

Our hotel was only a few blocks from the Space Needle.

A view from the top of the Space Needle.

We Went to the Chihuly Garden and Glass exhibit next door to the Space Needle afterwards.

From there we caught the tram and headed into downtown. We stopped by Pike Brewery and checked out the Public Market

Day 2: Before heading out for our next destination, Vancouver, we stopped at the Washington Park Arboretum.  We also decided to check out the North Cascades National Park on our way to Vancouver.  It wasn't exactly along our route but was a nice detour.

Washing Park Arboretum

North Cascades National Park

After crossing the border into Canada, we checked into our hotel in Vancouver's Gaslight District and explored the area some.  I tried Poutine for the first time and it was pretty good.  It is basically french fries covered in gravy and cheese curd.  Definitely not good for you.

Seattle, Vancouver and Friday Harbor Part II

Day 3: We decided to check out the Capilano Suspension Bridge and Grouse Mountain.  The suspension bridge was pretty awesome.  Matthew and I got it rocking pretty good by syncing our steps and freaked out some Asian tourists which we thought was pretty funny.  There was also a tree top and clif walk that were really cool.

After Capilano, we headed for Grouse Mountain.  We took the gondola ride up to the top to get a view of the city but a fog had moved in so there wasn't much to see unfortunately.

From Grouse we took a drive over to Cypress Provincial Park where we did a little hiking in the snow.  Luckily the fog lifted for a little bit and we got a nice view of Vancouver.

Day 4: We decided to take a day trip up to Whistler.  We drove up the Sea to Sky Highway and stopped at Shannon Falls and Brandywine Falls along the way.

Shannon Falls

Brandywine Falls

Whistler

Seattle, Vancouver and Friday Harbor Part III

Day 5: We headed out from Vancouver and made our way back to the good ol' US of A.  We were headed to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.  We spent the day exploring Friday Harbor and a few of the beaches on the island. The following day we would be heading out on a 3 day 2 night guided kayaking and camping trip around the San Juan Islands which we were all really excited about.  This was the main reason for our trip out here and we couldn't wait to get on the water.

Drift wood on South Beach, San Juan Island.

Day 6: We got up nice and early and headed down to our outfitter, Discovery Kayaks. We loaded our gear into some dry bags, met our guide, Nate, and were heading out shortly after. We were going to begin our paddle from Smallpox Bay. The sky was pretty grey and it was rather chilly outside. The kayaks were doubles so Matthew and I decided we would paddle together and my dad paired up with Alex who was an instructor in training.  There was one other couple with the group, John and Sherri, who were very nice.

Loading up the kayaks.

We paddled to Stuart Island where we would be setting up camp for our first night. It was a very small island with one main dirt road that ran though it. We walked to a lighthouse on one end which took us by several farms and an old school house for children that lived on the island.

Day 7: Before heading out from Stuart Island we went on another short hike early in the morning. We had seen a few eagles already and I finally got a shot of one this morning.

Matthew and I switched places in the kayak and I took the front seat. We had a small disagreement as I tried to be a front seat driver, but he did a great job at the helm and I had to learn to just let go of the "driver's wheel".

We paddled to Jone's Island for our second night's campsite. We had really lucked out with the weather which had been fantastic. The past two days had been warm and sunny with blue skies. The water was a balmy 45 degrees but luckily we managed to stay upright the entire trip. There was one point I got a little nervous about rolling while paddling across an open channel and hitting some waves, but we managed to stay upright and paddle through it.

Day 8: After packing up our campsite, we headed out for our last half day of paddling. We would be coming in past Friday Harbor and stop on Turn Island for lunch. After lunch we headed back out for the last few miles of our paddle.

Our group.

Passing Friday Harbor.

After getting back to Friday Harbor, we loaded up our car and got on the ferry to head back to the mainland.  After the ferry ride we headed back to Seattle for our last night.