I admit, I travel quite often. I'm not complaining, but most trips- like 95%, involve a wedding, a funeral, or work. Being married to a farmer is super rewarding, I just can't expect to do anything with the hubs between the months of April through October. My Birthday is in August and Jasen's is in September so I came up with this great idea to do an extended weekend trip to celebrate our birthdays, not have to worry about being away from work, or have to buy presents. First was the 3 hour car trip to Seattle... With a little stop at the Issaquah Farmers Market. The only way I can describe how much I love going to farmers markets is to describe it like going to an art museum. If you like art museums, that is. We got some gourmet pasta in sweet potato, basil garlic, and lime cilantro from Pappardelle's. Yum.After findin
g the parking garage downtown Seattle, we caught a taxi to Pier 91 where we boarded the lovely Golden Princess. This is only a one night cruise to Vancouver so I figured we should splurge for the balcony room, plus I wanted Jasen to get a good first impression of cruising so this would be just the first of many to come. When I made the reservation, I put these thoughts in the comment box. Well, good first impression is what he got. We were upgraded to a penthouse suite. We had a double balcony with lunge chairs and table for four, a jetted tub, a separate shower, a walk-in closet, and two tv's. 700 sq. feet of amazing. It's been a couple of years since I've been on a Princess cruise, but I still say the cheesecake is the best thing on the board.
Off the ship and on a bus. We were shuttled to the Vancouver Convention Center for Customs. We were a little early to check-in to the hotel so we did the most obvious thing and found the local farmers market for lunch. Jasen had a chicken pot pie that looked better than it tasted and I had an amazing toasted mozzarella, pesto, tomato croissant from a French bakery. I've been through Vancouver before, but have not spent any significant time here. I love it. Beautiful scenery and talk about diversity! We were there on a Sunday night and the streets were filled with people out and about. If you are ever there, stop in to eat at the Cactus Club Cafe (this is where we had our second piece of cheesecake).
Another early m
orning took us to the Amtrak station were were rode the Cascades route back to Washington. Again, thinking short and sweet, we had upgraded to the business class and for the record, not worth the extra money. We spent a good amount of time in the dining car and enjoyed the leisurely coastal route to Seattle. Seattle, home to Whole Foods (ingredients for Birthday dinner), Cheesecake Factory (birthday cake), and a $38 parking ticket. Overall it was a great three-day birthday celebration. Thank you, Jasen! xoxo
