A Whirlwind City Tour: Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland

We left Invermere and drove through mountain snows toward Vancouver.  Since we were way behind on our anticipated timeline, we knew we had to push the trip a little faster on our way through the Pacific Northwest.  We had two big dates coming up: meeting with friends Diego and Helen on Oct. 25th in San Francisco, and then picking up our Mexico travel partners Sarah and Matt on Nov. 3rd in Las Vegas. 

 

We had planned to visit Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland as we begin making our way south.  We would have loved to take the time to visit these cities for longer, and even some of the parks nearby, but there was no way to continue our previous pace and still be able to fulfill our commitments, so... time to put the pedal to the metal!

 

We spent a day and a half in Vancouver.  We visited Granville Island, the farmers market, Stanley Park and drove through the city a bit.  Not much time to get to know the whole city but we had a nice visit!  Some pictures below:

 

 

 

 

Next we were heading south, crossing the border back into the US, and a stop in Seattle. It rained off and on all day, but we barely noticed. Seattle was the city we liked best out of the three, really because of Pike's Place Market.  What could be more fun than a crowded market with something going on everywhere and such delicious foods to be tried?  We are really looking forward to the markets in Mexico and Central America! We only had a day to spend in Seattle, but it was a fun one.

 

 

Last stop on the 3-city tour was Portland.  Unfortunately, on the only day we had to spend there, it was POURING all day long.  I spent the morning at the laundromat, and Ricardo spent it changing the oil and rotating tires on the car.  We ate lunch at a little Mexican place where we had a margarita and dreamed of sunny Mexican beaches while watching the rain through the window.  We drove through Portland a little bit, but didn't get very many photos to turn out well due to the rain.  Sorry Portland, I'm sure you have much more to offer but we'll have to leave it for another time - we're on a tight schedule!

 

 

 

That afternoon, we headed on our way to the Oregon Coast.