Day 6:Washington to Vancouver

First off HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!! Secondly, We are here!

Mountains in Washington

 We made it problem free into Canada and are staying at the Howard Johnson in downtown Vancouver! I am so excited. Can you believe less than a month ago we were at the very tip of Florida in Miami?! We literally drove from one end of the country to the other- the southeast tip to the northwest tip and now beyond! The sights in Washington were the best yet- vinyards, mountains, valleys, and more snow! Layne and I checked out Seattle for a little while because I really wanted to see Pike Place market. I of course wanted to do the tourist thing and see the very 1st Starbucks! (be proud- I didn't wait in the outrageously long line to get a coffee when 500 more Starbucks were just blocks away...)

 Crossing the Canadian border was cool but once we arrived into Vancouver it was a shocking sight to see- we both felt like we were entering Gotham City. It looks very old and run down- many buildings were halfway torn down and the others looked as if they belonged in a 3rd world country! We were ready to see Batman and the Joker come out and fight! Ha! Once we got closer to our hotel that nastiness faded. After checking into our hotel and bringing any and everything of value out of our loaded car, we went walking around the city. I am totally looking forward to tomorrow because of the shopping!!! There is a discount Aldo store just a few blocks down with outrageous deals... Umm, yes please?!!! 3 pairs of boots for the price of one normally? I will take that for sure :) (the hubby approves so its ok!) The weather worsened as we walked around and the temps dropped so. May need to find a better coat before we head further into Canada! Our dinner was at an authentic Greek restaurant called Speakeasy- it was delish. I had a salad with fresh salmon (thinly sliced;uncooked)with capers, bacon, fresh chunks of feta cheese, and cucumbers. SO VERY GOOD! We are going to tour Vancouver tomorrow and leave for our next leg on Wednesday morning. Some fun facts: we had an oil change one week ago and are already due for another one... We have driven halfway to Alaska so far... Seattle folks are a bit different. More "free spirits" than I've ever seen... It is illegal to pump your own gas in Oregon... Our accents are stronger than we thought, we get asked by everyone where we are from... It was much easier going across the border than we thought it would be... Vancouver is ugly overall and has a very high crime rate (especially when they see a lot of items in a car- great)... Welp, that's all for now! Sorry if my writing blows, I seem to be doing this late each night and eyes are burning trying to keep them open I'm so tired. I'll try to fix this problem so that I'm a little more entertaining in the future! ;)  Bye for now. God bless and THANK YOU for continued prayers over us, Jenni

Happy car rider in a packed car!