Tuesday, March 29, 2011

5 Cities in 9 Days

Last week, we went on a trip. A very exhausting trip. We started by flying to Seattle, then taking a train to Portland, then flying to Sacramento and renting a car to drive to San Francisco (and Kevin flew to LA from San Francisco for work, and came back the same day), then driving back to Sacramento for a few days. Whew! That was a lot of traveling. But we had a lot of fun. Beware, there are many, many pictures in this post!!!!!

Seattle

Our first stop was in Seattle, to see our good friend Mike get married. We were basically there for one day, but in the morning we had time to visit Pike Place, which was very cool.








































We saw the famous fish market where the employees throw the fish! Unfortunately, it was in the morning when it first opened, so they weren't throwing any fish yet. But it was still cool to see it.








































Later that day, we went to the Seattle Temple for our friend Mike's wedding. I just love seeing couples come out of the temple right after they are married--it always brings tears to my eyes:) They looked so happy.


















Kevin was a groomsman, so he looked all handsome:) From what I hear, Seattle is almost always rainy, but this day was actually quite sunny!


























































Mike and Robyn had a great reception. The food was awesome, and they had the cutest choreographed wedding dance. I loved it.


















Portland


The next day, we hopped on a train and headed for Portland, to visit Aaron and Kendra (my bro. and sis. in law) and their family. The train is so much easier for Jacob than a car ride, because he doesn't have to be strapped into a car seat.


















Jacob playing with his cousin Caleb. J had so much fun with his cousins! It was so fun to watch them interact. But what is with that face?


















Kevin celebrated his 28th Birthday while we were in Portland. Kevin and I went to dinner with Aaron and Kendra at an Indian restaurant, and it was delicious! The waiter brought him mango pudding for dessert.









































The next day, we went to a few fun places downtown. Our first stop was the Byways Cafe, featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. It was so good! First of all, they had amazing hot chocolate, and their breakfast was so delicious. Jacob was majorly flirting with the waitress, so that was fun to watch:)























The restaurant was so fun on the inside--it had lots of knick-knacks and plates from all 50 states. As a geography lover, I was in heaven. I couldn't even take my eyes off all the decorations to take a picture!


















J is really into making funny faces now.





























































































Our next stop was VooDoo Doughnuts. I first saw this place on the travel Channel's "Donut Paradise" show, and thought it was so cool. When Kevin and I found out it was in Portland, we knew we had to go! They have the craziest doughnuts, and you can even get married there.













































































Check out that huge doughnut on top!























We got two regular boring doughnuts, and two fun ones. The purple is called "Grape Ape", and it tastes like there is grape kool-aid on top. This one was my favorite. The one with Oreos is called "dirt", and it was equally delicious.


















San Francisco

The next day, we flew to Sacramento (in a propeller plane! Yikes!) and rented a car there and drove to San Francisco. Kevin had a couple of meetings there (and flew to LA the same day), and we stayed with our friends Jon and Julie. They have the greatest apartment! They live in the Marina, and they have a view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of Fine Arts. It was a lot of fun spending time with them, and playing the group dance game on the Wii (it was especially funny watching Kevin and Jon do the moves. Remember this video of Kevin dancing to the Xbox over Christmas?

I got so nervous when I saw we were getting on this plane! For some reason they always scare me. But luckily it was a smooth ride.


















Julie with "Jacob The Hut"



































Jon and Julie's place was very charming--it even had this old-fashioned telephone in the foyer! I just love vintage things like that.


















On Wednesday while everyone was at work/school, I took Jacob to walk around the Palace grounds and the the Exploratorium Museum.


















He really liked the three chairs--One big, one just right, and one tiny. He really loved the tiny one.































































Another fun thing he really liked was the rainbow shadows. He was following his shadow all around!














































This was a big hit with J too. There was dry ice on the bottom, which kept the bubbles from popping.


















Playing with the xylophones. You can tell by my hair that it was a muggy, rainy day.


















And this was his favorite. you can't tell in the picture, but he is standing in the middle of swirling fog!
























Then we fed the ducks. However, this duck was aggressive--J held out his hand, and the duck came right up to him and tried to bite his finger! J wasn't even phased by it.








































J loved Jon And Julie's couch. He was also in heaven with the electronics. "A phone and a remote, how can I choose!"


















Sacramento

When we got to Sacramento, we visited another Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives place--The Squeeze Inn. It is called this because in the original restaurant, there was little space, so people had to "squeeze in". But it would definitely be worth it, because these burgers were fantastic! they put so much cheese on them that it spills over the edge and makes a crunchy "skirt" of cheese around the burger. Super delicious. Jacob loved it as well.




















































The next day we went to Justin and Christina's home (my bro. and sis. in law). Their place is so fun because they have lots of animals! About a week ago, their cow had a baby, so we got to see it. It was so cute, but the mom kept moo-ing at us. I think the moo's scared Jacob a little, but he was still interested in the calf.

Mamma cow


















The cute baby


















They also have many horses, and this cute little pony:)


















And for the first time in my life, I shot a gun! I'm not going to lie, it was terrifying (that is a nervous smile on my face). Kendra and I both shot it, but Kendra was a lot braver than I and also shot the bigger gun. I only did a few shots on this gun, because the idea of it is so scary to me. But Justin and Christina know a lot about gun safety and took the time to explain everything about the gun before hand, so I felt very safe. I was proud of myself for doing something I am terrified of!



















Jacob loved Grandpa Hirst's mustache:)


















The next day, Kevin's sister Colleen got married! It was a very sweet wedding, but unfortunately I don't have any pictures:( But I do have pictures of the amazing cakes that my sis. in law Dianne made--she is an amazing cake-maker.

This one is a milk jar, because Colleen's new husband works on a dairy farm.























And this one is very cute:) And they both tasted excellent too!























My little Alfalfa:) He still has weird hair.


















It was a very fun trip, but we were all pretty exhausted after. Jacob got a little cold too, so he had a little trouble sleeping one night. But, it wasn't too bad, because Kevin always helps me with Jacob at night. He is so great about that:)

7 comments:

Wiseguys said...

How FUN! I love traveling! That's great that you were able to see that many people and do that many things in such a short time!

Katie Blacker said...

So much fun! I loved the cheese burger pic. It made me VERY hungry! And all those J faces kept me laughing...what a ham! Love you guys...does this mean a big move is happening?

jp said...

Jacob is so cute it's hurting me right now! Those faces! p.s. LOVE that you have a recipe blog!

the harrisons said...

What a great trip! You look so darling and SUPER skinny in all of your pictures!

Jennie La said...

Holy cow! That is some serious travel itinerary. I LOVE the pic of you and J when he is cuddling you and your hair looks so long:)

Sarah said...

Woah, you guys really did go everywhere fast! I don't know how to were able to keep it all figured out. i'm dying for one of those cheeseburgers, looks delicious!

Michelle said...

What fun! I love traveling so it was really fun to see all of your pictures.