We started our Journey today around 12pm. Since I was able to book our tickets with frequent flyer miles, my mom and I traveled to rochester for our flight. The trip was an easy drive and the time passed quickly. After the security checkpoint, we relaxed and waited for our flight. The flight from Rochester to Philly was pretty easy... it was a prop plane and luckily we were in the first row...because their was no airconditioning and apparently the front of the plane was heaven compared to the back (hell). We landed in philly on time and went to sit at the gate for our next flight. We were looking for my cousin Amy, but we were not sure if we missed her since she had warned us that she switched her hair color to ... read more

Last night we all slept heavenly in the heavenly beds. The Westin was REALLY nice. We got up and moving, had breakfast in the hotel 'bucks and headed out. Our first stop was across the Lion's Gate Bridge, the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. This place was very cool. It had a lot of history about the suspension bridge, a series of tree adventures, and some great views. We got out maps and walked around collecting stamps at all the "sites" we visited. Then it was time to head across the bridge. This was interesting. The bridge was very wobbly and there were several people ahead of us that were scared to death. It took us awhile to get across and once we were off of it, we were still wobbly. The park across the canyon ... read more

Our day started at the crack of dawn this morning! We wanted to be on the first ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, BC. The alarm clock rang at 5:30am and we were in line for the ferry by 7:00 am. We left the car and grabbed some to go breakfast. I stopped and talked to Bill at the tourism booth for some recommendations on what to see in Victoria. The ferry took about 90 minutes and we drove right to our hotel and parked the car. We set out to see the sights of Victoria, starting with the Parliament buildings. We signed up for the free tour and it was great. They took us through the building and we even got to meet a famous character from Victoria’s past, “The Hanging Judge”. Our tour ... read more

Pacific NorthwestEmily Ponto We started our day very early today in order to beat the crowds to Mt. St. Helens and make it to Seattle before 1pm. We were out of our hotel at 7am, when we noticed one of the rental car tires was low. We stopped at the gas station in Castle Rock to fill up the tire, and I ended up closing the door on my finger. OUCH!!!!! Once the tire was filled, we were on our way up the moutain. We were literally one of the first people up the road. We stopped at the Forest Learning Center about half way up, and I got some great photos while there was still fog in the valley. We took off up the road, and around the corner we met a small herd of ... read more

Our breakfast this morning, took us to Stumpertown Coffee Roasters. When we asked for the key to the bathroom, it came with own personal security system. A full size duck decoy was attached to the key. There is no sneaking out with that key. We then walked over to the Portland Farmer's market. The market was great. We found lots of interesting items for sale and interesting people buying them. We stumbled upon a great irish band, Circling Hounds. They were playing on the stage in the international food section of the market. We spent a lot of time looking at jewerly, clothes, and other market items. I purchased a beautiful fused glass pendant and a hat. After a few hours at the market, we decided to head over Keller Fountain. Keller fountain is a ... read more