Washington & Brother Time

I've always wanted to visit the Pacific Northwest having heard how gorgeous it is...

...so when Ben moved out to Washington state last July to begin working for Logos Bible Software, I was excited for an excuse to visit! James and I decided to make it happen this past Memorial Day and had a blast exploring 3 cities in 3 days with Ben! We packed in a bunch of stuff but it was great to finally see where Ben has spent this past year...

Day 1: Seattle...we explored Pike Place Market which I LOVED! It is a crazy big farmers market with every fresh fruit, veggie, meat, fish, whatever you could want. Not many places I have been in the States like this, not to mention tons and tons of beautiful fresh flowers!

Hey look, it is the first Starbucks!!

i wanted all of them

for all the rain of Seattle, we had awesome weather! i love that seattle has both water and mountains--it was beautiful!

We ended the day back in Bellingham, Ben's hometown with a nice meal on the water

Day 2: Bellingham...Ben's home is a cute town right on the bay just a little south of the Canadian border. He loves his programming job at Logos and it was great to see where he is in his element! One the coolest events in Bellingham is the annual "Ski to Sea Race," a crazy relay that includes downhill and cross-country skiing, road and mountain biking, canoeing and kayaking. It just happened to be this weekend and we got to watch some of the hand-offs and enjoy the festival going on in town. Almost 500 teams competed...I think James is ready to sign up next year :)

Logos where Ben works

Bellingham has tons of natural beauty and opportunity to hang out outdoors in creation!

canoe to mountain bike hand-off--this is the Logos team--they finished 50th, which is pretty good!

Can you see all the little kayakers? This is the last leg and they run up the bank to the finish line!

 Day 3: Vancouver, B.C.--Ben lives closer to Vancouver than Seattle...so we definitely took advantage of this! The only cloudy day we had but the weather held off enough to explore this diverse city. Gastown, Chinatown (the 2nd largest next to San Fran!), Granville Island with its cutesy artsy shops, and Stanley Park was about all we could fit in but it was a lot! Definitely a city that we could do a whole lot more exploring in...

Famous steam clock in gastown

Garden in Chinatown definitely made me feel like I was back in China

I am so grateful for my brothers. I love spending time with each of them, both individually and together. I am so glad that we can enjoy each other as adults, even with how different our personalities are :) It was especially fun to have the chance to explore all these places together and enjoy each others company, as well as get to experience some of Ben's life while he is living across the country! Before we even landed in Seattle, I looked out the window at the mountains and already wanted to return...and I hadn't even gotten off the plane! With the weekend behind us, I am even more excited to return! Thanks for a great weekend Ben, I had a great time :)