Our Awesome Vacation!

I had such an awesome time going on vacation this summer! A couple of weeks ago, my family left on a road trip up to Vancouver, BC in Canada. Originally, we were going to take a plane there, but my parents didn't want to just because plane tickets are so expensive and for a big family like mine (6 people!), it wasn't really worth it, considering the fact that we could drive there if we wanted to. So we decided to take a long road trip there, stopping at different cities and attractions along the way.

We left our house on Friday, July 25 and drove for a few hours before coming to a mountain. We parked the car and took a short hike, walking up to a small waterfall! It was so fun! After staying by the waterfall for a little while and taking a few photos, we hiked back down, stopping along the way at a smaller waterfall with a large area for us to dip our feet in the water (and even go swimming if we wanted to! It was quite cold though, so we didn't swim XD). It was so relaxing and nice to cool down there. I took a whole bunch of photos of the water and the small plants nearby.

    

After the little hiking excursion, we went back to the car and drove for a few more hours. We stopped in a small city in Oregon and slept at a hotel there. The next day, we drove more, stopping for lunch in Eugene, Oregon and for a snack in Portland. We walked around Portland for a little while to see the city. 

Then we kept driving all the way until we reached Seattle, Washington, where we would stay for three nights. That night, we walked around a little bit in Seattle and ate dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe there. :) 

The next day, we went to the Boeing factory and museum near Seattle! It was so cool to see how the planes were made—they're huge!

We then went for a little walk around Lake Union in Seattle and ate dinner at a yummy seafood restaurant.

On Monday (the next day), we pretty much just explored Seattle. We walked through the streets and saw all the awesome architecture that the buildings had, went to Pike's Place Market and bought a few items, went to the waterfront and walked along the ocean, and took the monorail to see the Space Needle up close. We didn't actually end up going to the top of the Space Needle since the line was insanely long and we had more to see, but we did get to see it, which was more than amazing!

The next day, we took a ferry to Victoria, on Vancouver Island. I had never been on a ferry before, and honestly it was such an amazing experience. We were out in the middle of the ocean, with our car down below us! XD I took a whole bunch of photos on the ferry.

When we arrived in Victoria, we explored the city a little bit and ate dinner. Then we went to our hotel to go to sleep.

We spent the next few days on Vancouver Island, seeing all the beautiful sights. I wish we could have stayed longer. We mostly spent our days in Victoria itself, which is a truly beautiful city, but the island is also amazing.

On Friday (a week after we left!), we took another ferry to return to the mainland. This time, we traveled to Vancouver, our final destination. Vancouver is also gorgeous! It's amazing because although it is a city, it's extremely close to natural wildlife as well! The ocean is right next to it, along with forests. Canada is a wonderful place. ;)

On our first night in Vancouver, we walked through the downtown area on Robson Street. Our hotel was near downtown, so it was a short walk! We actually took an unexpected trip to the new American Girl store there. To be completely honest, I really wasn't expecting it to be so small. :O Like I knew it would be smaller than the average AG store in the US, but it was TINY! I did end up getting a pajama set though. ;) (I mean seriously, who can resist buying something from AG?!) After the AG store, we continued down the street and saw all the shops that were there.

The next day we went to Stanley Park in Vancouver. It's a beautiful section of the city filled with trees and open land, and it was amazing! I wish we had something like that where I live. ;) We went to the Vancouver Aquarium there as well.

On Sunday, we actually went hiking in a different part of the city. It was beautiful! There were trees covered with moss and a little pool of water where people were swimming in the forest! Then we made a nice little stop at a mall and did some shopping.

Monday was our last full day in Vancouver. That day, we went swimming at the beach and at a huge swimming pool! I never thought Vancouver would be as warm as it was, but believe it or not, the water there was WARM (or at least warmer than it is where I live, and I live in the United States. You'd think it would be warmer further south, but I guess not...?).

I took a ton of awesome sunset photos when we were walking back to our hotel. The lighting over the city was absolutely gorgeous! 

The next two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) were spent driving back home.

I hope this blog post wasn't too long. I had an amazing trip, and I thought it would be cool to share it with all of you through words and photos. My sister bluepastelsandpolkadots and I filmed a vlog of the trip together, which I'm in the process of editing right now! We each brought a doll on the trip with us (I brought Ruby MAG 23, and she brought Amanda MAG 37), and they'll be featured in the video!

Love you guys! <3
-Cristina