At the beginning of 2020, we had an exciting trip on the horizon. It was Aaron's wish through the Make-a-Wish foundation to go to New Zealand, and we had just received word that it was going to be granted. Knowing that all our kids would need passports, we all filed into the passport office. I remember that Mike was very prepared with all of the required forms filled out, only to find out they wouldn't accept them with blue ink.
That was in February 2020.
Less than a month later, the world shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I can't remember if we'd even received all the passports in the mail yet or not. But within a few weeks, Aaron's wish granters had contacted us to let us know that all trip wishes had been canceled for the indefinite future and Aaron would need to choose a new wish. Although we said we were fine waiting as long as necessary for travel to resume, they said that because of their non-profit status, they had to continue to fulfill wishes at a certain rate.
For the past four years, that stack of passports has taunted us. It just felt like we needed to use them at least once before they expired in 2025.
And so, a summer vacation to New Zealand was born.
Haha, just kidding.
Almost as good, and much closer, we decided to head to British Columbia.
My brother's family often travels with us, and they were game to get all of their kids passports. We also needed one for Silas.
We have been wanting to recreate our trip to the Oregon coast from a couple of years ago, and this felt like a way to do a similar vacation but see some new things. We divided our time between Seattle and Vancouver and even ended up extending by a couple of days at the end because we just weren't ready to go home yet. Such a beautiful part of the world and one we would happily visit again.
I've decided to break down this trip with a little recap of our itinerary each day. You'll notice that it was a good mix of sightseeing, hiking, and relaxing. Let's begin.
Thursday, June 13th
We left by mid-morning. We stopped in Boise to play at a park. Somehow, without even really making an effort to keep the same pace in our traveling, Gordy and his family ended up in Boise at the same time, making it the official kickoff of our vacation.
We continued on to Baker, Oregon for the night. We ate dinner at a legit truck stop. The quality of the food was not anything to write home about, but the portion sizes were.
Friday, June 14th
We made it the rest of the way to Seattle. But before we got there, we stopped at Johnson Orchards in Yakima, Washington. Picking our own cherries wasn't an option (sadly, because the trees were loaded!), but we bought some fresh cherries as well as a boatload of pastries, cookies, and other baked goods. After consuming two boxes full, we went back for another lime bar, pear oatmeal cookie, and a few others because it was just so good. The lady at the counter jokingly asked if we were going to shut them down.
(Gordy dubbed Aaron, Max, and Bradley "The Swarm" because of the way they devoured food in a matter of seconds. He said they were like a plague of locusts, descending on a crop and leaving it desolate. Once he said it, we couldn't un-see it. They have truly become ravenous teenagers who are game to try just about anything.)
The kids ran out all their energy among the cherry trees before getting back in the car for a little more driving.
Our next stop was Snoqualmie Falls. Mike and I had actually been there once before, years ago, on a trip with his parents. When I tried to find a photo of us from then, only a few blurry, overexposed ones remained. Too bad because this is actually quite a stunning waterfall. I'm happy we got to see it again.
We walked the short distance to a lookout point, took a few photos, and were about to head back to the car when we decided to follow a trail down to the base of the waterfall instead. I'm glad we did because it was a nice little hike and gave us more views of this landmark.
After leaving the waterfall, we made it to our Airbnb, which had a stunning view of Lake Washington from its front window. In honor of being so close to Lake Washington, we finished the day by watching The Boys in the Boat.
Saturday, June 15th
This was the day we'd set aside to explore Seattle, and we got lovely weather for it. We started off at the Space Needle. We rode the elevator to the observation deck where we spent the better part of an hour taking in all of the views.
From the Space Needle. we went to Pike Place. As expected, it was extremely crowded so there was not as much exploring as we might have liked since moving around as a group of fifteen people is not the easiest thing.
But we made a couple of important stops: first, the magic shop where the owner demonstrated a couple of tricks, impressing us enough that we bought them for Clark, our resident magician.
And then, a fish place for lunch. We took our food outside and enjoyed salmon, cod, and halibut (and fries, of course).
At this point, we were divided on what to do. Gordy's family wanted to head back to the house, but I really wanted to go over to Bainbridge Island because there were two yarns stores I had hoped to go to. So we split up for the afternoon.
We rode the ferry to Bainbridge Island, which was an experience in and of itself. I actually can't believe how many cars can fit onto those ferries. It's like Mary Poppins' bag watching them all emerge at the end.
I was successful in my yarn store visits. The boys occupied themselves with ice cream, a park, and a toy store. Bainbridge Island was adorable, and I would have loved to spend more time there. Our return trip on the ferry was much longer than we anticipated since there were mechanical problems after we were all loaded up. Everyone had to unload and then transfer to a different ferry.
Once we finally got back to the house, we put Silas and Gigi to bed, and then Mike, Gordy, Brooke, and I went back to Seattle to go to the Chihuly Museum. I have always wanted to see his glasswork (besides the sculpture I'm very familiar with at Abravanel Hall here in Salt Lake), and it was so gorgeous.
We walked through the rooms at a slow pace, completely mesmerized by the size and scope and creativity. I was so grateful to get to enjoy it without our children running around. Such a fun night.
Sunday, June 16th
We started the day by attending sacrament meeting at the local ward, following which we did a short hike at Lakeridge Park. We discovered ripe salmon berries all along the trail and helped ourselves to them for a tasty little snack. We stopped at a little creek to play in the water before heading back.
We went back to the house for lunch and naps before heading out on another hike, this time to Coal Creek Falls. More trees, more water, more salmon berries, more lush beauty. The weather was cool and pleasant. It was just a pleasure to be outside.
This day also happened to be Father's Day, so Mike barbecued when we got back, and we had a nice family dinner.
Monday, June 17th
We left early in the morning to make it in time for a whale watching tour leaving from Bellingham, WA. We knew traffic would be congested through Seattle, so we gave ourselves plenty of time, which meant we arrived more than an hour early.
The Swarm was hungry, so we went to a bakery and ate an unhealthy number of pastries before boarding the boat. We booked our tour with San Juan cruises, and I would highly recommend them. They were significantly less expensive than some of the other tours we looked into, but the quality of the experience was top notch.
The tour lasted five hours and took us through the San Juan Islands. There were two naturalists on board--one who was driving and the other who was sharing information about the animals. The two of them made a great team. They were quick to spot interesting wild life--not just whales but also bald eagles and seals. But I especially loved their joy and enthusiasm. We got lucky and found two separate gray whales. It was late in the season to see a gray whale at all, so it felt like a rare treat when we came upon our second one. We also saw two pods of orca, one of which had a couple of playful babies with it. The naturalist was so excited with these discoveries. She said, "I don't know about you, but I just can't stop smiling." They were eager to answer questions, and it felt like they were enjoying the day as much as we were.
We ate lunch on board the ship: lasagna, roll, salad, grapes, and cookies. I loved that it wasn't just a packaged sandwich, but a hearty meal with real plates and utensils. There was something so old school about it, and it made the whole experience extra fun.
We all moved around the ship throughout the day, sometimes hanging out on the back deck, sometimes inside, and sometimes in the front on the bow of the ship. It was cool and overcast, but not rainy, and the wind on our faces felt invigorating. It was pretty incredible to see these giant creatures in their natural habitat. We learned to look for the heart shaped spout from the gray whales and watched for their tales when they were going down for a deep dive. Some of the kids also caught a spyhop from an orca, which is when their head bobs up out of the water. Clark was especially enthusiastic about the entire experience and stayed at the bow for most of the day with his binoculars in hand.
After disembarking from the ship, we crossed the border into Canada. We stayed in an Airbnb in Surrey, a suburb just outside Vancouver.
Tuesday, June 18th
We spent the day outside, first at Lighthouse Park, where we hiked down to the tide pools. We had a view of the lighthouse and the Vancouver skyline. The kids scaled rocks and mussel-encrusted boulders and found little creatures in the small tide pools. Gordy's family prefers sandy beaches and our family prefers rocky ones. Luckily, we had both on this trip.
We followed up the lighthouse hike with lunch at C-Lover's, a chain seafood place. The Swarm ordered all-you-can-eat fish and chips.
We took the Sea to Sky Highway to get to the Sea to Sky Gondola. The drive alone was gorgeous, and it seemed like that might be all we ended up doing since Mike took one look at the gondolas ascending the mountain and almost chickened out. In general, I am more afraid of heights than he is, but when it comes to vehicles suspended high above the ground, he has very little trust (which tends to make me nervous since he usually puts a lot of confidence in engineering). But in the end, we gathered our courage about us and did it, and it was maybe the highlight of the vacation for me. The view of Howe Sound and the surrounding area was breathtaking.
When we got to the top, we went on a little hiking loop, which took us to a viewpoint and also across a suspension bridge (and that's where the fear of heights transferred from Mike to me). Then we took the gondola back down and sat in a bunch of traffic trying to get back to our rental.
Wednesday, June 19th
We headed into Vancouver to spend the day in Stanley Park, which, in my opinion, has a similar vibe to Central Park with the addition of beaches.
Gordy and his family immediately headed to Second Beach while our family spent a good hour walking along the sea wall and visiting the totem poles before grabbing some lunch at one of the eateries along the way.
We then met up with Gordy's family at the beach where the kids played in the water and got creative with the sand. Silas loved the waves and ran back and forth between the water and the sand over and over again.
Stanley Park also featured the highlight of the trip for Ian: a raccoon that was perched on top of a garbage can. He thought it was so cute as it disappeared into the trash only to emerge a minute later to enjoy its spoils on top of the garbage can. He is still talking about this moment a month later.
That night we ordered takeout from Eat Well Indian House, and it was probably my favorite food on this trip. The Swarm agreed.
Thursday, June 20th
We hiked to Bridal Veil Falls in the morning. We have our own Bridal Veil Falls in Utah, so it was fun to see the Canadian version. We had lovely weather, and the waterfall was a beautiful destination. It was so bright that it was difficult to capture on camera.
By this time, our time in Canada was winding to a close. As our final Canadian activity, we went to White Spot, a chain restaurant that originated in British Columbia. We were treated so kindly by the staff, and the kids' meals arrived in large cardboard pirate ships (which, if you know my brother's son, Wally, made his day). But the real reason we had to have one last Canadian meal was to try poutine, an authentic Canadian dish made up of french fries and cheese curds and topped with gravy. Not bad, but also not something I feel the urge to adopt in the states.
Then we crossed back over the border into Washington. We walked along the Bellingham boardwalk and spotted an otter who we followed for most of the way. We played at the park for a bit before driving to Ashford, Washington for the night.
Friday, June 21st
We woke up bright and early so we could be on the road and in Mount Rainier National Park before 7:00am. They have timed entrances after 7:00, and our time slot wasn't until 11:00, and we knew we didn't want to wait that long, so we hurried to get in the park while we could.
First we drove up to the Skyline Trail. The drive alone was gorgeous, but when we got to the trailhead, we found it was still quite snow packed. We made a half-hearted effort to hike but quickly realized we were not equipped with the right gear to make such an attempt.
So we drove back down the canyon until we were back in summer, and then we hiked Box Canyon Trail and also Eastside Trail (near Grove of the Patriarchs, which was closed due to a bridge that had been washed out). We also stopped along the road for some stunning views of Mount Rainier.
I was quite taken with the color of the water in the rivers and lakes. Such a stunning green. It reminded me of the color of the water in Norway (which makes sense, I guess, since both are fed from glaciers).
(Also, quick funny side story: when we were driving down to Eastside Trail, we didn't realize we were at the edge of the park and accidentally exited. Luckily, it was exactly 11:00 right then, so we just used our timed entrance reservation and went back into the park. So it was useful and needed after all.)
After we left the park for good, we drove to Boise where we stopped for the night. The next day, we drove the rest of the way home.
Besides all of the fun adventures we went on, we loved just hanging out with each other and Gordy's family. Many games were played (both the board and video varieties). Mike and Gordy and the older kids went over to a park a couple of evenings for football and frisbee. Gordy got Clark to go out in the early mornings and listen to bird calls with him. We stayed up late chatting and just generally had such a nice time together.
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