8 days in summary - 20 Dec to 28 Dec 08

Was a great 8 days of travel, when my family came over to visit me. Took a day off to bring them around for the first day, and it was snowing.. and exceptionally, unusually cold. Was snowing, and had the chance to play snowball fight after 3 years... and first time with my family. A walk along david lam park to the english bay beach, was fun, as yeah, it was great to see them, after not hearing my mom's nagging for the almost 3 mths.
Road trip started from saturday, 20 Dec onwards. Had a late start (as usual, i am not a morning person), and drove down to the US border. and stuck in a jam for close to an hour. really sounds like a typical saturday after heading over to JB from Sg eh.
So, the plan was to head down to Seattle Premium Outlet for shopping... and then, go to the Quality Inn that i had booked for the night. Spend a few days in Seattle, and then, head over to Victoria, and then back to Vancouver in the span of 8 days... so, here goes the photos.
(view from bottom to up)


Back at home, where mom cooked. and, with a cheap bubbly that we bought in the states, to just celebrate christmas.

On the ferry back to vancouver..... always love the ferry ride from Victoria to Vancouver. So many islands that we will pass by... and i am resolute to see all the islands.

Heading back to vancouver.. was early, so stopped by Sidney.... it was sunny. the last time i was there on the streeets, it was cloudy. but there were no spotting of sea otters this time rd :( but, oh well, was just a stop by..

and rubbing the pig's nose... hopefully i will stay lucky!

Back at Butchart Gardens.. Christmas lights....

Back at the beach off UVIC... just driving down the slope to the beach.. brings back those memories, of walking down in berms to read at the beach...

Back at Mt Tolmie...

Back at Craigdarroch Castle..

Christmas village..

Back in Victoria after 3 long years... and as usual, the Parliment house building is still as bright at night.... and, all the streets and shops in Victoria, had not changed... Just amazed that it didn't feel that long ago that i was just in downtown shopping or having drinks.. and yesh, Big Bad John is still ard.. but i didn't get to go.. will be back in Victoria soon again to go visit Big Bad John..

On the ferry.. leaving US behind, heading back to Canada, Victoria

Waiting to get onto ferry to Victoria at the Port Angeles. Treated myself to DQ, since i can't have beer...

And, along the way. i was so happy to see this truck.. "to do list for beer lovers.." was asking my sis to zoom to take the truck!

Drive to Port Angeles

Headed to Victoria the next day. was a stressful drive.. and long one. have to catch a ferry inbetween the way to Port Angeles, and tat's a ferry that i can't miss... so, managed to catch it.. and on the ferry..

Ard the space needle/science centre...

Headed up to Space Needle. My first. Coz, i don't really believe in paying for observation towers.

But since dad said he will pay, so headed up. haha, well, then, was just walking ard the area, Science Centre etc. Maybe the next time i will go into the Science Centre then... (If someone is willing to pay for me.. )

Christmas Lights in Seattle...

It's interesting that everything i go to Seattle, i get to do different things. This time rd, we went to the library, as it is supposed to have some cool archie stuff that my sis wanted to see. just a normal lib with hyped-up way of stacking books, (don't understand why they said it's saving space levels), and cool lights up the esclators and red lights at the washrooms, in my opinion.

Streets of Seattle

The next morning -> to seattle... the day started, with roads in the city of seattle closed.. those familiar roads that i had took the other time, due to really heavy snow. So, parked somewhere else, which was a really bad idea, coz, when we wanted to move the car.. it was stuck. really badly. for a good whole 10 mins, i was just dumbfounded.. and at my wits. Luckily a few passerbys came, helped to push the car.. and i learnt how to get the car out of snow then. a really cool and useful lesson that they taught me. :D

My first starbucks coffee at the first starbucks cafe. Most of the times when i was there, it's usually so crowded. But that afternoon, it was cleared. So, got a drink!

at the museum of glass...
Since the museum of glass was closed, and it was late by the time we drove back to the hotel. so stayed in the hotel for the afternoon/evening. built my first snowman in my entire life. i really proper one (not the one that i made when i was up in alaska). :D But my sis hasn't passed my the photos yet :(

at the Museum of glass. top view of the roads.. and the museum was closed...which also explains the really empty roads in the town.

Was still snowing in the morning, as we drove to Tacoma, to see the museum of glass...

And it snowed non-stop the whole night.. the next morning.. i have to clean away all the snow. and all the stores around the area ran out of snow-brush :(

so, have to make do with

a) asking other pple

b) using newspapers to wipe the snow off the car.

And it's the start of the nightmare of driving a normal sedan... the start of getting the car stuck in the snow.....

At the hotel, after dinner....

Car was fully over-covered with snow... the start of the many times, i have to wipe the car before i can drive.

Started snowing when we were almost done shopping at the Seattle Premium Outlets..

Was snowing last night on Highway 5... but, it's a beautiful view and it's so contrasting to just one month ago, when i was just driving down for a wkend trip. Love the snow.

Stuck in Jam... at the border

Driving to the border... on Highway 1 or is it 99? hahah