Rob and I are leaving TOMORROW for St. Kitts!!!!!!
We are all packed and ready to go, our flight leaves Atlanta at 7am tomorrow morning. We will have a short layover in Miami, and we should arrive in St. Kitts around 2pm. Rob and I are really excited to begin our next adventure together!
Last week we visited with Rob's grandparents in Washington state; they were vacationing there. We flew out late last Wednesday, and got back Monday night. Thursday and Friday we took the ferry (our ship was called the Coho and was built in 1959) from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. It takes about 90 min to get to Canada from Port Angeles, and we saw a WHALE!! I only saw its back, but it was awesome. I've never seen a whale in the wild before. Once in Victoria we walked around town, and I got to see my first real life Totem poles! Our hotel was right next to the parliament building, which is all lit up at night like a Christmas tree. Very pretty. We all had dinner at a nice little Italian place called il Terrazo, and Rob and I walked back to the hotel along fisherman's wharf. The weather was amazing- cool and no humidity. 
Friday we drove up to the Butchart Gardens and the Victoria Butterfly Garden. The gardens were amazing, my favorite flowers were the tuberous begonias, they looked like big fat roses. Rob's grandmother LOVES flowers, and Saturday was his grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary, so it was only fitting to spend the day at the gardens! The butterfly garden was a lot of fun. I spent most of my time there trying to take a picture of the Blue Morpho butterfly, but the stupid thing is so selfish and shuts its pretty wings whenever it lands. I got a couple out of focus flying shots and ONE fuzzy shot of the butterfly flapping on the ground. There were tons of other beautiful butterflies who were more courteous and willing to pose for pictures. We ended our day in Chinatown, one of the oldest in North America. After our yummy dinner we headed back to the Coho to head south back to Washington. 
Sunday we had an adventure day! We spent the day hiking in Olympic National Park! We started out hiking Hurricane Hill in Hurricane Ridge (clearly preparing for Hurricane Irene!). We did about 2.9 miles round trip to the summit, and there was a 660 ft gain (I guess that means elevation change?). The hike goes through the subalpine meadows that cover the mountains above the tree line. The hike was really pretty, and we even got to see some snow still piled up in the higher parts of the trail! At the summit we could see Victoria all the way in Canada, and Mt. Baker, which is in the Cascade mountains (the same chain that Mount St. Helen and Mount Rainier are in). After our "alpine" hike, we headed back down to a part of the park that is "Old Growth" forest. We hiked through said forest 1.8 miles (roundtrip) to Marymere Falls. The 90ft cascade of water falls from a tributary of nearby Crescent Lake. The forest around the falls is mainly made up of old growth Douglas Firs and Red Cedar. I think the forest is technically considered a rain forest, and the trees are so tall they form a canopy. New trees can only grow when the really old ones die of old age, and fall so that a spot of sunlight can make it through to the ground! I've never seen trees so big before, it really made me want to visit Yosemite so I could see the big Sequoia trees!
Monday we got up early and headed to the airport. After a LONG day of traveling we made it back to Atlanta. Yesterday and today have been spent packing and running last minute errands. This time tomorrow we will be settling into our new home on St. Kitts!
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