If Spring Break Were Tomorrow, It Wouldn’t Be Soon Enough

But thankfully, it is coming up pretty quick. Reaghan and I will be making a trip out to Washington to see our new home. I have only been there once before and this will be Reaghan’s first trip to the Pacific Northwest. I’m excited to go back and get a better view of everything. Last time our trip was so quick and I really had no idea we’d be moving up there. I do remember driving in the the town of Mt. Vernon and looking over to the left of I-5 at the historic downtown area and feeling very peaceful. Almost like I knew I would be back there some day. Who’d have known that someday would be just 6 months later… and permanent.

I’ve already posted some funny reasons why I’m excited to move to Washington. But really there are tons of reasons that we will love it there. The hiking, camping, outdoorsy stuff and healthy lifestyle. Matt has been having a blast finding things to do and places to eat. I’ve been showing you lots of the pictures that he’s been sending me. It always amazes me to look in the background of those pictures and see all the green and trees.

We have a good week planned. Saturday, Reaghan and I will fly into Seattle/Tacoma Airport in Seattle and arrive late evening. We have booked a hotel in downtown Seattle. I’d never used Hotwire.com to book a hotel before, but thought I would try it the other night. We really wanted a nice place in a good location down by the Pike Place Market in Seattle. Most of the good hotels I found were priced around $200 or more a night. When I looked on hotwire.com I found a 4 Star hotel for $88. Matt and I figured that how bad could a 4 Star hotel be? Plus it is only for one night. I was kind of nervous clicking on “purchase.” It’s a bit out of my comfort level to let go of some of that control, but I did it. And I’m very pleased with the results. We’ll be staying at the boutique Alexis Kimpton Hotel. That will be a lot of fun. Then on Sunday we hope to do a few touristy things like the Space Needle, Pioneer Square and some other fun stuff before driving up to Anacortes.

Monday Reaghan and I will tour Fidalgo Island and Anacortes with a Realtor. I’ve been searching houses there and she has some others lined up for me to see as well. There are some really fun houses out there. So different that what we see here. Brick homes are kind of rare. Most have siding, which I’m kind of used to coming from Kansas. And there aren’t really a lot of neighborhoods like you see in Oklahoma/Edmond. Which I think is neat, too. We also hope to go by the school that Reaghan will most likely attend. Matt found a running club for me thought a co-worker. Wasn’t that sweet? I’m going to run with them Monday night. Yikes… I’m already stressing about the hills!

On Wednesday we will go on a whale watching tour. I’m so excited about this. Island Adventures whale tours depart right from Anacortes or Everett which is south of Anacortes. This time of year is when you can see the gray whales. I’ve never seen a whale in the wild before! This isn’t the season to see Orcas, but we will see the gray whales and other marine life like sea lions, etc. When we get up there in June we’ll have to go back to see the Orcas. There are two Pods of resident Orca Whales that live in the area. They’ve had five calves between them this year! Isn’t that the sweetest thing ever? I’ve rented a super telephoto lens, so I’m hoping to capture some awesome wildlife photos!

I’m also hoping to meet up with my Twitter friend, @emmabush. She lives in Everett and we’ve talked several times about my move. I think it’s super fun that Twitter has made the world a smaller place. There are a few people I have “met” online who are in the Seattle area. It’s nice to be able to go somewhere and say you “know” someone.

Matt and I will celebrate our 10th Anniversary on March 18. I’m glad that it falls during Spring Break so we will get to spend it together. He’s planning a dinner somewhere for that Thursday or Friday night. I’m excited to try out a place new for our Anniversary dinner. Wow, I really can’t believe it’s been 10 years. Time flies by so quickly!

Other than this we plan to eat out at some new places and tour some neighboring towns that Matt has found. I’m taking my D80 with the 200 – 500mm super telephoto lens and my sister’s D90 (Thanks, Kristin, for letting me borrow it!) to use with my “walk around” 18-200mm lens. I didn’t want to have to worry about switching lens. Instead I’ll switch cameras! I can’t wait to share our trip with you all.

Tagged as: Anacortes, Spring Break, Washington