A grand surprise!! 17th Oct - 18th Oct

So we had this weekend off. I was trying to plan something the weekend before for this weekend but was having difficulty trying to find a hotel or somewhere to stay. I decided to give up and have a look the following night, however Cam told me that night not to worry that he had sorted the weekend and it was a surprise weekend away. This was very exciting, I love surprises but don't like them at the same time. I mean its nice to be surprised but then you constantly want to know what is going to happen, where you are going to go and what you are going to do there.

Anyway we had to get up super early (I think about 4.45am) on the Saturday morning to catch whatever form of transport we were getting, I had it in my head that we were going on a bus as we were going to the bus station, turns out we were getting a train. I had found out by this time that we were going to Seattle, which on its own was very exciting. Anyway we were lucky that we managed to make the train on time. First of all we saw a car accident, well actually we didn't see one, but we certainly heard it and nearly missed the bus. Then the bus that we got on was supposed to drop us off at a stop were we could get the next bus but apparently that bus wasn't coming this morning. So we decided to get a taxi instead, don't quite know why we didn't do this in the first place, hindsight huh great concept.

So we arrived at the bus depot right on time, after all the formalities of customs etc, we boarded our train in business class. It was exciting first time on a train in ages and first time from one country to another and we were in business class. Turns out economy may have been better haha, it appeared Cam and I had the only seats in the entire business class that were ok, everyone else seemed to be disappointed with everything and anything, ah snobs. We thought it was fine, more room, money off the cafe foods and only a little bit more expensive. We were to find out on the way back the best part of being in business class but I'll share that later.

We didn't get to see too much on our journey to begin with as it was dark and rainy. Throughout the journey the weather started to clear up and we could actually see a bit of the coastline, its quite a nice view. We arrived in Seattle just before lunch time and caught a taxi to our hotel, The Sheraton. It was very fancy and we were on the 32nd floor (I think) with a beautiful view to the space needle and some of the city, we were facing North westish. We even had special access to the club lounge and continental breakfast.

We decided to dump our bags down and go for lunch and a walk through the city. We headed down to the famous fish market, didn't really know what to expect actually, but mostly there are all sorts of stalls selling all sorts of things and then some fish stands.

We sat at a diner there over looking the water and had some lunch. After this we weren't too sure what to do so we headed back to the hotel to go for a swim in the pool on the 35th floor with awesome views. When then only really had enough time to get ready to go out for a few drinks and dinner. I didn't know where we were heading for dinner so just followed Cam. We went to this really nice french restaurant over looking the water, I don't know what it was but I think something to do with women's intuition, and I started to get suspicious about certain things, not sure what or why but I was. We finished up with our meal and headed out for a walk.

We wandered down towards the markets over looking the water. Cam started taking photos of the 2 of us and now I was really starting to get suspicious. It had been raining quite a lot that day so he got down on one knee in the puddles and popped the question. As most of you will probably know by now I said yes. So now we have joined the majority of our friends and are now engaged. It was a wonderful, romantic surprise. Also the beginning of a night of drinking and dancing to celebrate.

                          View from where he popped the question.

We decided to head out to a few pubs/nightclubs to have a few or several drinks to celebrate and ended up staying out for some time dancing and drinking. It was a great evening/night out in Seattle and I'm sure one I will always remember.

Then next day we didn't have any particular plans other than to go up the space needle. We couldn't come to Seattle and not go up this. After having a long sleep in, we went for continental breakfast which was awesome, lots of bagels, toast, fruit, yogurt, slices and pastries. A real continental American breakfast, shame about the crappy coffee. Anyway after this we stored our luggage and headed to the monorail, which transports you straight to space needle. The views from the top were amazing, we didn't have the best weather but better than the day before and there were actually some blue sky moments. I like the way you don't have to take photos through glass up the top of this tower, means you can get some nice photos.

Where the space needle is, was the site of the 1962 Worlds' fair, there is still rides and stalls underneath the needle. None of these were open when we were there. We found this cool fountain though which provided entertainment for a while. The water squirted out of it but you didn't know where, when and how far it would come out. The children found it very amusing and ended up getting soaked. I shouldn't lie I guess, we found it quite amusing also.

We had a few more hours to kill in Seattle before heading back to Vancouver. We decided to head to EMP (Experience Music Project) and Science Fiction Museum. Both very cool museums to visit especially when it comes to music and Seattle. Its basically all about music and pays particular attention to some Seattle born greats such as Jimi Hendrix, Pearl Jam and Nevana. It also has areas where you can play some music, listen to music, listen to people involved in music and some music artifacts. A place I would recommend for those who enjoy music and science fiction (or even if you don't like science fiction).

Now it was about time to head back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and head to the bus station. We decided to stop for dinner on the way back, after taking one last trip on monorail. Unfortunately we didn't get to see much on the train ride back as it was dark as well. We decided to try and get some sleep as I had to work in the morning. Now being in business class works the best once you arrive back in Vancouver, as they keep all of the economy class inside the train while business class can head out and through customs. Which meant we were pretty much at the front of the queue, awesome.