Oh the weather outside was frightful!

The day after graduation, TJ and I finally got to take a much needed vacation. We headed up to Washington state to visit TJ's dad and all the family he has up there. The weather was pretty cold, but nothing we couldn't handle with some thermals and lots of layers! It rained, hard, pretty much ever day we were up there. I never realized how much I would miss the sunshine until I spent a week in Washington! But the beautiful scenery really made it all worth it. We had such a great time up there in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. We took so many pictures so we could share our vacation with everyone.

The first day we were there, we went to a restaurant in Seattle that was right on the water. The view was pretty (except for the rain and all the clouds!) and we were able to see all the ferries out on the water.

Since I am not a fan of seafood, TJ felt that being in Seattle would be a perfect place to make me try new things. I had clams, which were alright if dipped in enough butter; halibut, which I actually really liked; and of course, the oyster...the only thing I can say about the oyster is that I am very proud I did not throw up right there at the table. It was AWFUL!

After we ate, we headed over to the famous Pike's Marketplace. No one was throwing fish that day, but it was still neat to see all the little shops there.

TJ's dad lives about 30 minutes outside of Seattle in a city called Duvall. His house is literally in the middle of the woods. It is extremely beautiful out there, with all the moss growing on the trees and a creek right next to the house.

Another day while we were up in Washington, we went to see Snoqualmie Falls. Tom, TJ's dad, said that the day we were there the water was pretty low...normally, there is so much water that the spray gets you from the parking lot! Luckily, we were able to stay dry.

One of my favorite parts of our trip was our visit to Leavenworth. Leavenworth is a little Bavarian town that was all decked out for Christmas. We went into a bunch of really cute shops and even saw a guy walking around in leiderhosen. The best part was all the snow! There was probably about 4 feet of snow, which made everything look so pretty. Next to the gazebo in the center of town was this little hill that all the kids were sledding down. It was cute to watch these little kids slide down the hill. One of my favorite shops was the chocolate shop. All the chocolates are handmade at the back of the store and they were all so tempting. TJ and I were able to try a few of the chocolates, and I had to bring some home for mom! There was also a cheese shop where we tried some different types of cheeses. They had some that were stinky and some that were not so stinky! We were there overnight so that gave us time to visit all the little shops at take some great pictures of all the snow!