A 2.5/3 hour drive took us up to Vancouver. When we got there the cloud cover was very low, making it hard to see the mountains that surround the city. But when those clouds moved off... wow! What a gorgeous place. It's amazing to walk around the city and see the mountains peeking out between the buildings. Even the unimpressive neighborhoods of the city were made beautiful by the backdrop. While we were in Vancouver we walked around Stanley Park, took a hop-on/hop-off tour, checked out the waterfront, and took a float plane tour. I started having bad sciatic nerve pain which limited my ability to move around easily, which was a huge bummer. I would have loved to be able to go for a run around Stanley Park. It was amazing there.
We then made the long drive from Vancouver to Missoula. It actually wasn't bad at all. After several days of walking and walking and walking, it was nice to relax in the car! And except for a boring stretch in Eastern Washington, it is a gorgeous drive. South along the Cascades, East through the Snoqualmie National Forest and past Mt Rainier, through the rolling hills of Central Washington, then the stunning Coeur D'Alene Forest... and finally, Montana. Just incredible views!
Missoula was a charming town with gorgeous scenery. It was a lot of fun to catch up with Derek and Katie, BTTers who moved to San Diego a few years ago. We hadn't seen them since our wedding, I think! Dave showed up the next day, and we all had fun at Donna and Seth's pre-wedding BBQ night at a park in Missoula. It was so much fun seeing Donna! Grace, Tony, and Ian showed up later and we had quite the fun gang. We did some hikes together, checked out Missoula's farmers markets, ate a few meals, and hung out at Missoula's fun Coffee Shop, Liquid Planet. The morning of the wedding we even ran into Donna there. She was in-between makeup and hair appointments, already looking gorgeous!
The wedding was amazing. It was about an hour and a half drive from Missoula, in Hamilton MT, at Seth's father's house. The weather was perfect, the setting was beautiful, the ceremony was touching... and the reception was fun. The BTTers had a great time together, which only made the day that much better.
The next day, after another hike of the "M" trail and a stop at Liquid Planet with the gang, Dan and I hit the road. We were in Seattle by 8:15, returned our rental car, and checked into the hotel by 9. The following day was a long one- 5 hour flight to JFK, lots of waiting for our (very delayed) flight to Boston, and the final plane trip home. We were both glad to be back... even if we are experiencing jet lag today!
Some things I learned on this trip:
1) 6 months is the latest I ever want to fly pregnant. I had a hard time getting comfortable, even though we had purchased seats with "extra legroom".
2) If I do fly again while pregnant, remember the compression socks! I forgot to put them on during one leg of travel and my ankles turned into cankles!! Yikes! Thanks to Jen for lending me hers for the trip, next time I have to remember to put them on right away.
3) Drink lots and lots of water when traveling and sightseeing. I started experiencing lots of BH contractions in Vancouver, which made me very nervous. A quick call to my doc had me understanding that even though I felt like I was drinking a lot, I still wasn't getting enough water. I'm supposed to be downing 1 gallon per day! Man, that's a lot of bathroom trips!
4) Always check google maps when booking a hotel and make sure the hotel isn't near train tracks (or a highway.... or anything else noisy). Apparently freight trains run ALL night long in Missoula and they love to blast those horns!
