The weekend before Thanksgiving was absolutely packed. On Thursday night, I worked (and participated in) our Fall Ball at the Seattle Aquarium and had a blast checking out the fish and animals, and a late night run to a local fast food joint for milkshakes and fries afterward. The following day consisted of some homework and some relaxing, but that night I went to see Halsey with my roommates and some friends. It was my third time seeing Halsey and she still manages to blow my mind.
Anyway, to top off this extra packed weekend of fun, my roommate Ally (yes we share a name, it can get confusing) and I zoomed up to Canada for a little over 24 hours to explore! Ally recently got her passport, so we had to break it in, and I’m always down for checking new countries off my list. So at 8:30 in the morning, we tore off in my Jeep, border or bust.
We arrived in Vancouver at about noon on Saturday. We decided to drive around and check out the city a little bit. We didn’t have much of a plan and had a few hours to kill before checking into our Airbnb. I really wanted to visit the Vancouver Public Library, as I’d heard it was super cool architecture- and book-wise. Unfortunately, it was closed because it was Remembrance Day (a Canadian holiday similar to Veterans Day). The outside of the building was still really cool and we saw this awesome sign!
After visiting the library, we wandered a bit more. I recommend finding a place to park for a few hours and meandering around the city center. There are so many cool shops, restaurants and buildings to see! We didn’t really have a plan, and the spontaneity was exciting.
We checked into our Airbnb at around 3:30 and spent a while resting there. Ally had some emails to catch up on, and I was happy to hang out and watch the rain fall and edit some photos from earlier in the day. We then spent about an hour trying to decide on a restaurant. Pro tip: Pick a restaurant before its about dinner time to avoid hanger and time wasting.
We decided to eat at a local sushi place called The General Public Sushi Lodge and let me tell you, this place was WILD. The ceiling was covered in pop art sculptures made out of neon plastic toys, there were Star Wars characters made of legos and lights coming out of the walls, black lights made everything glow, and there were about 15 screens showing the Wizard of Oz. The names of the sushi rolls were all puns and very creative, and the sushi itself was absolutely delicious! Additionally, the legal drinking age in Canada is 19, so we ordered our first legal drinks which was exciting too!
After dinner, we headed back to our Airbnb to get some sleep, like I said it had already been a packed weekend of late nights! We settled in and watched a few episodes of Law and Order SVU before hitting the hay.
Day Two:
We woke up at about 9:30 on Day Two and prepared for our outdoor adventure. We stopped at a super cute, very hipster coffee shop called Pallet Coffee Roasters for breakfast and a caffeine boost.
We drove over to the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge for a little walk in the rain. This is becoming a popular alternative to the famous Capilano Suspension Bridge, which costs $40 to visit, whereas this one was free! It was a very rainy morning, but the fog was beautiful floating through the trees and over the edges of the cliffs. Its always refreshing to get out into nature after spending so much time in the city. Here are some photos from the excursion:
Gorgeous, right?
After our adventure in the literal forest, we returned to the concrete jungle of Vancouver and did some more exploring! We saw the Olympic Cauldron, walked the waterfront, and stopped for boba milk tea!
To close out our trip, we went mural hunting. Vancouver holds an annual mural festival to celebrate public art. We toured around Main Street in search of these famous murals and got snaps of a few, but it was pouring rain, so that made it quite an adventure. Here are some of our favorites:
After our great mural hunt, we ate at a restaurant called Rocky Mountain Flatbread (I couldn’t resist, the Rocky Mountains are my fav!). We both had delicious pizza and dried out before jumping back into the rain. We thought about remaining in Canada for a few more hours to try and avoid border traffic, but we opted to be home earlier, so we headed for the border. Pro tip: bring something to occupy yourself at the border. The wait is long, especially reentering the States, no matter when you go, so bring a book, podcast, or a chatty friend like Ally G to occupy you. And a good playlist is a must. On the way into Canada we listed to my new throwback playlist, and on the way out, we jammed to Halsey’s Hopeless Fountain Kingdom album from start to finish. Both are below!
Nevertheless 
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