Travel Tuesday: Whistler/Vancouver, British Columbia

Helene used to do a linkup on Tuesdays for travel posts, and this was written in April 2013, with the intention of posting it to linkup! It's been sitting in my drafts for over a year, and I really want to publish it, so here it is.

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Linking up once again with Helene! I love this linkup because it's so fun to read about other people's vacations and see their pictures of their travels!

My short list of travels is quickly ending, but I have a few ideas up my sleeve for some upcoming weeks! (:

This post is heavier on words than pictures, since I wasn't the greatest at documenting things when I was fifteen.

Anyway. So in August of 2008, literally the day after I turned fifteen, my parents and I went to Whistler and Vancouver, British Columbia for about a week. We spent a majority of our stay in Whistler, and one day + one night in Vancouver. We flew into Vancouver and then took a shuttle bus (2-3 hours, I think) up into the mountains.

We stayed in the village of Whistler, where there are no cars; it is relatively easy to walk everywhere. There were lots of stores, restaurants (including three Starbucks), and hotels nearby.

My dad participated in a three day downhill biking camp while we were there. While we were there, Crankworx was happening. Crankworx is an annual ten-day biking festival. Because of the festival, there were a lot of booths, tents, and other activities going on in the streets during our stay.

This picture was taken from somewhere in the village, with a hotel on either side, the mountain in the middle, and then you can see some of the tents from the festival in the center.

On our second full day in Whistler, Mom and I went on a zipline tour. "Our guides were Sue and Richard, a really hot guy from New Zealand. He had a nice accent." {taken directly from my journal hahaha}

Here I am on one of the ziplines! The longest line that we did was as long as the Eiffel Tower is tall!

The view from the mountains.

My mom and I would go for walks through the village during the day. We found the beautiful library, and a grocery store that wasn't in the village area that we were in {it was just outside the car-less part}, and I was so fascinated that everything was labeled in French & English. I may or may not have taken pictures of canned SpongeBob pasta and Lucky Charms boxes. {okay, fine, I took pictures of like everything.}

After three full days in Whistler, we took the shuttle back to Vancouver, where we spent a full day. I really wanted to go to the Louis Vuitton store {even though I still can't afford anything from there!}, so we took public transit, aka buses that I did not like, into the main part of the city, and we walked around trying to find the street where all of the high end stores are located. It turns out we walked right past it, but we continued walking until we got to Stanley Park.

I guess I thought this tree was cool?

There was a garden with lots of pretty flowers!

After supper, we must have asked someone how to get to Louis Vuitton, and we found out that we had passed the street that it was located on! We actually went in the bebe store {where my mom got asked to not take pictures of the mannequins haha} that was on the cross-street of where I wanted to be.

I was surprised that there were three Starbucks locations so close to one another in Whistler, but there were so many more in Vancouver! There was one on practically every corner, and there were even two locations that were kitty-corner from one another. Obviously, I am from a small town, where the closest Starbucks is nearly an hour away! (:

Check out some more travels over at Helene's:

Travel Tuesday: Virginia Beach, Virginia

Linking up again today with Helene for Travel Tuesday!! {Confession: I thought that Helene was pronounced the French way [ay-LEN] as opposed to the correct pronunciation [hell-EEN]. For the record, I also have trouble with formidable, but I digress.}

For this week, I am reminiscing a trip that my mom and I took in July 2011. While I have lived in the same house my entire life, my mom's father was in the Navy, so she and her family would move around quite a bit. They spent at least two, if not four years in/near Virginia Beach when she was a teenager, so this is where she "grew up," I guess. She wanted to bring me here since I had never been, and we were also able to see her oldest brother and his son, who live in the area.

{These pictures aren't really in order, and the first two were taken by my mom.}

We went to Mount Trashmore, which is a park made out of solid waste.

I really hate sand. And flip flops. I know, I'm weird. I think this picture is hilarious because it's such a typical me face.

So since I'm from a small town in the midwest, the boardwalk thing is kind of new to me. There were multiple locations of the same restaurant or store on the same street, pretty much walking distance from one another.

{I love this VW bus sign; there was also a wall painted for some restaurant with a VW Beetle on it!}

We ate dinner one night {our first night?} at Dough Boys. It was really good, and our waiter was cute (:

I thought these signs on the boardwalk were hilarious!!

Have I ever mentioned that I love Chick-fil-A? Since the nearest Chick-fil-A is like three hours from me, this was only the second time that I've ever eaten there. Their fries are my favorite!

I made my mom take me to Just Cupcakes for dessert (: They were out of the Frankly Scarlett (red velvet) so I got Mint Chocolate Chip.

We went to Wave Riding Vehicles with my uncle and cousin because my uncle wanted to check out the surfboards of course (: I found this little Frenchie that I sat with while they were looking at surfboards haha.

And a pretty picture of the beach! (:

Go check out Helene's linkup for more fun travels!

Travel Tuesday: Los Angeles

Two years ago I was in Los Angeles! It was spring break of my senior year of high school, and I'm pretty sure that it was the one time that we actually went somewhere for spring break.

We flew out on Sunday the 27th, and returned home on Thursday the 31st.

{before I add some pictures to this post, I have a few disclaimers. if I am in the picture, it was actually taken by my mom. yes, I am sunburned. I didn't realize that the weather was going to be so cool, so I only brought one jacket and one hoodie, which is why I am wearing the same thing in practically every picture.}

We had a delay when we were leaving our first airport due to frost. We made it to MPLS with just enough time to grab a quick lunch before boarding our flight to LAX with the USC men's swim team! {yes, I was quite excited about that!}

After landing in LA, we grabbed our luggage and took a shuttle to the rental car place.

My mom and I waited outside with the luggage. There is also an abundance of Vera Bradley Purple Punch in this post.

We picked up the Chevy Malibu, and headed to the hotel.

California palm trees!

We stayed at the Hollywood Orchid Suites, which is located right off of Hollywood Boulevard.

While my dad was getting us checked in, my mom and I saw this cute couple outside. The walls here are the back of the Hollywood & Highland Center, which is kind of like a mall and it also houses the Kodak Theatre, or whatever it is called now.

After dropping our stuff off in the room, we walked down to Mel's Drive-In for a snack.

 I found Marilyn outside the Hollywood Museum on our way out of the restaurant.

{I really, really wish that I had taken more pictures! but the camera that I was using at the time was one with a rechargeable battery instead of normal batteries, so it was really annoying.}

We drove over to our friends' house, and from there we all walked to Prizzi's Piazza {unfortunately, they are no longer open for business} for dinner.

On Monday, my dad and Adam went off to check out some music stores. My mom, Anna, and I took Syd {the Boston Terrier-French bulldog aka the only dog I like} and grabbed subs from Quizno's, which we ate in a park. It might have been Griffith Park, but I'm not sure. If it was, we didn't go up to the observatory. While we were having lunch, there was a photoshoot going on a few yards away!

After lunch, Anna drove us to the place where you can hike up to the Hollywood sign!

Here I am with Anna! We're both wearing our Delaney Davidson shirts! haha.

We went up as high as you are legally supposed to, but these other people tried to go a little further. I wish that I had taken some pictures of the view of DTLA from up here!

After our long hike down, Anna and I got ginger slushies from locali.

We went back to her house and hung out while waiting for my dad to get back.

Syd was really tired.

I love this dog.

My parents and I ended up going back to our hotel, and then we met up with our friend Noah on Hollywood Boulevard! He took us on a walk down to kitchen 24, where we had dinner.

On our way there, I freaked out because I found this:

I love Ozzy & Black Sabbath, and I had actually just written a paper on them for my British Literature class senior year.

These are the awesome light fixtures at kitchen 24!

We hung out with Noah at the restaurant for a little while, but then he had to get back to the studio.

On Tuesday, we drove out to Santa Monica.

Santa Monica palm trees.

Santa Monica beach.

We took a really long walk {where I was able to get even more sunburned} and I think we ended up in Venice. We walked back to the car, and then my dad drove us around to see the canals that he and Adam had seen the day before.

On our way back to the hotel, we had to drive through Beverly Hills, so I convinced my parents to stop and walk to Rodeo Drive. We went in a few stores. I felt like such a commoner. haha.

On Wednesday morning the three of us went to the Hollywood Wax Museum. I didn't really know who a lot of the people there were. So I convinced my mom to take me to Madame Tussauds to see Audrey Hepburn!

Here I am, completely sunburned, with Audrey!

And here is a comparison of the two museums:

Hollywood Wax Museum ^^

Madame Tussauds ^^

We went to the Grove on Wednesday afternoon, and were this close to seeing Sheryl Crow at her Barnes & Noble book signing that day.

It was really cool to go to LA, there were lots of fun things to see, and definitely a lot of interesting people! I wish that we were there longer, as there are more places I wanted to see.

One last picture. I think this is from Wednesday? Ariel was so insistent that I take a picture with them, and then she wanted our money, and then we didn't give her enough...oh Hollywood.

Also, one last word of advice that we learned - don't cross the street unless the light says that you can walk. Otherwise, you will get honked at...a lot.