the Pura Vida: May 2013

Cabo Wabo

Flashback to November: Victoria is cold, rainy, miserable and my Vitamin D levels are low. What to do, what to do? Every once in a while airlines charter direct flights out of Victoria to exotic destinations. In November 2012, SunWings chartered a flight from Victoria to Cabo San Lucas. Consider me sold. Our closest family friends have a place in Cabo San Lucas and we had been aching to visit them for a while! After we booked our flights we rented a condo through VRBO that was just down the road from them and packed our bags! Cabo was exactly the solution to the winter blues. The sun was shining, the ocean was perfect and the beers were ice cold. Let's not forget the taco's... Cabo is definitely one of the least culturally exciting destinations in Mexico but for a week it worked out alright. We had a car so we did lots of exploring, hiked to a waterfall, walked with some cattle, drank mucho cervezas, gorged on tacos and most importantly, relaxed! A much needed winter getaway.

*******************

Gone Sasquatchin'

To say Sasquatch! was a good time would be the understatement of the year. We departed in a frenzy from Victoria early Thursday evening and arrived to the festival grounds Friday morning at about 7:30am - yes, a solid 13 hours of adventuring. The border lineup was long, we got interrogated and searched, there was a bridge collapse, ten of us going insane at Wal-Mart and then a long, winding, sleepy drive through Washington towards the Gorge. Day 1 began as soon as we arrived at our campsite and didn't end until the wee hours of Saturday morning. Lack of sleep was definitely a recurring theme of the weekend. The shows were incredible - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis killed it, Mumford and Sons brought out Edward Sharpe to sing Fleetwood Mac's The Chain, Alt-Jay was better than I could have expected, Capitol Cities put on a high-energy dance show, Earl Sweatshirt thought he was at Coachella, and the dance tent was the sweatiest place around. To my nearest and dearest who shared Sasquatch! with me, I can't imagine not knowing you.

**********************

Do you know what time it is?

Seattle Getaway

This past December, I celebrated my 21st Birthday in Seattle with a few of my bestfriends. Initially, it was supposed to be myself, Trisha and Teresa as Maddy was not supposed to be home from her semester abroad. The day we were leaving however, to my surprise, Maddy strolled on into my house and surprised me, letting me know she too would be joining us in Seattle! To say I was thrilled would be an understatement.

Although I've lived in Victoria practically my entire life, I've never really realized just how close Seattle is. After a brief, albeit stormy journey we found ourselves outside the clipper terminal in a rather rainy Seattle. Hailing down a taxi was next to impossible so we decided to hoof it to our hotel. Along the way we picked up some birthday essentials including champagne, OJ, wine and strawberries. We stayed at the Fairmont Olympic which was beautifully decorated for the holidays. We arrived on the eve prior to my birthday and as is custom, immediately popped some champagne and made several toasts after donning our bathrobes.

The next day after enjoying our breakfast en suite we spent some time in the hotel's hottub and pool. We then spent some time exploring the city. We took our photo with Santa, strolled Pike Place Market and did some shopping. Before we knew it the sun was setting and we went to Purple where I ordered my first legal alcoholic beverage, without even being carded. We also ordered some phyllo-wrapped brie cheese which was delicious! Following our drinks and appies, we returned to the hotel to get dolled up before heading out to Branzino for a seafood dinner. I hate to admit this, but after dinner, we were all thoroughly exhausted and retired to our hotel room. Thus, I spent my first night as a 21 year old in the United States, in bed.

Maddy unfortunately had to leave early, so for our last full day in Seattle it was me, Trish and T. We went for breakfast at this amazing place called Lolas that specializes in heavenly/sugary donuts. After breakfast we walked to the Science Museum where we perused a temporary King Tut Exhibit (apparently it was the last time the artifacts could be seen outside of Egypt!!). After, we walked over to the world famous music museum (which we loved), went up the Space Needle, and took the mono-rail back towards town for some last minute shopping!

It was my first time in Seattle, and I absolutely loved it. We barely scratched the surface on all their is to explore and can hardly wait to return at some point this summer.

****************