My wife Sherry and I just got back from our vacation in Seattle, Washington, Vancouver and Vancouver Island in British Columbia. We met up with some friends, Layli and Clayton, from Canada and had a blast!

We flew out of Minneapolis on Saturday, May 24th, and flew into Seattle. The plane ride was good, and that is crazy being that we flew with Northwest. Heh. We got to Seattle and went to the Space Needle. 16$ per person to go to the top of the 500 plus feet tall structure. So worth it.

We went to Canada that night to Abbotsford, which is about an hour or so east of Vancouver. We stayed with Clayton's mom, Cathy, and the next day we prepared to go to the island. The next day we traveled to the island and took the ferry over. It was a two hour ride. They fit more than 150 vehicles on this cruiseliner-like ship. Nice ride.

The island was beautiful! We stayed with Clayton's brother, Brandon, at his house in the hills of Duncan. We could see the ocean from the balcony outside our room! The following days were spent visiting the attractions on the island. We went to a winery, there are like two dozen or more wineries on Vancouver Island, we also golfed at Arbutus Ridge which is quite possibly the nicest course I have ever golfed on. We also toured downtown Victoria and took the ferry back to the mainland from there. Also on the island, we grilled out a bunch, drank and ton of Canadian beer (Kokanee) and played bocce ball. We did get to see the oldest lighthouse on the island as well.

Back on the mainland, we toured Vancouver for a day and went shopping and rode the Sky Train. Vancouver is a pretty city. We also ate great seafood and again drank great Canadian beer. We also went to Tim Horton's at least daily, and once three times in one day for coffee. If you have never had a coffee from Tim Horton's, you are missing out! We did get to golf one more time in Abbotsford, and I shot an 86 on a par 72 course. Pretty good since it was only my second time out this year. It was a short course with no par 5's, so that helped my game.

But now we are back in Minnesota and back to work. It still helps to look at the pictures and think back to all the fun we had! We try to see Layli and Clayton every year on a vacation, whether they come here or we go to Canada or we meet somewhere. Next year we are planning to go on a cruise!