It’s our 5 year wedding anniversary! Woohoo! It’s hard to believe it’s only been 5 years, because in some ways it feels like a lot longer. We’ve had a baby, sold a house, bought a house, moved…lots of big life changes in those 5 years.
Usually for our anniversary we try and go out of town overnight or for the weekend and have my parents babysit Logan to give us a little time away. Because of all the uncertainty with selling our house, we didn’t this year. Which is fine. We have a few vacations planned in a few months, so we can officially celebrate then! But for now, we just did a day trip.
Michael’s mom and stepdad babysat Logan for the day on Saturday. We had breakfast and then headed north to go for a hike, just the two of us.
We did the Whipple Creek Hike. It was a little north of Vancouver, Wa and mainly used for horseback riders, I guess. But it was a very kid-friendly place and we saw some families and we also saw some trail runners.
It’s pretty easy and flat, not much elevation gain. So it’s a good hike to do if you want to just do miles but not elevation (or if you have knee issues).
There are a lot of different trails you can take and none of them are super long, so you can a lot of them if you want.
We saw some horseback riders and saw the stables where there were a lot of horses.
We got to say hi to this beauty!
Even though it was pretty flat and easy and my heart rate never really got over 115, I burned a decent amount of calories! It was a nice little hike. We’d do it again and take Logan with us.
After our hike, we drove to downtown Vancouver and had lunch at Amaro’s Table. Highly recommend! Excellent food!
I had a glass of bubbly to celebrate. There were so many good things on the menu to choose from! I ended up getting the antipasto platter. It was an appetizer but plenty of food for lunch and about 85% on my diet. 😉 Not that that was a concern for the day.
Amazing brussels sprouts. Cheese, salami, carrots, chilled zucchini salad and some bread.
Michael got the chicken fried sandwich with homemade chips. The sandwich a zesty sauce and coleslaw. I had a bite. It was very good!
We shared an appetizer of ahi tuna rolls. Also very good! I’ve missed sushi. I would definitely go back to this restaurant. Everything was delicious and reasonably priced.
After lunch we walked around the waterfront of Vancouver.
It was a little bit of a gray day but thankfully it didn’t rain until we got home. The waterfront was super nice! Very clean, walkable, free parking (on weekends), lots of restaurants. It was cool and I’d like to go back and check out one of the waterfront restaurants.
We saw that Maryhill Winery had a tasting room on the waterfront and popped in to share a quick tasting and buy a bottle. I like Maryhill but it’s hard to get out to (it’s about 2+ hours from Portland).
We walked around some more and eventually it was time to head back home and to reality. Lunch was pretty big and filling so dinner was just munchies (leftovers from lunch and some fruit).
It was a really nice day! I’d like to go back to downtown Vancouver and check out some of the other stores and restaurants.
Vickie
Congratulations!
Lisa Eirene
Thanks!
emmaclaire
Happy anniversary, Lisa & Michael! I’ve never actually been TO Vancouver, WA – only driven through it on the way to Portland and Corvallis – I had no idea they had a nice waterfront; It always looks so industrial from the freeway. And I didn’t know Maryhill had a tasting room there – it is also one of our favorite wineries, but such a commitment to get there as it isn’t on the way to anywhere else we typically travel. We’ll have to check it out – thanks for the tip!
Lisa Eirene
Same! I can’t say that I’ve been to downtown Vancouver ever! But I’ve been hearing for awhile that they have been revamping it to make it a place to go. And the Maryhill tasting room is new! Check it out!
Marianne
Happy Anniversary Lisa! And may you both have 15 more!
Your hike looked really beautiful. You take great photos. Michaels sandwich looks really delicious. That is true southern food. Sooooo hot here today 96* in the shade. I about got heat stroke on my run!
Lisa Eirene
Thank you very much! That is sweet!
I am glad the weather here is starting to cool down, although I am not ready for the rainy season!
Lori
Happy anniversary! Here’s to many more years 🙂
Lisa Eirene
Thank you Lori!