Cort's Visit!

Thank you to those who visited in 2008 and to those of you already planning visits for 2009. Cort one-upped all ya'll though. She landed herself a spot on the 2008 guest book AND the 2009 guest book at the Continski B' and B'. Leave it to Cort, eh? And, to top it off, we had a great time, despite the gray weather that painted over the usual view of the mountains.

Cort flew into Seattle, where we were able to spend the night. Brad and Jessica took us to a bar where we welcomed Cort with a drink and a lesson on the half dozen or so Polish words Brad and I heard regularly as kids. We laughed our gotchkas off, to say the least. The next day, Jessica was kind enough to show us around the city. We made stops at Theo Chocolate Factory, the Fremont troll, and The Public Market before heading north to B'ham.

When we arrived in Bellingham, Mike had the guest closet ready for Cort, and the girls greeted their old roomie with wiggling butts. I think Cort's butt was wiggling with excitement, too. Am I right, Cort? We started off the next day with some French toast to fuel up before heading out for a tour of downtown Bellingham where we checked out a few shops, a foggy view of the bay, and the Whatcom Museum. Later that night, we went bowling, both literally and virtually. That is, we started at an actual bowling alley and then made our way across the street to a bar with free wii bowling. I think we all had higher scores on the wii.

Next up- Ladies Night Out. We crossed the border to spend some time in Vancouver, BC. Though it started off a little rocky - let me just say, I will never stay at another Howard Johnson - we turned things around enough to have a good time. We saw 1,400,000 lights, some Canuck cockatoos, and architecture that took our breath away.

The Festival of Lights:

At a Conservatory in Vancouver, BC:

Charlie:

A Cathedral in Downtown Vancouver:

Gas Town, Vancouver's Historic District:

When we were back in the states, we made sure to spend a little time in Bellingham's own historic district of Fairhaven where we grabbed a bite to eat and took a romantic stroll down the boardwalk.

New Year's Eve was Cort's last night in town. Therefore, we decided to spend the night at home as to truly celebrate each other's company and not that of a hundred strangers in a bar. Call us squares, but we had fun. Cort gave us Scattergories for Christmas (as if her visit wasn't enough), and between that and Apples to Apples, we had a real hootananie! It was craa-aa-aa-zz-y!

All too quickly, our week together was over. We returned to Seattle where we spent our last few hours together before a farewell hug cut short as to keep the tears from pouring out.

We look forward to Cort's next visit, and hope all of you make it out here eventually. Thanks again, Cort. We love you. We really, really love you.