And so today began the first segment of our adventure to explore our northern neighbor.  It was a sudden 4:30am alarm awakening, followed by a one mile walk to the MAX station and into Portland by 6:00am.  Our Bolt Bus picked us up and then it was an eight-hour trip to Vancouver, with stops in Seattle and Bellingham.  We were able to check into our hotel by 3:30pm and spent the rest of the early evening enjoying an incredible happy hour and strolling around Robson Street.  Finally, we splashed around in the hotel pool and finished with a nice hot tub session as the sun set.  It was definitely a long day, but it went without incident and the weather was beautiful.  Okay, enough with the basics, onto the photos!  One of the best parts about traveling is the discovery of things that we haven’t seen before, or that we think is kinda odd or funny.  Here is what our first day brought us: