Hello, Internet!

It's been a little while since I've posted on here, hasn't it? Life's been a bit mundane lately—a lot of the same ol' grind of leaving the house early in the morning, exhausting and stressful work days, being stuck in traffic, and coming home late. With that, along with a few other life things that have been a burden in the back of my mind, I've been feeling a bit defeated by it all and wanting to get away somewhere for a little while.

Thankfully my mom has been feeling the same way, and between the two of us, we decided to take this spontaneous trip to a lovely small town we happened upon on one of our trips to Canada—the lovely and quaint seaside town of Sidney! While we were only here from Friday through Sunday, we honestly had such a good time here, so I thought I'd share our little trip with you!




Friday 
My mom and I wanted to get a head start so that we could enjoy as much of this trip as possible, so we actually ended up leaving on Friday right after work, our bags already packed in her car. It was so exciting going to work that day, waiting in anticipation the entire time, knowing that this fun weekend trip was waiting for us at the end of the day. Aside from that initial excitement though, there wasn't much to document on Friday, as it largely just consisted of my mom and I being in the car the entire night, driving to Bellingham and frequently getting stuck in traffic while yours truly munched on some mini pretzels. Once we got to Bellingham, we stayed at an Econolodge so that we would be that much closer to the Canadian border on Saturday and would save a lot more time driving than we would if we had just drove all the way from our house.

Saturday
The big day! We got up bright and early, drove out of Bellingham and straight for the border. After we were cleared, we drove on toward the ferry. We actually hit a bit of bad luck on the ferry and couldn't get in onto either the 11:00 or the 12:00 ferry, so we had to wait in a line of cars for two hours, which was a bit discouraging. But what can you do?

Finally, after being all traveled out, we made it to Sidney! My mom managed to find this sort of Airbnb place where this guy was renting out parts of his house, and it's about five minutes from downtown. After the day we'd had, we were honestly floored by how adorable our room was and how many little touches were sprinkled throughout, so I simply must do a room tour!

What you see when you first walk in is this bright entryway....








After we got ourselves settled in our room, we decided to venture off into town and go exploring. Thankfully, it was the perfect weather for walking around, and it was so nice walking up and down the streets and seeing the changes of fall already taking place. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.




Of course I found a bookstore to hop into...



They also had a separate children's room that I couldn't help but peek into, and I wound up looking through a few middle grade books that had caught my eye.

How is it that middle grade books always have the most vivid, whimsical book covers that just make you want to pick them up? siiiiigh....

Turns out my mom had made a friend while I was gone!

After the bookstore, we then decided to walk by the water for a bit.



We then came back up and found this shop with bins of pumpkins sitting outside!



If that doesn't scream fall, I don't know what does. And don't think I wasn't tempted to buy the entire bin of miniature pumpkins, because I was! I guess that would just be a bit weird to explain to border control on the drive back home...

We also strolled by this bakery that we remembered from the last time we were here. It's always so tempting peeking into the window at all the yummy treats! It looks like they were getting ready for fall, too...



And that was essentially our first day in Sidney. We just walked around and enjoyed ourselves. Later that night we stepped into a pub and had dinner while there was live music playing—and they were really good! They played all sorts of great older songs and the whole atmosphere was just so nice and laid back. Part of me sort of just wanted to stay in that pub forever and have it never end.


Sunday




Sunday was definitely more of an easygoing day. We woke up to drizzling rain and so took our time getting ready in the morning. I switched on the fireplace and found The Holiday playing on TV, so all in all it was just a really cozy morning. I also got the idea that this would be a really nice place to stay for another mini-trip during christmastime, so I mentioned it to my mom and now we are both verrry into the idea. (!!!)

After getting ourselves ready, we decided to have a little breakfast at one of the breakfast diners in town. The one we hopped into was really quaint and old-fashioned, which is just what we were looking for. The breakfast was so delicious. We also couldn't help notice the big board hanging near the front, wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving... in October.




The Backstory—Books, books, and more books.

Okay, I have a confession to make, and I may as well tell you now: there was another very special reason I wanted to return to Sidney besides just to get away. Part of planning this trip was in the hopes of finding some special edition Harry Potter books that I had seen the last time I was here. If you don't know, Sidney is sort of a "bookstore town" in that they have at least three or four bookstores just in this little town alone, which is what originally drew us there a few years back. On our original trip, we had stopped into a bookstore called The Haunted Bookshop, where I found in their children's section several Harry Potter books in various different editions, some that were in the U.K. Bloomsbury edition and others that were in another edition I'd never seen before, called the "black" edition. Alas, my cheapo self convinced thyself that I reeeally shouldn't go overboard and buy all these books at one time (pffft!), that I could only buy a few of the books. So I ended up only buying some of the UK Harry Potter books and leaving it at that. That's right, I never bought the books in the black edition, no matter how freaking cool they looked. And I have regretted that. Ever. Since.

Flash forward to this trip! On the first day we got into Sidney, it was sunshiny and the perfect kind of day to go out exploring. So after getting ourselves settled in at the place we were staying, we ventured into town. I knew I was determined to go back to The Haunted Bookshop and see if they still had some special edition Harry Potter books there. Now granted, this entire trip was all founded on a one-in-a-million chance that these books would actually still be at this specific Canadian bookstore all these years later. I knew my chances were severely slim and I had mentally prepared myself for the great possibility that I would come all this way, only to find that they didn't have these books in stock and all of this was for naught.

So... imaging my surprise when I come back to this specific bookstore all these years later, making my way tentatively to the children's section, only to find a stack of Harry Potter books in various editions. Specifically:

-- the last two books that I needed to complete the U.K. Bloomsbury set (Goblet of Fire and Deathly Hallows)

-- and a first edition copy of Half Blood Prince in the black edition.

Excuse the quality. Old shadowy bookstores aren't always camera-friendly!

I could not believe my luck at that moment. I was so floored that I didn't even check the price of the books, because I knew there was no way I was walking out of the bookstore without them. I guess it just amazes me that time can fly by and you can come back to an old beloved place and feel as if no time has passed at all.

If that wasn't crazy enough, the next day my mom and I did some more browsing around town and happened upon another bookshop, where I found what? Oh, just Deathly Hallows in the black edition. (Seriously, is this seemingly quaint town secretly a goldmine for special edition Harry Potter books?!)

On a side note, that bookstore I found it in—Beacon Books—was probably my favorite bookstore we visited while we were in Sidney and is now one of my favorite used bookstores of all time. From the outside it doesn't look like much. It's only when you step inside and make your way into the store... that it goes further back... and further back still... and further back still. It's almost this weird optical illusion that makes you think this bookstore didn't look nearly as large from the outside, but on the inside there's all these hidden rooms and little nooks and so much potential to discover new books. It's what truly captures my love for bookstores, how they can be filled with so many surprises and hidden alcoves the more that you let yourself wander. I also just loved, loved, loved the atmosphere of this bookstore. It was the typical warm, cozy, and inviting setting, with multiple fireplaces lit, and the old woman who runs it is so adorable and lovely and you can tell that her store is purely her own labor of love. Part of me regrets that I didn't take any pictures of the store while I was there, but at the same time it felt like the kind of place where a phone or a camera weren't necessary. The kind of place that you just enjoy and appreciate in the moment.

Enjoying an appropriately spooky read on our drizzly drive back home to the States.