Kurt and I took one last vacation (well, second to last) to the Olympic Peninsula/Seattle Labor Day weekend. The purpose was to visit Kurt's grandma and also a sort of baby moon. We had an awesome time! I've always wanted to see the peninsula and rain forest, and it didn't disappoint. Warning: terrible pictures of me ahead.
We flew out super duper early, so when we arrived in Seattle we used Yelp to help us find a delicious breakfast spot. Then we headed inland to Snoqualmie Falls, and then drove back in the mountains for a bit.
Then we drove around Tacoma and onto the peninsula, stumbling on the Navy's undersea museum. Kurt's been fascinated by maritime history lately, especially subs, so he was stoked. Unfortunately, we just barely missed operating hours, but they had this (apparently) very famous sub outside.
Kurt's grandma lives in Sequim, which is the driest place in the state of Washington, thanks to the rain shadow effect from the Olympic Mountains. She has an amazing garden that I was just loving.
The next day, Kurt's grandma joined us for a drive up to Hurricane Ridge. It has amazing views, including this one of the Olympics.
Yes, that's a dog on a motorcycle. Wearing swim goggles. He looked pretty happy, too.
In the afternoon, we headed out solo (sans grandma) to drive around to the other side of the peninsula. This is Lake Crescent (or Crescent Lake, something like that).
And then we arrived in Forks! OMGEE!!!!
Where the locals are really taking advantage of the Twilight craze. This was the best example we saw: Twilight firewood (that looked like normal firewood if you ask me. They could've put sparkles on it or something, at least.)
From here, we drove over to Hoh Rain Forest. Think HUGE trees, lots of moss, and tons of ferns. It was positively jurassic.
Then we shot down to Ruby Beach. Yes! A typical Northwest beach! Pebbles, and drift wood, and sea stacks. I was in heaven.
Then up to La Push (which definitely had some Twilight signs of their own).
The next morning, we stopped at a prime example of the ubiquitous Northwest coffee shack. These are all over, and extend as far inland as Spokane. (My favorite in Spokane is named Java the Hut. Not that I've ever been there, but I see it whenever we go to Chewelah and the name makes me smile.) I had to get a picture. And my steamer was awesome.
Then we headed over to the Sol Duc hot springs (pictures? yeah right--no pics of me in a bathing suit while 34 weeks pregnant on this blog!). After a short soak, we hiked the falls.
Then we drove up to Neah Bay and Cape Flattery, the Northwest Most Point in the US. And, the camera died right before we got to the actual point, but here's a look out on the way there. It was BEAUTIFUL. Probably my favorite part of the coast.
The next morning, we said goodbye to Grandma. We decided it would be fun to stay on San Juan island for the night. On the way off the peninsula, we stopped for some Northwest Native American art. Kurt LOVES this stuff. Like, you have no idea how many pictures of totem poles and prints and boxes he took. I spared you.
We took the ferry from Port Townsend (where we ate lunch) to Whidbey Island (so cute). Port Townsend (below) is my favorite town on the peninsula.
Then we drove to Fidalgo Island, where we took the ferry from Anacortes to Friday Harbor on San Juan island. Look, it's James Island!
Friday Harbor was our absolute favorite part of the trip. The San Juan islands are located in the Salish Sea, northwest of Seattle by about 80 miles. They're pretty rural, but Friday Harbor is a really cute tourist spot. We got in pretty late--around 6 pm--so we walked around the town for a bit (ice cream! seal spotting at the marina!) before heading to our hostel for the night. Yep, we stayed in a hostel. The hotels on San Juan are crazy expensive, and this hostel had private rooms for MUCH cheaper, and I've never stayed in a hostel, so why not? I was really, really tired from all the walking, so we called it an early night. And then we got up bright and early to head out to Lime Kiln state park on the west side of the island. It's a prime whale watching spot. Unfortunately, we didn't see any, but we saw plenty of porpoises and seals, perhaps some sea lions. It was absolutely beautiful so early in the morning, and we had it all to ourselves.
Then we hopped back on the ferry and headed over to Seattle! We toured the Pioneer Park district for a bit, then headed over to Pikes Place. Such a fun spot! Kurt had been sampling clam chowder during our trip (one place in Port Angeles, one in Port Townsend), and he Yelped the best in Seattle, and found Pike Place Chowder. Was it good? Let me put it this way: I don't even like clam chowder, and I ate more than my share of Kurt's bowl. Positively life changing. And the flowers at the market! Oh, huge, beautiful bouquets for $5 each. I was in heaven. We bought some for Kurt's friend's girlfriend, Bailey. We stayed with Aaron and Bailey for the night, and they took us to dinner at this awesome little spot with the best mussels I've ever had. Aaron and Kurt have been friends since, like, diapers. He's a Chewelah boy and they entertained us after dinner with tales of their childhood escapades. It's kind of a miracle they both made it to adulthood. I'm not exaggerating either.
We woke up super early again on Wednesday to fly back home and head to work. All in all, we logged over 700 miles on our rental car during our 5 day stay. Such a fun last vacation as a childless couple. It was fun to plan future backpacking trips up Mt. Olympus with Turbo one day. We'll definitely be back.
