I think in my previous life I was a pine tree perched on the mountainside. I immediately fell in love with the Pacific Northwest before my plane even landed. I saw Mt. Rainier from the plane window, and as someone who lives in the flat Midwest, I was instantly hooked.
My friend and I visited Seattle and Olympic National Park over Labor Day weekend, and we were expecting the weather to be chilly and rainy - typical PNW weather, however, it happened to be the exact opposite, 80 degrees and sunny, which was amazing. We spent 2 jam-packed days sightseeing in Seattle before renting a car and driving 3.5 hours to Olympic National Park. Highlights from Seattle include: adding my gum to the Gum Wall, attending a terrible improv show at the Market Theater, eating our way through Pike Place Market, going to the top of the Space Needle twice, inspecting jaw-dropping blown glass artwork at the Chihuly Glass Museum, cruising on Puget Sound at sunset, quietly exploring the Seattle Public Library, and soaking up the sun with a gorgeous view of the skyline at Kerry Park.
Our home base in Olympic was in Port Angeles, which had everything we needed after a long day of driving and hiking across the peninsula. We drove a portion of the scenic Pacific Coast Highway 101 to get to our destinations in Olympic, and I dream of returning to follow the whole highway South into California. Highlights from Olympic include: hiking to Marymere falls, driving on narrow winding roads up up up the mountainside in the Elwha Valley, scouring tide pools at Second and Ruby beaches, walking through the humid Hoh Rainforest, gawking at the crystal blue waters of Lake Cresecent, visiting Hurricane Ridge, and wishing I could spend my whole life driving through pine-tree lined highways at the base of mountains. I spent our last night in Port Angeles sitting alone outside in the hot tub of our hotel under the shadow of the mountains and a sky full of stars.
This. Place. Is. Beautiful. It was just the place I needed to do some soul searching. I left my heart here when we had to leave.
