Seattle & Olympic
In September 2020, Brit and I set out for our belated honeymoon trip to the Pacific Northwest. We have always been fascinated with this area with its unparalleled natural beauty and coffee culture, so it was only fitting that this was our top choice for our honeymoon. We got married in May 2020 right at the height of the pandemic and had to change wedding plans quite a bit. We chose to get married on our original date but had a smaller more intimate outdoors ceremony rather than the larger event space we originally had planned due to COVID laws and restrictions. We couldn’t have been happier with our new outdoor location of the ceremony surrounded by close friends and family, so it all worked out for the best. We had initially planned to have our honeymoon trip right after our ceremony but that had to get delayed as well. We were able to finally get to our trip in mid September when COVID had died down a little. We still felt a little uneasy with traveling as vaccines had not yet come out and we had not done any major traveling since the start of COVID. But we were very thankful for the chance to go.
We started our Pacific Northwest journey in Seattle. We stayed a couple nights in an Airbnb located very close to Pikes Place Market and from the balcony we had views of the ocean. We really enjoyed getting to explore Seattle however it was slightly dampened due to the fact that many places were closed and/or only doing outdoor seating/carryout due to the continuing COVID restrictions. We’d love to go back to explore the city more fully under better circumstances. Despite some of the closings we were still able to explore a ton! Here are some of our favorite things to do around the Seattle area.
Our number one top thing is finding all the coffee of course! Seattle is known to have one of the best coffee cultures in the country and is also the birthplace of the famous Starbucks. you can find the original Starbucks shop in Pike Place Market which is neat to see. But there are many other coffee spots to get a great cup of coffee. One of the coolest is the Starbucks Reserve. This is a must do for all coffee lovers. We have had quite a few great coffees and I’d have to say Starbucks Reserve had the most amazing coffee we had ever had. They had a menu of unique, craft coffee drinks with some pretty imaginative options to choose from. We were feeling pretty exhausted after all our walking and exploring and we had never felt more awake and alive after this one coffee drink at Starbucks Reserve (maybe something else was added? Just kidding). Anyway, it’s a pretty awesome spot so definitely check it out!
Pike Place Market: Seattle’s original farmers market and a great spot to get local foods and products. It is usually a pretty bustling place but due to our timing of going during COVID it was relatively quiet. We found lots of good foods and ended up getting food for a picnic lunch that day by the water. Don’t miss the downstairs of this market that has more shops and unique finds. One of our favorite coffee shops of the trip is located on the upstairs floor of the market, called Storyville coffee.
Olympic Sculpture park: small park where you can walk through sculptures by different artists. We then came across pocket beach, a small beach with great views of Puget sound. Being from the Midwest, we were very jealous of people living in a city getting such amazing nature opportunities so close to city center. This is a cute area that doesn’t take up a lot of time to explore.
Chihuly Garden and Glass: museum in downtown Seattle showcasing the glass artwork of Dale Chihuly. The museum itself is rather small, but it is packed with intricate displays of the glass. It also includes a small garden area and glass house. Tickets are $35 per adult which is a little pricey, but I thought it was well worth it. The glass pieces are amazingly beautiful to see in person.
Pioneer Square: Seattle’s original downtown dating back to 1852. It is full of Romanesque Revival style architecture, artsy murals, trendy shops and restaurants. We did not spend long in this area but it is worth a stop to snap a few photos and check out a few shops.
Discovery Park: At 534 acres, this is Seattle’s largest park. It offers great views of Puget Sound and the surrounding Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges. This is a great spot to escape the bustling city for an afternoon and enjoy a peaceful walk along the beach.
Kerry Park: This a small park in the Queen Anne neighborhood where you can get great views of the skyline and Space Needle. Be warned if you walk to this park like we did, be ready for a big hill! But it’s arguably one of the best views of the city. We ended coming to this park twice during our stay. And we were glad we did since the first time it was pretty cloudy and hazy but our second time it was a clear day offering much better views. We even got a view of Mount Ranier in the distance.
Our time in Seattle came to an end and we started making our way father west towards the Olympic Peninsula. We rented a car in Seattle for the rest of our trip. It is a about a 2:30 hour drive from Seattle to Port Angeles Washington where our Airbnb was located. A pretty cool pit stop along the way is located in Port Orchard Washington. Here you will stumble across an adorable hobbit home located in Brothers Green house. This is free to see as well!
We then made our way to the highlight of the trip, Olympic National Park. Olympic is truly a magical part of the country encompassing several diverse ecosystems. I don’t know another place where you can explore rugged coastline, glacial mountains and lush rainforests all withing a couple hours of each other. The park is huge too, covering nearly a million acres! We stayed in Port Angeles four days to explore the Olympic region and still did not have enough time to explore it all! Obviously, you can really enjoy your time in this park and see some amazing things with any number of days, but if you really want a good feel for this park and be able to explore multiple regions thoroughly, I’d recommend at least 3 days. We would’ve loved to stay for another week exploring! Olympic National Park is broken up into different regions The main regions of the park include: North (Hurricane Ridge, Lake Crecent, and Sol Duc), West (Kalaloch, Hoh and Quinault rainforest), and Southeast (staircase). We were unable to make it to the Lake Quinault or Staircase regions of the park due to timing and road closures near the staircase area during the week we were there. These areas look pretty amazing and will definitely be on our list for next time we visit. Here are some of our top highlights from the areas we were able to visit!
Hurricane Ridge: the most easily accessed mountain range in Olympic, about 17 miles south of Port Angeles and going from sea level to 5,242 ft of elevation. We completed two hikes in this area:
Hurricane Hill via Hurricane Ridge: a 3.4 mile, partly paved, out and back trail. This is a great introduction trail to the park offering stunning 360 degree views of the surrounding Olympic mountains. This was our first trail we hit as we drove into the park our first evening. We had perfect golden hour lighting during our hike back down.
Sunset Point: this is a very short trail located in the Hurricane Ridge area. We actually came back to this trail towards the end of our trip to take in a few more mountain views.
While you are in this area you can also, if you dare, drive what is often referred to as Washington’s scariest road, Obstruction Point road. The gravel road starts in the Hurricane ridge parking lot and ends at Obstruction Point at an elevation of 6,150ft. With its tight turns and steep drops offs our palms were sweating but the views were absolutely spectacular. Just be smart if you plan to venture on this road.
Hoh Rainforest: one of the largest temperate rainforests in America. The Hoh rainforest gets as much as 14 ft of rain a year! In this forest we were surrounded by ferns larger than we had ever seen and towering moss-covered trees. The famous trail in this area is the 0.8 mile Hall of Mosses trail. This was an amazingly beautiful trail surrounded by some of the most impressive old growth trees and ferns. However, due its popularity this trail was also very crowded which took away some of its charm. If you want some of the same amazing scenery with a quieter less crowded environment, I’d recommend traveling a little further on to the Hoh River trail, which runs 18.5 miles through the river valley. We just took this trail a couple more miles before turning back. This trail was very quiet, and we got similar views to the Hall of Mosses trail.
Ruby Beach: located in the Kalaloch beach area. This trail is a short distance to the ocean. We loved this beach for the moody vibes it treated us with. On our drive into the beach it was a beautiful sunny clear day and as soon as we got about a mile from the coast, we hit a wall of fog that made our world turn black and white. This beach has an abundance of driftwood and perfectly round stones. There is something pretty magical about the rocky west coast beaches.
Rialto Beach: located in the Mora region. This region is also home to Second and Third beach located in the town of La Push. We attempted to go to second beach, but it was closed due to being on reservation land and the tribe closed the beach access due to continued COVID restrictions. This was another beautiful rocky beach and was quite a bit sunnier than Ruby Beach. At Rialto we were able to explore tide pools where we found a ton of starfish. And if you want a longer trek along the coastline, you can walk the 3.5-mile roundtrip to Hole-in-the-Wall. We loved both beach areas and both were different enough to make it worth exploring both.
Ancient Groves: this is a very short hike that we almost skipped and are so glad we did'’t. This ended up being one of our favorite places of the entire park. We were lucky enough to be totally alone in these magical woods. It was like entering a fairytale as we meandered through the moss-covered grounds looking up at the towering old growth trees. It was so quiet and peaceful we could have stayed in these woods all day. Alas we had to move on.
Sol Duc Falls and Marymere falls. From the parking lot it is 2.25 mile rountrip to Sol duc falls.
Mount Storm King: this hike is a beast! It is a relentless uphill battle limbing 2,300ft of elevation in 1.8 miles. Believe me, there were hardly any breaks from the uphill climb. The first part of the trail you are walking through woods on a well-maintained trail. Towards the end you come across a sign that says, “End of Maintained Trail.” Here you will begin to transition to rope climbing and rock scrambling. So, if you are not too keen on heights avoid this part of the trail. I you can muster the courage and the strength to climb to the top you will be rewarded with some pretty epic views. This is a tough hike so would be best suited for more experienced hikers.
Blue Mountain: Here we completed the short 0.4 mile Blue Mountain Trail for some amazing 360 views of the surrounding mountains. This area is well worth a stop if you can brave the drive in. It was a pretty narrow, steep and winding road to get here!
Lake Crecent: We drove by Lake Crecent every day going into the park on one of the most scenic and peaceful roads we had ever been on. This is a beautiful lake where you can rent boats, hike the surrounding trails or just hang out to enjoy the views. Trail heads near lake Crecent are Mt Storm King and Marymere Falls. We spent our last morning here enjoying large coffees and strolling the peaceful woods before the crowds came in. We could only hear our footsteps and the chirping birds as we strolled through the towering trees. Looking back, we wish we could bottle this moment up and transport back to these peaceful woods whenever life is getting us down. For now, it is a very pleasant memory and a place that will always be dear to us.
That’s a wrap on our Washington adventures. This instantly became our favorite part of the country and we can’t wait until we can make future trips here to explore more!