Now to the details and photos ---
Friday, June 1 -- Driving down to IL
The kids had a half day for their last day of school so we had pretty much everything packed so we could leave shortly after dismissal. We were on the road around noon and arrived in St. Jacob, IL (30 min. from St. Louis) just in time for a 6pm enchilada dinner. The evening flew by -- catching up, kids playing with the dogs, and the nightly ritual of enjoying a bowl of ice cream.
Saturday, June 2 -- Flights
We awoke to a drizzly and grey sky. The morning was slow and lazy - reading books and playing games -- a perfect, relaxing time before the chaos of flying. After lunch, we said our goodbyes to the kids and then Tim's dad drove us to the St. Louis airport. All our bags were checked in without trouble and the flight to Phoenix went smoothly. Our connecting flight to Seattle, however, was indefinitely delayed -- our plane was stuck in LA for some kind of maintenance. So we ended up sitting in the terminal for 3 additional hours before they got us on a different plane. Silver lining: our airline provided us with some free drinks, sandwiches, and snacks while we waited.
We got our rental car, checked into the Tacoma Holiday Inn Express at 12am PT/ 2am CT, and were sleeping shortly after arrival.
Sunday, June 3 -- Seattle
After eating breakfast at our hotel (yes, I had TWO cinnamon rolls... mmm..), we drove the short distance to Seattle where we were going to spend the day.
First stop was the Kimpton Alexis Hotel where were we dropped off our car for valet parking and had our luggage stored until our afternoon check-in. Then we spent the rest of the day walking around and exploring the city.
We started out in the vicinity of Pioneer Square where we went on Bill Speigel's Underground Tour with purple haired Layla as our guide. Between Seattle being built upon a tide flat and then the Great Seattle Fire of 1889, they were prompted to build the city up higher while "burying" the 1st story of the original buildings. So we were walking under the current sidewalks during this very historical and entertaining tour.
As we continued our walk, we popped by the Seattle's Central Library where the unique architecture of glass and steel drew us in. We took the escalators to the top of the 11-story building.
We then made our way over to the well-known Pike Place Market. Words cannot even begin to describe the collision of cultures, generations, sights, sounds, and smells found in a maze of people and many shops & local vendors. The best I can say is that it's pretty much a farmer's market on steroids.
We also managed to walk over by the Seattle Center to enjoy the beautiful parks in that area and to get our photo with the Space Needle. By the time we started back towards our hotel, our feet were pretty sore from walking up and down the steep hills of the city. So as a treat, Tim let me buy my very first (strawberry flavored) Bubble Tea when we passed by Umai's again.
Once we were back at the Alexis, we checked into our suite. It was beautiful! We were welcomed with a cheese/cracker/fruit tray and sparkling wine on ice. The wine's name was Michelle (coincidence since the hotel didn't know my name at beforehand). We enjoyed our snacks and rested for a bit before venturing back to Pike Place Market for dinner. On the way to Alibi Pies, we found the famous gum wall. (No, we didn't touch it and unfortunately we did not have any gum to contribute. lol). After our delicious pizza, we walked around by the harbor and the giant Ferris wheel before retiring back to our hotel to soak in the hot tub.
A note on Seattle: The one thing that really took me by surprise was the number of homeless people wandering the streets and sitting on park benches. Rows of tents were popped up along the sidewalks next to shopping carts filled with their belongings. Some of the men and women were smoking cigarettes, others were laughing and playing cards, and several had their music blaring. The most heartbreaking was seeing the ones that were clearly mentally ill and/or veterans just wandering about the streets and begging for money. It was pretty sad and overwhelming.
Monday, June 4 -- Whale Watching & Sequim
We were up bright and early to head towards Port Angeles where our Whale Watching Tour was scheduled. I'm so glad we decided to add this tour to our trip. It was amazing to be out on the water. (Specifically, we were in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the international boundary between Canada & the U.S.). For the first few hours of the tour, there were no glimpses of wildlife other than the occasional bird. When our guide was about to give up, we finally saw the tail end of a humpback whale breaching. All we saw though was the final, gigantic splash as he made his way back into the water. Sadly, our whale friend did not come back up while we waited him out.
As a consolation, we headed over to an area where sea lions, seals, and sea otters often play and sunbathe. There were so many of them just hanging out on the rocks.
As we started making our way back to shore, our guide got a call that there was a pod of orcas nearby. We were able to get an amazing view of the beautiful black and white whales just hanging out along the coastline. I think we stayed and watched them for close to 30 minutes. After about 6 hours of being out on the water, we returned to the dock chilled to the bone, wind whipped, and with sunburned faces. It was all worth it though! :-)
We grabbed a few groceries in Port Angeles and then drove to Sequim, about 20 minutes away to arrive at our Airbnb (Studio w/a view!!!!) The view was even more gorgeous than I had anticipated (even with the mountains hiding behind the clouds).
After warming up from the chilly whale cruise and with some food in our bellies, we went out to explore the coast of Sequim. We ended up hiking a half mile trail through the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge where we walked along the Dungeness Spit, a 5 mile strip of sand bar that hooks out along the coast. There was lots of driftwood along the beach with the remains of dead crabs, water plants, and an abundance of shells. (Note: the GIANT slug -- we found him in the woods on our hike out to the beach).
We also spent some time along the bluff in the Dungeness Recreational Area where we watched the sun setting over the water. While I was in the process of taking pictures of the mountains, a bald eagle flew past before I even had a moment to realize what it was. He glided past us a couple of times and gave us an amazing silhouette shot of him with the sunset in the background. (no zoom necessary!) What a beautiful way to end the day!
Tuesday, June 5 -- Olympic National Park
Everyone suggested that we visit Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park so that's where we started out. With the wind whipping around and the temperature in the low 40's, we were a bit chilly during the first few short hikes. But the views were breathtaking!
Then we hiked the 1.5 trail to Hurricane Hill (5,757 ft) and back. It was a little more protected from the cold and wind so we weren't freezing. There were still quite a few snow drifts and melting snow along the trails though. Once we neared the top of the hill, there were some marmots out playing. Again, the beauty of God's creation had me in awe!
After eating lunch in the car, we drove back down the mountain, stopping by a little pullout area to watch the mini waterfalls from the snow melt runoff. Tim went out to explore while I rested in the car. There were a bunch of very tame deer hanging out in that area. Once back to the main road, we drove over by the Elwha River. The furthest we could go on that road was by the Madison Falls since the the road and several campgrounds were washed out further up ahead from flooding. We went to explore that area on foot and found the remains of one of the camping areas.
Then it was back to Port Angeles for dinner where we stopped at Smuggler's Landing for a delicious meal of coconut shrimp and clam chowder. Afterwards, we drove out onto the Ediz Hook, a 3 mile long sand spit that juts out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The view of the inland area was pretty, but we didn't stay long. We ended up heading back to Sequim to check out the John Wayne Marina and also went back to the Dungeness Rec Area to try and catch a glimpse of the bald eagles again.
We were welcomed back to our Airbnb with this beautiful evening view from the backyard:
Wednesday, June 6 -- more Olympic National Park
Tim gets up way earlier than the rest of the world so he went hiking before I was even awake and snagged some photos as the sun was rising.
This was a longest day of driving on our vacation. We headed west toward the coast, following Highway 101. Our first stop of the day, other than for road construction, was at Hoh Rain Forest. The rain forest is a part of the Olympic National Park and was filled with an ferns and gigantic trees. We hiked along the Hall of Mosses where there were many different kinds of mosses and lichens in addition to the ferns and various trees.
The Spruce Nature Trail had an older woodsy feel to it, with the tree trunk circumference increasing as we hiked. Yes, we gawked at these amazing giants and yes, I hugged a few trees.
After our hikes, we hopped back into the car and ate lunch while we drove the windy road back to Highway 101. It was just a short ways southwest and we were on the Pacific coast at Ruby Beach. The view of the ocean was much different from when we were on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It reminded me a bit of Lake Michigan except that the beach stretched out quite a ways before meeting the water and the shore was littered with a forest of driftwood.
We hit this spot at the right time because the tide was still low enough that we were able to find some sea creatures in the tide pools by the rocks -- starfish, mussels, barnacles, sea anemones, whelk, limpets, and a little hermit crab.
Further along the coast, we made a couple other stops. One was by the Big Cedar Tree, no longer alive, but still an amazing circumference on its trunk and the other stop was by Kalaloch Rocks where we walked along the uncrowded beach.
We continued our trek along Highway 101 to Quinault Rain Forest where we entered on North Shore Road, doing an extended loop out past Lake Quinault and along the Quinault River. About halfway through the loop, we got out by the bridge to admire the water before heading back around on South Shore Road. Then further along, we stopped by Merriman Falls.
Our last stop before leaving the loop was at the Big Sitka Spruce Tree, the world's record Sitka spruce with a trunk circumference of 58' 11" (about 10.5 Michelles laid out end to end around it). It was seriously impressive!
Once we reached Olympia, we grabbed some food from the deli at Safeway and continued on towards Ashford, where our next Airbnb was located. Along the way, we caught a clear glimpse of Mt. Rainier. So we pulled over by this wonderful little vista area that the Little White Church of Elbe had created and took some pictures.
And after a long day of driving, hiking, and exploring, our Airbnb (Lil Bear at the foot of Mount Rainier) was a very welcome sight.
Thursday, June 7 -- Mt. Rainier
Our first and most important hiking destination on Mt. Rainier was Comet Falls. [Back story:Tim's family lived in WA when he was in middle school and had attempted this hike about 3 or 4 times. Due to circumstances such as weather, rock slides/avalanches, snow, and tired hikers among the group, they were never able to make it all the way to the falls so Tim wanted to be the first Nikolai to make it there.]
We hiked past Christine Falls and followed the switchbacks and winding trail up through the thick fog. There was a good portion of trudging through the snow along the last leg of the trail. Also, it was pretty foggy throughout most of the hike so we weren't able to get as clear of a shot of Comet Falls as we would've liked. The hike itself was 3.8 miles round trip and took us a total of 3 hours to complete, 2 hours up and 1 hour down.
Once we were back to our car, we drove up the mountain to Paradise Visitor Center where we ate lunch outside, surrounded by tall drifts and piles of snow. The peak of Mount Rainier was right there towering up beyond the picnic tables, but we didn't even know it was there because it was hidden behind the clouds. Then all of a sudden.... WOW!
We did a short hike through the wet snow, about 1.5 miles to and from Myrtle Falls. The trail was completely covered with snow so we just followed all the footprints from those that had gone before us. There was a marmot family by the falls so we watched them while they scurried along through the snow back to the main burrow and then greeted each other with a hug-like gesture.
Once we were back at the visitor center, we drove over to Narada Falls. The sun was hitting it just right so that we could capture the rainbow that reflected back at us. At the base of the falls, there was a sign stating that it was only 1.5 miles from there to Reflection Lakes. If we had checked our park map before hiking, we would've discovered that Reflection Lakes could be easily accessed from the main road. Oh well! It was a quiet and adventurous hike. Since the last part of the trail was untraceable through the really deep snow, we followed the advice of other fellow hikers and just walked along the road. Unfortunately, the lakes were still frozen over and covered in snow, so there was no reflection. But, we did see the peak of Mt. Rainier.
Friday, June 8 -- Mt. Rainier & Puyullup
This was our last day of Mt. Rainier National Park. We hiked along the Nisqually River up to Carter Falls. Tim has memories of collecting driftwood along the Nisqually River bed for firewood so of course he had to be a little silly and pick up a giant chunk of tree. haha!
Once back on the main road, we drove east along Stevens Canyon Road where we believe we saw Martha Falls off in the distance. We continued on to Box Canyon, carved out of the rock from many years of melting snow rushing down the mountain from the Cowlitz Glacier.
We continued our drive through the park, following Backbone Ridge to Grove of the Patriarchs where the history is rich, the Ohanapecosh River is absolutely gorgeous, and the mature Douglas Firs, Western Red Cedars, and Western Hemlocks are well over 1000 years old.
After our hike and some lunch, we drove up the east side of the park, up to Cayuse Pass. Since Mather Memorial Parkways was closed north of there, we doubled back a bit to leave the through the Stevens Canyon Entrance and say goodbye to Mt. Rainier. The afternoon was pretty dreary and drizzly during our drive to Puyallup. As we got closer to the city, it started raining harder and of course school was just being let out so there was some traffic. Once in Puyallup, we did a drive by past Tim's old house. We kind of felt like stalkers since the current owners happened to be driving just ahead of us for a few blocks until they pulled into the driveway. So we turned around at the end of the dead end street and waited for them to get in the house before we stopped to take a quick picture. haha! We also dropped by Tim's old elementary school and talked to the secretaries for a bit.
Then, we drove to Lakewood where we checked into our hotel, had dinner at Denny's, did some shopping at Fred Meyer, and then relaxed in our hotel room for the rest of the evening.
Saturday, June 9 -- Flights
We had an early start to get packed up, eat breakfast, and head to the airport. It was a lot more hectic at the SEATAC airport than our flights on the way out. The lines for checked bags were longer and the security lines were longer. After we got our tickets printed, we found out that our connecting flight in Dallas was going to be really tight. So that was a bit stressful. At least they double booked us for the next flight out in case we missed the first one. Once we landed, we literally took off running to try and make our flight. I didn't want to be away from my babies any more than I needed to. We made it just in time!!.... but our luggage did not. (They ended up delivering it to Tim's parents' house the next afternoon).
We arrived in St. Louis safely where Tim's dad met us to pick us up and take us back to their house. Our kids were so glad to see us!! :-) We stayed at the Nikolai house and visited with Tim's family until we headed home to WI on Monday. It was an amazing trip!
Fun Stats:
Driving miles - 1600+
Flying miles - 4,579
Walking - 133,000 steps or.... 67 miles in 6 days!!!
For more photos, check out our albums:
Seattle (2018)
Whale Watching & Dungeness (2018)
Olympic National Park (2018)
Hoh Rain Forest, Ruby Beach, & Quinault Rain Forest (2018)
Mt. Rainier (2018)
Mt. Rainier & Puyallup (2018)
