One of my best friends from college lives in Seattle, Washington and I was lucky enough to have him as a tour guide around the city. In addition to showing me the classic tourist spots he also drove me out of the city to see a slice of the breathtaking nature that surrounds Seattle.
PIKE PLACE MARKET
One of the classic stops in Seattle is Pike Place market. The market opened in 1907 and has been open ever since. It is regarded as the oldest continuously operated farmers market and home to the original Starbucks. There are a ton of breweries, restaurants and shops all mixed into the multi layer public market. If you walk around long enough, you’re sure to find something that interests you, like The Gum Wall. The Gum Wall is a brick wall covered in used chewing gum. You can find the wall directly under Pike Place Market in an alleyway called Post Alley.
SPACE NEEDLE
The Space Needle is Seattle’s pride and joy. The space needle is 605ft tall and overlooks 365 degrees of the Seattle skyline. We decided to go at sunset and the views were incredible and my friends pointed out all of the mountains we could see in the distance.
CHIHULY ART MUSEUM AND SCULTPTURE GARDEN
Chihuly has been one of my favorite artist since I first saw his pieces in the Bellagio. The museum and surrounding sculpture garden are spectacular. Not only do they have a huge amount of pieces by Chihuly, but they’ve also curated a magnificent tour of the art museum that walks through all the different pieces.
FERRY RIDE TO Bainbridge Island
The Seattle–Bainbridge ferry is a ferry route across Puget Sound between Seattle and Bainbridge Island, Washington. We took the ferry over to the island in the morning and the foggy water was creepy, but cool at the same time. Once we were on the island we did a few hikes and even found a spot where we could yell out over the lake and hear the echo come back to us.
Mt. Rainer
Mt. Rainer is an active volcano and a sick 14er hike. The mountain base is only 59 miles north of Seattle and when we went the peak was still covered in snow. The amount of snow at the peak and the spring weather was perfect for snow shoeing, but I’m not even going to lie, I was terrified the whole time. I think I’ve seen The Day After Tomorrow and other winter films too many times to be relaxed. Nevertheless, it was gorgeous and I loved the experience. I want to go back to Seattle again just so I can do an even longer snow shoe hike and not be as scared.
OLYMPIC GAME FARM IN SEQUIM
The funniest thing we did during our time in Washington was go to the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim, Washington. For a minimal fee per car you can drive through the game farm and feed bread to all the animals. Most of the animals are pretty chill, but the buffalo are aggressive and they love to stick their tongues in the car and search for the bread. The pro tip we learned from this experience, when you’re driving through the buffalo field… don’t stop the car.
HOH RAINFOREST
The Hoh Rainforest pronounced “hoe”, is in Olympic National Park. The forest is one of the few rainforests in the United States and I’m excited that we were able to go and camp there while I was in Washington. The rainforest can get over 12 feet of rain a year, but luckily while we were there it only sprinkled once or twice. The moss covered trees and random rain showers made the forest feel magical and dreamlike. In addition to the interesting foliage covering everything in sight, we were also surprised by the number of elk that we saw walking around. Our campsite was on the water and at night I swear there was a bear, but it could have easily been one of the many elk we had already seen during the day.
The best trails to do while you’re in the Hoh Rainforest are the Hall of Mosses Trail, the Hoh River Trail and the Spruce Nature Trail. They’re all simple out and back loops that take you through the jungle of moss covered trees surrounding the Hoh River.
FORKS AND LA PUSH
If you also read the Twilight series as a kid, these town names will sound very familiar to you. While we were in Olympic National Park we obviously had to swing by and at least say that we drove through. #TeamEdward for life.
RUBY BEACH, kalaloch beach 4 and mora beach
While we were in the Olympic National Park we stopped by a few beaches that scatter the shore. The first beach we went to was Ruby Beach, which earned it’s name from the red tinted sand on it’s shore. The hike down to the water was easy and once you get to the shore you can crawl along driftwood and look out over the water. The next beach we went to, and my favorite, was Kalaloch Beach 4. This beach is perfect for searching through tidepool and discovering SeaWorld surprises. We spent awhile scurrying around the rocks at low tide and we saw anemones, starfish and a ton of other little creatures from the deep.
Ending in olympia
On our drive back from Olympic National Park we stopped in Olympia and got dinner at a cute dive bar. I had so much fun in Seattle and the surrounding area during my trip. I love how you can get the best of both worlds – city and nature – right outside your front door. I can’t wait to go back to Washington and maybe next time I’ll end up staying for good.
