A Week in Washington State

HOWDY, 

For those of you who don’t know (which is probably impossible since I’ve gone overboard on Instagram these past few days) I recently returned back from the most incredible trip to the state of Washington!  I’m not kidding when I say in my first apartment in Lancaster, PA I had a tapestry of the Seattle skyline in front of Mt. Rainier hanging up in my living room.  Who said manifestation doesn’t work?!  I figured it would be fun to share some of the photos with you guys and also go through my itinerary for those who are curious to see what we got up to in Washington for a week.  

Day 1 – Travel Day 

We traveled from Philly to Seattle in the evening and got to our quiet Airbnb, an apartment near the Seattle Convention Center, located just a 15 minute walk from Pike Place Market and right in the heart of downtown.  After a long night, we crashed at around midnight.  

Day 2 – Pike Place Market

For our first full day, we spent the day in Pike Place Market.  We bought coffee and pastries from Le Panier, a local French bakery where all products are made on-site and sold fresh each day.  We sipped our coffees and walked around Pike Place before meeting by the famous (famously gross) Gum Wall for the Savor Seattle food tour, which was well worth the money!  

During our food tour we tried doughnut holes, Pike Place’s award-winning clam chowder, teriyaki chicken, ginger beer, cosmic apples (a mix between honey crisp and empire), rainier and bing cherries from Sosio’s Produce, Etta’s brisket and potato salad, Chuckar candy cherries and lentil soup made with curry and rose flavored Turkish Delight.  Everything was delicious, and again, well worth the money if you want a good tour of Pike Place and get samples from the most popular spots (NOT including Starbucks — turns out, locals prefer local roasters over the coffee giant).  

Unfortunately, during the first leg of the tour I rolled and sprained my ankle after slipping on ice cream in front of Rachel the Bronze pig, which cut our day at Pike Place a bit short, but we still shopped around and bought some rose, a satchel of fresh lavender, Chuckar cherry blossoms and honey pecans, rainier cherries from Sosio’s and teas and spices from Market Spice.  

After getting some shopping done, we went back to the apartment and watched Buffalo ‘66 by Vincent Gallo before heading out to dinner (great movie, by the way! Patrick didn’t like it as much).  We then ate a feast at Meet Korean BBQ which was right down the street from our Airbnb.  It was sooo yummy and fun to watch the cook make the wagyu right in front of us.  It was an enjoyable experience and I’m glad Patrick chose that restaurant.  

Day 3 – Pioneer Square 

On our third day, we went to Pioneer Square for Bill Spiedel’s Underground Tour, which Patrick and I both found interesting as it explained the infrastructure problems they had and how they solved it after the great fire and by leveling the city.  

We then went to Elliot Bay Book Co. where I bought the book “The Healing Magic of Forest Bathing” and we enjoyed coffee and pastries at the neighboring cafe, Little Oddfellows.  We then got coffee again (because why not? We’re in Seattle after all), at Victrola Coffee Co. We enjoyed the coffee so much we bought some coffee beans to take back home.  

That night we had dinner at Maximilien, a French restaurant in Pike Place where we got a bottle of merlot and fresh oysters.  I ordered steak and Patrick had the Pike Place salad with fish.  They gave us free champagne as this was our anniversary trip.  The oysters were absolutely delicious and my mouth is watering just thinking about it.  10/10 recommend! 

Day 4 – Bainbridge Island

The next day, we bought coffee from Monorail Espresso before jumping on the ferry to Bainbridge Island for the 4th of July.  Originally, we were going to go to Whidbey Island, but figured it would take too long to travel there and we wouldn’t have a car to drive around the island, and Bainbridge was closer and more walkable.  

It was a surprisingly quick trip on the ferry.  I expected it to be a much longer wait due to the holiday.  We didn’t end up doing too much walking since my ankle was really hurting that day, but we went to the art museum, had a wine tasting, shopped around and people watched at the park.  If you’re traveling with kids or want to go to the beach, there were several kid-friendly activities for the 4th of July celebration!

Day 5 – Mt. Rainier National Park

On our 5th day, we picked up our rental car and picked up doughnuts and coffee from Top Pot Doughnuts, which we ate for breakfast for the rest of the trip.  I don’t say this lightly…they were the best doughnuts I’ve ever had!  Dunkin’ could never! 

We then made our way to Mt. Rainier and started at Narada Falls in Paradise.  We hiked the Nisqually Vista trail and were just blown away by the mountain, flowery meadows and the lovely greenery.  It was the most beautiful place I’ve ever been to and I wished the rest of the world could look so stunning.  

Our trip to Mt. Rainier was effectively cut in half when a park ranger told us Stevens Canyon Road to Sunrise was closed due to construction.  So, we bought a few souvenirs at the gift shop and ended the day at Reflection Lakes before making our way back to Seattle.  

Patrick parked the rental under the overpass near the apartment and we DoorDashed platters from Halal Guys…which were so spicy, but hit the spot.  They don’t mess around! 

Day 6 – Forks 

The next morning, we packed up our stuff to hit the road to Forks, but as we made our way to the rental car, I noticed the glass of the passenger window was shattered and all of my phone charging/mounting cable supplies that I brought from home were stolen; about $100 worth of stuff.  The thief left my rain jacket and the gummy worms we packed for a hiking snack behind…

I was livid as we stood outside, Patrick calling Hertz and explaining the situation to them.  I wasn’t stressed, but angry that the homeless crackheads are able to get away with these types of things because of the leniency and enabling of the far left.  The homeless in the west are not like the homeless on the east coast. 

To top it all off, Hertz had us drive the car back to the airport when they really should’ve dropped a car off to us because of the hazardous shattered glass.  Also, whatever insurance you can buy from Hertz doesn’t cover this type of damage…!

While we sat in the car about to drive to Sea-Tac, a man that in all honesty, for lack of a better description, looked like a gang member started to walk up to the busted car window.  I was afraid he was going to shoot Patrick sitting up front or something and I was frantically telling him to drive off.  The man ended up asking if we were alright and what happened.  I felt terrible after that, but I was genuinely in fight or flight mode as the situation had me really rattled.  You can never judge a book by their cover.  

It was a stressful morning, but finally we exchanged the car and were on our way to Forks.  

One thing I noticed on our drive and thought was neat was that there are multiple mini drive-thru-only coffee shops, about the size of a shed, in each town we drove through.  There were at least 3 in Forks alone, and the city (not town, surprisingly) is so small with a population of a little over 3,300.  

When we got to Forks we settled into the small, quiet and cozy cottage Airbnb.  We took pictures of the “The City of Forks Welcomes You” sign from the beloved Twilight movies, looked around some of the shops and went to the Forks Timber Museum, where I learned that bears eat wood after hibernation and loggers would put a bear-friendly treat out for them to deter them from damaging the wood.  

Forks of course had a lot of Twilight references and souvenirs.  The Timber Museum even had a Twilight scavenger hunt and the owner had a picture of him and Stephenie Meyer up.  That night we had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant and once again…I had a mini meltdown.  

With the city of Forks being so small, it’s fairly walkable if you stay near the main road, so we walked from our Airbnb to the restaurant. After we ate, I realized the key to the Airbnb wasn’t in my leggings pocket and it must’ve fallen out when I pulled out my phone or wallet.  We retraced our steps and ended up finding them in the parking lot of Sully’s Drive-In restaurant.  We ended the night watching Eclipse.  The bed was so comfy and just what we needed after a long and rather stressful travel day. 

Day 7 – Olympic National Park and La Push 

On our last day, we headed to the Hoh Rainforest in the Olympic National Park and walked a couple of its trails.  I’ve never been amongst so much moss and the tallest old growth trees I’ve ever seen.  It was amazing, and just like Mt. Rainier, the air felt so clean and pure, I was just taking big, refreshing inhales and exhales.  

Afterwards, we went to La Push’s First Beach and walked along the shore.  That day in Forks and La Push, I could understand why Stephenie Meyer had Twilight set there.  All of our days in Seattle were bright and sunny, but in Forks it felt like autumn with the sun barely peeking through the overcast skies.  It was gorgeous and just felt magical.  

That night we went to The In Place restaurant for dinner where we had Patrick’s favorite meal of the trip.  He got fish and chips for the second time on the trip (the first…not so good. I don’t like bashing small businesses unless it’s really deserved, so I’m leaving them unnamed).  I ordered the chicken fried steak which was hearty and comforting.  We ordered pie to go.  Everything was very good and we were impressed by the small town cooking.  

Day 8 – Travel Day 

We woke up at 4 a.m. to hit the road back to the airport.  We got there around 9:30 and waited in line at security for a while; our flight was delayed and we didn’t end up leaving until 1:30 p.m. 

We landed in Philly at 9:30 p.m. but didn’t get off the plane until midnight, and then our bags didn’t come out until 4 a.m.  It was so frustrating and a really draining experience.  We were wiped afterwards and didn’t get back home until almost 6 a.m. before crashing in bed.  The Philly airport only had one gate open “due to construction” and there were three flights ahead of us.  When we finally were able to get off the plane, baggage claim was packed and multiple flights were delayed in getting their bags.  We were told by one of the baggage claim attendants that the manager overseeing the bags on the plane said it would be 30-minutes for the Seattle passengers to get their bags…they said 30-minutes about 5 times and they still didn’t come.  Honestly, props to the baggage claim attendant for doing the best they could. 

Closing Notes

Although parts of the trip were long and stressful, I’m glad to be in the comfort of my own home and reunited with Salem, my gray shorthair cat who can’t get enough cuddles.  I’m also very thankful to experience Washington — it definitely was an adventure.  

If we were to ever go to the PNW again, I would definitely want to stay by the National Parks for the whole trip and out of the city.  Forks was a light at the end of the tunnel and was extremely relaxing after the hustle and bustle of the city.  The real beauty of Washington is its National Parks, the nature and small towns outside of Seattle.  

I’m out, until next Friday ❤ 

xxxx