Washington

Day 1: Atlanta-Seattle-Sequim, WA

As many of you know, I take a big hiking trip every summer with my friends. This summer, we chose Washington. We decided to take the longest adventure yet and hit up all 3 national parks in Washington state. It was an EPIC idea and after all was said and done... It was more than I could have ever imagined it being. I will break it down into the three parks, and you will read all about the stops along the way. We stayed in 3 different cities. In total, we flew 2,193 miles, drove 1,208 miles, and walked/hiked 54 miles all over Washington (the stats came from my google maps). 

We chose the end of July in hopes of the snow being melted and the flowers in bloom. It was the perfect time to go! We flew out from Atlanta on a 230 pm flight, which put us in Seattle around 430 pm. We picked up our rental car (who we later named Veronica... because she did whatever she wanted and had a bad attitude) and headed to grab some dinner. We enjoyed our dinner at Sharps RoastHouse before we headed towards our AirBnB. We were pretty tired from our long day, but we had to make a grocery store run before we could turn in for the night. We always buy a cooler, sandwich stuff, snacks and water bottles when we do our cross-country trips. We mostly eat picnic style and carry our food wherever we go.. you never know when someone may have a "lack of food" mental break down, lol! We stayed in Sequim at the cutest little house right on the river! With a fire pit and all the goodies to go with it! I even made a smore the last night while we listened to some praise music at the fire. 

Day 2: Olympic National Park

We got up early and headed into the park. We knew we needed to start with the Hoh Rain Forest because the line to get in on the weekend could take 3 or 4 hours. We got there a little later than we should have and waited approx. 45 minutes to reach the gate (not too bad) We stopped at a road side stand for FRESH PICKED cherries on the way in! They were delicious!

You know I must HUG ALL THE TREES

The trail wandered through the forsest floor. The ferns here were the biggest I have ever seen.

The Hoh rainforest is COVERED in moss. It was very dry for our visit, and the ranger said the snow this year was half of what they usually get, so the melt was far less water. It almost looked a bit like a drought. 

If you look closely, you will see me behind the MASSIVE ferns. 

We wandered out by the river trail for a mile to look for banana slugs, and stopped to have a snack by the waters edge.

After a long time of looking, we finally found a banana slug!

This heart shaped root ball was on the bottom of a fallen tree

The first of many "Stacy animal encounters"

If you look closely, I am under the tree roots! It blew my mind these trees could stand with roots up above the ground! We saw a lot of trees like this, 

We were on a banana slug mission and we could NOT stop looking for them and finding them!

They come in different colors and sizes. 

This little guy was spotted

The river on the Spruce Trail was beautiful, and of course the Georgia girls couldn't wait to get our feet in that ice cold water!

Banana slug obsessed!

After we thoroughly explored the Hoh Rainforest area, we got back in the car and drove over to Ruby Beach. It was mesmerizing, honestly. I have never seen the Pacific Ocean or experienced how cold the waves are splashing on your feet on the PNW coast, but it was definitely something I will never forget. We took the short hike down to the water and walked down the rocky coast. The tide was coming back in and crashing on the rocks around us. I always feel like a kid when I explore new areas, and this was no different. Climbing on the rocks, looking for sea urchins and starfish.. as the cold ocean breeze hit me in the face and the waves crashed on my feet around me... unforgettable. 

It was so cold! We were bundled up in hoodies!

God has blessed me with some of the most amazing friends!

Of course, Denise and Stacy will never pass up the opportunity to love on a puppy!

The rocks on the beach were so cool!

The overlook was incredible!

We had a picnic lunch in the parking lot at Ruby Beach before packing up and making the drive back towards Port Angeles. We could not help but stop at Crescent Lake as we drove by. This lake is HUGE and crystal-clear blue. I wish we had more time to spend here, but the pit stop was perfect. Of course, my sister and I had to jump in- we can't resist a beautiful body of water to take a dip in! 

It was definitely cold!!

The pictures don't do this beautiful lake justice

We left the lake and continued over to Marymere Falls. This was a beautiful hike to a gorgeous just on the other side of Lake Crescent. We saw lots of deer, mushrooms and more slugs!

Of course, I hoped the fence and made my way to the bottom of the falls

Hug all the trees 

I can't post this picture without making mention of this being the first time Laura left her cell phone in an inconvenient place.... and I had to RUN back and get it. Up a million STAIRS, then back down the million stairs... haha! Just make a note, phone loss #1. LOL!

If you look closely, you will see me at the bottom. 

We ended our evening with a trip to Port Angeles. This is a cute little town right on the water, full of ship paths.  We ate dinner over the water, and watched cruise ships out at sea. We had the most delicious brick oven pizza and salad at Rosie's, which I highly recommend. 

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The restaurant had beautiful flowers!

It got really cold that night!

I found a HUGE starfish in the water!

The Wharf was full of restaurants and shopping. 

And a lost minute stop for cheesecake and leggings in Sequim. We had a FULL day exploring the park and had to get an early start the next day to head to our next park. 

DAY 3: Olympic (Sequim, WA) to Mt. Rainier (Packwood, WA)

We cleaned up the Air BNB and made our way our way to the last hike at Olympic National Park, Hurricane Hill. This was a trek straight up the mountain to the top of Hurricane Hill. We saw a bear, a ton of deer and a several marmots on this adventure. The views were stunning and gave us another side of the park to be in awe of. I love that Olympic National Park is so diverse, you go from mountains, to rain forest to the coastline, with lakes and waterfalls in between! Something for everyone. I would recommend this park for families with kids, given its diversity. After the hike, we headed towards Rainier, but not before a little side stopping at the Sequim Lavender Festival! We all LOVE lavender and this seemed too perfect not to stop. Everyone got a little treat- lavender ice cream and lavender lemonade. Then we wandered through the tents and vendors and purchased fresh lavender, pillow sprays and ChapSticks. We were in lavender heaven! After a 2-hour drive, winding our way through the mountains, we arrived in Packwood. We loved this little town! It was small and quaint. We stayed in an A-frame house on the river lined with rope lights. We took a little dip in the creek after we unpacked and then got ready for our evening hike. I spent lots of time looking for salamanders in our creek but was never able to find any. We drove up through mountains and arrived at the trailhead for Bench and Snow Lakes. Both of which are glacier lakes, with very cold water! Of course, my sister and I had to put our feet in! We made the trek back down the mountain into town and barely made our Mexican dinner at Nacho's in the little worn of Packwood. It was so good and very filling!

The views on the way in were incredible 

Apparently, marmots are quite the problem around here 

The wildflowers on the hill side were amazing

The first glimpse of a bear in Washington

Lots of deer!

The mountains behind the deer took my breath away

We went off on a little side trail to see some animals!

Stacy trying to play with the animals again...

We watched these guys fight for a long time; it was amazing. And the background... heaven!

At the top of Hurricane Hill

After the hike we headed back to town. We did a little leg stretching at the Lavender Festival. We bought lavender everything! Chapstick, spray, food..

Lavender is growing EVERYWHERE in this town

We kept the fresh lavender in the car to keep it smelling fresh all week!

We couldn't wait to cool off in the cool water behind our cabin

Laura icing her knee in the creek

This was our first good view of the beautiful Mt. Rainier, when we reached the trailhead for Bench and Snow Lake

We decided not to go down to Bench Lake, and just stayed at the overlook

The sun was going down as we hiked this trail. 

This was our first look at all the beautiful flowers!

Snow Lake

As much as we wanted to jump in, we settled for feet in the water

Our little A-frame all lit up at night!

Day 4: Mount Rainier National Park

We got up crazy early to make sure we got a parking spot in the Paradise area of Mt. Rainier. Apparently if you enter the park here after 7 am, the parking is full. This area has many hikes, including the most famous hike Skyline Loop. This trail goes straight up the mountain and gives you amazing views of Mt. Rainier. The hike is HARD. It is a 6-mile loop that climbs very quickly. But the views are worth it. We were in AWE of how beautiful the flowers were in the meadows. At the top of the hike, lots of snow drifts were piled up around the mountain. Mt Rainer is over 14,000 feet tall. We hit just over 7,000 feet. She looked so big, but so close. It's crazy to think we were only halfway to the top! Along the way we made friends with the marmots. Some of us, not naming any names, got a little too close to the marmots. At the end of our hike, we got to watch a bear wonder through the shrubs, very close to us. It was amazing. Then we finished off the hike with a visit down to Myrtle Falls, which was beautifully framed with wildflowers and Mt Rainier in the background. It is so hard to judge a favorite hike, but this one ranks pretty high up! We decided to visit the Longmire area of the park before we headed back to the house. This area had a lot of information on the origins of the park and historical facts. We made a couple of roadside stops as well to see Narada Falls and Christine Falls. I happened upon a licorice slug on our way back home through the long national forest service road. We took a quick stop at an empty camp site to enjoy the cool water. I looked for salamanders but came up empty handed. We made it back into town with time to spare. We browsed a little store in town and ate dinner at Blue Spruce Saloon. The whole town had an old west feel. We made it back with time to relax on our deck and be in bed early. We all climbed up in the loft and passed out! It was a long day!

The famous entry sign to Mt. Rainier

A quick selfie at 7 am!

I immediately started taking pictures, it was so beautiful!

This little guy hiked the first couple of miles with me!

I was completely in awe of all the wildflowers blooming in the meadows!

The hike was not forgiving. It climbed and climbed and climbed

We saw tons of marmots on this trail!

And chipmunks. who were always ready for a dropped treat

We got up to the snow line!

The further up, the less flowers and vegetation. 

But the views were insane!

Climb, climb, climb!

I would never tire of looking at wildflower fields on the mountainside.

Looking back down to where we parked, you could hardly see it. 

More rocks, more climbing

another marmot!

This one was a little too friendly! Lol, or maybe my friend is a little too friendly! Ha!

This little guy was hoping to get a little share of the snack!

Just down off the trail a bit, 2 sleeping mountain goats were bedded down

The views on this hike were incredible; every step we took was another amazing view. 

We shoved snow down Laura's knee brace to ice her knee, such good friends to help her! lol

There were the most beautiful creeks flowing down the mountain all over, lush with vegetation 

I will forever love the wildflower views!

This was the second grouse we stumbled upon. This one was making loud noises 

Lots of sister selfies!

The brown bear we got to watch on the way back down

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The waterfall at the end of the loop, Myrtle Falls, framed up with Mt Rainier in the back! 

After the hike, we headed to the lodge for sweet treats! We were starving and the cinnamon rolls were heavenly!

A quick stop and a .5 mile hike down and back to see Narada Falls

And another quick detour for Christine Falls. 

We rested a bit in Longmire! 

Lots of cool history here. This tree was about 700 years old when it was cut from this forest 

Trying to crawl into the snow hole!

The licorice slug I found while looking for salamanders

The little roadside pit stop on the way home. This river was beautiful! And cold of course. 

Day 5: Mt. Rainier (Packwood, WA) to North Cascades National Park (Winthrop, WA) 

 We got up early again, packed up our stuff and left the cabin in Packwood. The drive between the two was the longest of the trip, at almost 5 hours. Halfway between Packwood and Winthrop is a little town called Leavenworth. It is an Alpine Village style town with beautiful mountains in the backdrop, bright colorful flowers lining the streets and food everywhere! We even watched a lady in the street playing a hand-crafted horn. It was the perfect halfway stop for us to stretch our legs and see more of beautiful Washington. After a delicious lunch of the best beer cheese and pretzels of our life and brats, we made our way back to the car. There was still a good chunk of time left to travel to get to Winthrop. As we drove, we planned the evening and the next day. We had seen several videos/posts about paddle boarding Diablo Lake, and we were unsure if we could make that work. But after some discussion and some phone calls (5 phone calls to the cycle shop about renting their SUP's to be exact-I know we drove that lady crazy) ... we decided to give it a go! 

 We had to switch up our last accommodation a bit. I got an email a few weeks before our trip that our VRBO was having to cancel on us and they returned the money. This left us with a bit of a scramble to find lodging for our Cascades portion of the trip. After some searching, we decided to go with a little hotel called the Abby Creek Inn. It was the perfect spot for us, with amazing free breakfast every morning and a cute little spot right on the Methow River. There was a hot tub and sauna as well as a pool. The hot tub seemed like an amazing idea until we got there and realized that Winthrop sees temps of up to 100 degrees in the summer! We were staying on the HOT side of the Cascades! We arrived into town around 3 pm and our hotel let us check in early. We had a plan to pick up the SUP rentals from the cycle shop before they closed (and have them ready for our early morning departure) then head out to Blue Lake for a beautiful 5 mile hike to an alpine lake with glacier water. There were mountain baby goats on our hike!! We all wore swimsuits and took a quick dip in the icy cold lake. It was so much fun!  Lucky for us, everything went exactly as planned and we even made it into town by 8 pm to grab dinner at the cutest little restaurant in this super cool western town! 

Driving from Rainier to Cascades was insane. We went through some of the most desolate looking landscape I have ever scene. This particular area was formed due to the mountains blocking the rain. 

The little town of Leavenworth was a Bavarian Village

The flowers lining the streets were so gorgeous!

Our lunch!

We loved watching her play the handmade horn.

We got lots of goodies at the Gingerbread cookie shop, such a cool store

Our first selfie with the Cascade Mountains

Hiking Blue Lake was an incredible out and back

So many pretty views that pictures don't do justice

Wonderful miles spent with wonderful friends

We were definitely pushing sunset on this one!

Our first view of this glacier lake

It was hard to capture the beautiful blue of this lake!

The babies!!

The lake was so clear with an amazing blue tint

There was still a lot of snow surrounding Blue Lake

I can't resist jumping in water!

It was CRAZY COLD!!

My sweet friends braving the cold water!

I swam until I couldn't take a deep breath, lol

I looked for salamanders the ENTIRE TRIP!!

We enjoyed watching the goats

Especially Stacy, she really enjoyed the goats!

SO MANY FRESH CHEERIES! We stopped at a roadside stand and of course I had to buy cherries.

DAY 6: North Cascade National Park:

We got up super early to drive to over to Diablo Lake. We knew we had to get on the lake early (the winds pick up around 12 and it becomes impossible to paddle , often ending in rescues by local officials) so we could wrap it up before the winds hit. It was over an hour away- no phone service or really any signs of civilization- only the most beautiful mountains covered in white snowy peaks. We were all a little nervous about where we were going to put in and how to blow up the SUPS and if we were really going to be able to make this work. We found the boat dock and unloaded our bags. As we began to inflate the SUPs we realized we were actually gonna do this! As we all got comfortable on the water, the scenery became the focus. It was the most beautiful lake I have ever seen. The opaque turquoise water was mesmerizing. I will never forget this moment, ever. We all decided that this was the highlight of our trip. We even jumped off the big rocks into the water. After we got off the lake, we had a picnic lunch. Then we headed to hike in the Cascades. Stacy and I chose a harder route- Maple Pass Loop. Denise and Laura went with a less strenuous stroll on the Pacific Crest Trail. Laura just had knee surgery and was supposed to be recovering with easy strolls. We definitely pushed the limits on easy strolls haha!! The Maple Pass hike was INSANELY BEAUTIFUL! We climbed over Maple Pass and I definitely felt as though I was on top of the world. Words could NEVER describe insane the views were. We could see smoke from the fires in surrounding areas from the top of the mountain. 

We all blew up our SUPs, having no idea what we were about to experience

Everyone was spent! We had a long week and lying back and relaxing in the sun, in the most beautiful place in the world seemed like the exact right thing to do!

The water color was so incredible!

The water was freezing of course!

Me and Stacy found a good spot to park the SUPS and jump off rocks!

When we finally got done, we deflated the boards and packed them back up. I wanted to drive the car down to get them, they were heavy! But the majority ruled that we could just hike them back up to the car with our own man-power! hahaha!

The bag was almost as big as Stacy!

The over-look of Diablo Lake was breathtaking

After Diablo Lake, Stacy and I hiked the 7.2 mile Maple Pass Loop. Denise and Laura dropped us off at the trail head and we told them we would be done in about 4 hours. They took a little car nap then headed off the hike on the Pacific Crest Trail 

I started off the hike with an Alani haha!

Basically we had glacier lake views the entire hike. It was so cool to see the lakes get so small as we climbed higher and higher

I could not get over how the water sparkled like glitter!

When we got up to the snow, we were so hot! We both shoved snow into every available spot on our bodies!

More snow to cool off on

I kept getting distracted with the lakes, they were so shimmery in the sun

The once large glacier lake .. began looking like a tiny drop of water

We just kept climbing and climbing. 

Smoke from the wildfires

Every view was a gorgeous view!

We had 360 degree views at the top of this hike

On the way down, we got to see Rain Lake. It was fed by massive snow melt waterfalls. 

We headed back into town after the hikes for dinner. As we came into town, we noticed quite a few placed closed early. We learned half the town had lost power earlier in the day. We finally found an open restaurant for dinner. We sat on the deck of the restaurant so we didn't have to wait. It was SOOO hot, like heat I have never felt! I literally though I was in a sauna. We moved inside as soon as we had the opportunity. It was so bizarre to have been so cold earlier in the week on the Pacific coast and then the end of the trip be sweating bullets. Washington is truly a unique place. We returned our SUPS after dinner and headed back to our little motel. We sat by river laughing and discussing our favorite parts of the trip as the sun set on our last night. Some of the highlights included:  Laura losing her cell phone ( a lot), me making Laura hike way more than she should have post-surgery, Denise fearing for her life when a mountain goat looked at her on the trail, Stacy petting every wild animal in the park she could ger her hands on, and my poor stomach and how it reacted to all the weird food (in a very smelly way hahaha!) As I went to bed on our last night, I felt so blessed. Blessed to see the world, blessed to do it with some amazing ladies, blessed that my body allows. 

DAY 7: Back to Seattle

We headed back to the airport in Seattle the next morning. We stopped at a few more spots on the way out of the park and hit up the Welcome Center. It was an amazing trip and I can't wait to go back again to see more of what Washington has to offer.