Saturday
We arrived in Washington on Saturday afternoon and made our way to the Link Light Rail system, one of the public transportation systems that promised to drop us off just blocks from our hotel in downtown Seattle.
Once we arrived, we checked in and walked down to the waterfront. Though the city was full (there was a gaming convention a few blocks away) we managed to book a great ( and cheap) hotel just blocks from Pike Place Market. We walked around and had lunch before returning to the hotel for some rest. For dinner we headed down the street to a bar that we'd looked up that showed the UFC fight. We got to watch an amazing performance by Anderson Silva over dinner before wandering back and turning in for the night.Sunday
The next morning we got up early and walked around in search of breakfast. Sounds easy, right? Not in the middle of a major city on Sunday at 7 a.m.! We wandered about a mile or so and worked up quite an appetite before stumbling upon what looked like a bar--a short, black, brick building with blacked out windows and neon beer signs all over it--turns out it was a diner! Who knew?! We had a great breakfast before making the trek back toward Pike Place Market to do a little shopping (and of course Derrick needed to see them toss the fish!).
We wandered for a while and eventually made our way to the Westlake Center, a popular downtown shopping area. We explored for a while and got our tickets for the Monorail. We took the Monorail down to the Space Needle and enjoyed amazing views of the city. It was close enough to sunset to make the wait worth it, so we snagged a high-top table just inside(it was cooling off quickly) and enjoyed a glass of wine while we watched the sun set over the sound. After spending some more time overlooking the city and enjoying the lights we caught the Monorail back to Westlake Center and made our way in for the night.
Monday
We'd enjoyed the diner so much the day before (and even during the week our options at that hour were relatively limited), so we took another walk to the diner. Afterwards, we headed back to the waterfront. The first place we explored was a Sculpture Park. It sounded more interesting than it actually was, so after about an hour we hopped on a free bus to Pioneer Square to take a tour of Underground Seattle.
I'm not sure what I expected, but it's nothing like Underground Atlanta! It's a network of underground passageways and basements that was ground level when the city was first being settled, but was abandoned years ago as the city built up around it and hasn't been maintained. Realizing that we were just blocks from the other end of the waterfront, we walked back down to it, passing a water taxi sign along the way. Intrigued, we stopped to see what it was all about and realized that (for almost no money ($3 I think?) it shuttles (quickly) between Seattle and West Seattle. When we arrived in West Seattle there was a free shuttle (Seattle has this public transportation thing down!) that took us around the island to the Alki Beach (which is where Breena and I stopped on our first day in Washington). We stopped for lunch (and a glass of wine) and relaxed while people played beach volleyball and swam. When we got back to Seattle we were pretty tired, so we hopped back on the bus to head back to our hotel. 
Just as I realized that we were headed the wrong way the bus stopped. The driver informed us that he was on a mandatory 20 minute break and turned the bus off. We were stunned! With only35 minutes until Derrick was due for his medicine (which was conveniently left in the hotel) we started speed walking. It turns out we were just over three miles from our hotel but thankfully we made it in time. There were so many hills—my legs have never burned so badly!
Tuesday
We woke up early Tuesday and walked to Top Pot - one of the most amazing doughnut places that I've ever experienced.
Kara and I discovered it on a business trip in 2007. From there we got back on the Link Light Rail headed to the airport. We picked up our rental car (an awesome Hybrid Prius) and headed back downtown. We ran some errands, stopped for lunch and a Rainier beer (it's a Twilight thing), and I got to do some last minute gift shopping at Pike's. And then...we were off!Our first stop was Snoqualmie Falls. It was awesome. There's a really well maintained park area around it and it was a nice stop. We were interested in seeing a bit more of the Seattle area, so we drove back toward the city, checking out Bellevue and the University district. The University of Washington is impressive, we loved that area. We explored the neighborhoods around the University before heading back downtown to catch the ferry to Bainbridge Island.
The ferry ride was as beautiful as I remembered. My advice: take the ferry near sunset. It was freezing but I got some amazing photos.
When we arrived at Bainbridge Island we got going toward Port Angeles right away. We arrived a little later than I'd planned, so we checked in to our hotel and made our way to the waterfront right away for dinner.
Wednesday
We were exhausted from all the walking we did in Seattle, so we slept in a bit and got a slow start.
Our first stop was Hurricane Ridge. It looked so different than the first time I went because all of the snow that we'd seen in May had melted. It was fun to retake photos that I'd taken on my previous trip to see the differences. Because there was no snow, the hiking trails that had been inaccessible were open. We decided to try Hurricane Hill. We walked up to the 5,757 foot peak, enjoying views along the way. It was hard work, but the wheezing and panting was worth every moment we spent up there.After Hurricane Ridge and made our way toward Lake Crescent. The drive is beautiful, especially when you get close to the lake and catch glimpses of the emerald water. We stopped at the Lake Crescent Lodge and wandered for a while, enjoying the day. My favorite part of the day was sitting quietly on an adirondack chair at the end of the dock soaking it all in.
Unfortunately, it was time to keep moving. We hopped back in the car and made our way toward Clallam Bay where we were staying at the B&B that Breena and I had gone to on our trip. Sandy was as sweet as ever and made us feel right at home. We decided that we didn't have time to explore Cape Flattery before sunset, so we crashed.Thursday
We got up nice and early and enjoyed breakfast with Sandy before heading out to Cape Flattery. The gorgeous hike to the northwestern-most tip of the United States was a little tense after reading about bobcat sightings, but we made it.
It was a little overcast, so the water wasn't as pretty as it had been on my first trip, but it's hard not to be completely awed out there.We hiked back to the car and made our way south toward Forks, stopping for Chinese food when we arrived. After a couple quick stops we drove down to La Push and checked in to our room. The beach at La Push is so gorgeous. We walked for a bit and climbed around the driftwood before deciding to explore some other areas. After the Hurricane Hill hike Derrick wasn't up to another, so we skipped Second Beach and relaxed.
One of the things I was looking forward to most was a trip back to Rialto Beach (if you know me, you've seen my favorite photo from my first trip. That's Rialto Beach). The cloud cover was so thick, that even though we went at sunset, you'd never know it. The gray sky just gradually darkened, and the beach looked like something out of a horror movie. Though I was disappointed, it made me that much more thankful for the opportunity to have seen it how I did the first time. We made out way back to First Beach where we'd planned to build a bon fire and have s'mores that night, but it was far too cold.Friday
I woke up early on Friday and sat out on the deck overlooking the beach.
I watched surfers and read a book until it was time to head out. We stopped back in Forks for a lumberjack breakfast (it's the only way to describe their portions) and drove toward Ruby Beach. Honestly, I though Second Beach was my favorite, but Ruby Beach would be a close second. We did a quick hike (more of a steep walk) down to the sand and wandered around. It was a little disappointing because when Breena and I had been we were the only two on the beach for hours, and this time there were couples, families, and other tourists.When we got back on the road, we saw a sign for Kalaloch Lodge, so we stopped to see what it was like and scout it for our next trip. It was really nice and they had a cool restaurant with a 360 degree view of the beach, so we had lunch there.
From there we drove toward the Hoh Rainforest. Though we didn't have time to do any hiking, we drove into the park and saw the base of the trails before heading further east. Finally, we made it to the Lake Quinault Lodge, one of my favorite memories from my first trip.
We weren't staying there, but we stopped for a glass of wine on the patio overlooking the lake.Eventually, we got back in the car and made our way to Olympia. Google Maps totally misguided me here--what I thought was a waterfront hotel actually had a partial view of a creek about 2 miles from the waterfront. So, we drove over to where the action was and came across a festival at the harbor. We walked around the tents and scoped out all the vendors while watching another gorgeous sunset over the water.
Saturday
Unfortunately, Saturday wasn't much more than a travel day. We got up, had breakfast, and made our way back to Seattle to turn in the rental car and head home. All in all, it was a great trip. I can't believe how good I feel when I'm in Washington. I miss it every day that I'm in Atlanta. I can't wait to see if the future holds an opportunity for me to relocate!
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