Pacific Northwest

We arrived in Seattle at about 10:30 am, love gaining that time traveling to the west coast. Took us a while to secure our trusty steed-with-four-wheels but we were on the road north right around lunchtime. As I usually do, I made my grocery list on the plane so we stopped at a Target outside the city and stocked up on provisions. Our room in Squamish at the Executive Inn and Suites had a little kitchenette which I planned to take advantage of (i.e. save us time and $$).

Our border crossing into Canada was uneventful. We drove around Vancouver and headed up the Sea-to-Sky highway which is one of the most visually stunning drives we've ever been on. We made frequent pit stops along the way to explore the woods, the enormous moss-covered trees and waterfalls, and take in those ocean views. We were fortunate with beautiful weather and a very quiet road. I educated Shawn along the way about how this was a filming location for Breaking Dawn Part 2. He was thrilled ;o) We settled in to our hotel, ate a quick dinner of spaghetti and salad and were asleep by 7p (hey! that's 10p our time).

Instead of jumping right in to Panorama Ridge, we decided to warm up on our first day and do some exploring around Squamish with a hike up Stawamus Chief (6.5 miles, 1800 ft elevation gain). We were awake before dawn, so after eating some bars and making our PB&Js, we were off to the trailhead. Who knew this was also a Twilight filming site (I did...)! We had to use a chain near the top to pull ourselves up along some slick rock, but it was completely doable even for me and my meager upper body strength. At the top, we had pretty sweeping views of Squamish and Howe Sound, it was incredible. We had the trail to ourselves and it was a great way to spend the morning.

With plenty of daylight left and lots of energy still, we headed to Alice Lake Provincial Park and meandered along the Four Lakes trail. It was easy ambling through the woods and we played around with the settings on the camera in the unique late afternoon light. After a dinner of chicken stuffing bake in the room, we planned and packed for our long day out to Panorama Ridge.

The day was going to be a long and hard one, but we knew it was going to be epic. We were up at 4:30a anyway which worked out great; we knew we wanted to be there early enough to get a parking spot since it was a Saturday in the early fall. Panorama Ridge is located in Garibaldi Provincial Park. The trek is 17.6 miles with 4500 feet of elevation gain, so we anticipated that it was going to take us about 11 hours. We arrived at the trailhead at 6a and it was already pretty full. The majority of our morning was spent hiking up a series of steep switchbacks. The trail was incredibly well-maintained which gave us the opportunity to look around at the beautiful forest and keep our eyes peeled for wildlife (we saw none...). Finally, the trail opened up into Taylor Meadows where there was a campground. We met and chatted with a nice couple backpacking up to Black Tusk. After the campground, the trail forks and you can either continue along the meadow or go to Garibaldi Lake and rejoin the trail after. We decided meadow first, lake later. Along our meadow walk, we took in some great views of Black Tusk.

The last final push up to the ridge was a kicker but it was worth it for the views at the top - the vibrant blue of the lake, the snow-capped peaks. It was like a painting. It's a place we will never forget and our pictures just will never do it justice. I think we stayed on the ridge for an hour or so - we were among the first there for the day but it started to fill up pretty quickly, which is generally a good sign that it's time to move along.

On our way back down, we took the detour to Lake Garibaldi and admired the crystal clear water. There were quite a few people here jumping along the rocks and driftwood, so we didn't stay too long here, but in solitude it would be such a nice place to spend some time. After Taylor meadow we faced those switchbacks once again. Even with our hiking poles and healthy knees, it was rough. We walked a little, ran a little, walked backwards and sideways a little, and eventually made it back to the car at around 5p. We headed back to the hotel, showered (that is the BEST feeling), and headed out for dinner at the Watershed Grill - it was fantastic. The view and sounds of the river marked the end of a perfect day.

Travel day. Instead of backtracking through Seattle to get to Olympic, I thought it'd be fun to catch a ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nainamo, drive around Vancouver Island, and ferry it from Victoria to Port Angeles. It worked, it was OK. The drive I chose on Vancouver Island was ill-selected, we will say. A lot of logging roads, little wildlife.

We did stop along the west coast of the island along the rocky beaches that reminded me of home in Maine and hopped along the rocks for a bit.

Our lodging in Port Angeles was an Air BnB - it was a stand alone apartment on our host, Jim's, property called Cozy Cottage. It was situated on a bluff overlooking the ocean and was perfection.

On our first day in Olympic, we headed up to Hurricane Ridge, hung out in the visitor's center, and in between the clouds got to appreciate some pretty amazing views of the surrounding mountain range. We did the short walk up Hurricane Hill, it took us about an hour and a half round-trip and gave us panoramic views of the mountains without a lot of effort.

After lunch, we meandered down to the beaches, passing Quillayute, La Push and signs that Vampires weren't welcome in those parts. We spent the afternoon walking along Second and Third Beach, exploring the tide pools, taking pictures of the cool rock formations and enjoying the salty sea breeze. We sat on some driftwood and watched the sunset.

This is probably the closest we've gotten to having a restful vacation day! :)

Weather in Olympic NP is complete unpredictable. I had planned to spend this day hiking the High Divide and Seven Basins Loop (~19 miles), but sadly, the weather had other plans for us. Instead, we opted to hike Blue Mountain which is east of the park and a fairly quick drive for us from our lodging.

The drive to the trailhead was horrifying (I'm not being dramatic). It was a narrow gravel road with steep drop-offs. I spent a good part of it hyperventilating even though I am not afraid of heights. Luckily, we didn't run into any other cars, I don't know how that would have worked out, I don't even want to think about it. We arrived to the Deer Park trailhead and I was done being in the car. We walked along the trail for a while, but it started to snow. In September. The fog started rolling in and we decided to call it a day. Luckily, the drive down was over fairly quick and we just went back to the room and watched movies.

Can't get it right every time!

As I've mentioned on other pages, we usually like to spend one day in the city. We took the ferry into Seattle from Bainbridge Island which was very convenient. I felt like Derek Shepherd headed to work at Seattle Grace. I booked our lodging at the Warwick, right smack downtown, and we arrived there around 11a. Our room was not ready so they upgraded us to a penthouse suite. I have no idea why but we had two bathrooms, a living room and separate bedroom, with epic views of the cityscape. And our hotel overlooked Escala.

We spend the rest of the afternoon and morning the next day being tourists in Seattle: we walked, shopped, ate seafood, drank coffee, drank beer, went to Pike's Place and the Space Needle and uneventfully caught our plane back home the next afternoon.