Seattle On My Mind

On our way home from Cheesesconsin Dave and I were reminiscing about all of our 4th of July's since we started dating.  We've been a lot of awesome places together on the 4th Chicago, Copper Harbor, Devil's Lake, Paris, home with a brand new baby and last year Seattle.  It was such a fun, carefree vacation (mainly because Adam stayed with Grandma and Grandpa in Minnesota and I was not pregnant).  And we did everything and put a ton of miles on our rental car.  Every morning started the same way- with a great cup of coffee or a latte.  Oh my mouth waters thinking about how good the coffee was.

And there was plenty to do in Seattle- Pike's Market, eating sushi, biking, dining at the top of the Space Needle, sea kayaking in Lake Union, shopping in the original REI store all of which kept us busy our first two days, but my favorite part of the trip was the two days we spent on the road driving to Olympic and Mount Rainier National Parks.

We got up early on the 4th of July and took a ferry across Puget Sound and then drove 163 miles to the Hoh rain forest.  It was beautiful and the first and really only time we saw rain on our trip.  I loved the trees covered with moss and how green everything was.  I probably will never get to a tropical rain forest- so this will have to do.

Then we turned around and started heading back toward Seattle.  We stopped in a little town before we got to the ocean and I didn't realize it, but it was Forks as in the town from the Twilight books.  I thought it was strange that a warning sign at the gas station read "vampire danger level" instead of fire danger level.  We grabbed some snacks in Forks and headed to the beach. 

We walked the full length of second beach and although lots of people were there it felt like we were all alone.  It was foggy at first, but the sky cleared as we walked.  The sea stacks reminded me of Lake Superior and Sea Kayaking in the Apostle Islands.  Really Lake Superior is so similar to the Pacific North West coast.

We continued our journey back towards Seattle and made one more stop in the mountains.  We literally had to drive through a cloud to get to the Hurricane Ridge.  At points we could only see 20 feet in front of our car and it was soo dark.  But when we emerged from the cloud a surprise met us, snow topped mountains.  So we got out of the car to let the driver take a breather and enjoy the views.  And then on the 4th of July my husband threw a snowball at me. 

The mountain range was beyond beautiful and was the cherry on the top of our Olympic experience.  We hiked a trail and snapped a ton of pictures, but these two were by far my favorites.  On our hike one little deer was standing on the trail as Dave walked around a corner he turned around real fast and got both of our hearts racing.  So I was already on edge when I noticed the trail was narrowing and steep drop offs were on either side.  I'm not normally afraid of heights, but at that moment I was ready to go back to the car and be done.

So when we got back in the car we realized that if we got a move on we could make the 9 PM ferry from Bainbridge Island back to Seattle and watch the fireworks from the deck of the ferry.  So that's what we did and skipped eating dinner.  By the time we got back to Seattle none of the restaurants were open except a Subway so in Schwedskala traveling tradition we ate Subway with a bottle of wine.  In Europe we at peanutbutter sandwiches almost daily and in Hawaii there was our famous champagne and Spam dinner due to the power outage after a earthquake. 



The next day we skyped with Grandma and Grandpa and Adam.  Wow did I miss him a ton.  To keep my mind off of wanting to go home we traveled to Mount Rainer.  I was so worried that Mount Rainer would be cloudy and therefore the mountain top wouldn't be seen.  Our second day in Seattle Mount Rainer was visible from the city, which doesn't happen often.  I guess people will walk around town proclaiming "the mountain is showing".  So since we saw it once I figured our chances of seeing it a second time were slim.  I was wrong.  Mount Rainer came out from behind the clouds after we showed up. 

The Sunrise trails were still snow covered, so we hiked on a ranger access road.  I think I may have had the altitude affecting me, because I remember the start of the hike but I don't remember where we turned around.  It's a strange feeling to not know how you got to where you are.  After that we decided to hike a trail in the valley.  Of course the trail I picked was washed out in a flood a few years ago and the new trail was still under construction, but that didn't stop us.  It was a really difficult and fun hike traversing over the river and wash out several times.  It also doesn't hurt to be looking at this the whole time.

Honestly Seattle was an amazing surprise getaway.  Dave gifted the trip to me for Mother's Day and he surprised me with the dinner in the Needle and sea kayaking.  I discovered that I love 65-70 degree weather.  The trip was not without sacrifices though, while we were gone Adam put the whole walking thing together chasing his birthday balloons around the house.  Before we left he could take steps, when we came home he was a walker.