For a while there Washington State was starting to feel like my White Whale – I was just never going to catch her. But in 2021 I finally did, and I did it in the extreme. I spent my time there bopping around several destinations, including the Olympic Peninsula, Seattle, the San Juan Islands, Tacoma and both North Cascades and Mount Rainier National Parks.
Olympic Peninsula
My first stop in Washington was the Olympic Peninsula, the very top left corner of America (minus Alaska, I guess!). I went hiking in both Olympic National Forest and National Park, and even managed to squeeze in a night of backpacking in the temperate rainforest in the national park.
Seattle
I left the Olympic Peninsula in time to meet some friends in Seattle for the long Memorial Day holiday weekend. I stopped briefly on Bainbridge Island then took the ferry to the city. We took advantage of our fully vaccinated status to attend a Seattle Mariner’s game, do some sightseeing and eat all the crab we could get our hands on. After my friends continued on with their own road trip, I stayed for another day to ride the monorail, drink a beer at the top of the Space Needle and take in the Chihuly exhibit.
San Juan Islands
My next stop on my high speed tour of Washington State was an island hopping jaunt through the San Juan Islands. There is a huge number of islands in the chain, but I managed to take the ferry to three of them – Lopez Island, San Juan Island and Orcas Island, where I met my friend Merritt for a few days of camping. I got pretty good at figuring out the ferry schedule by the time I was done. Meanwhile, I also went on some hikes, including to the highest point in the islands, enjoyed some local seafood and craft beer, visited an unexpected sculpture garden, and took a scenic kayak tour.
North Cascades
On my way out of the San Juans, I made the briefest of stops at North Cascades National Park. Even with a lot of cloud cover coming in and out, the views of the mountains in this park are spectacular. I saw mountains, glacial lakes, waterfalls, rainbows, wildlife – what more could you ask for?
Tacoma and Mount Rainier
My last stops in Washington were a brief midweek layover in Tacoma, where I saw Gallopin’ Gertie (or, her replacement anyway) and enjoyed a minor league baseball game with amazing views. Then I made my way to Mount Rainier to do some hiking, and to drink a Rainier beer in the snow, in June, on the side of Mount Rainier. Not a bad Washington sendoff!
This post describes land that belongs to the people of the Coast Salish, Suquamish, Puyallup, Nisqually, Quileute, Samish, Stillaguamish, Sauk Suiattle, Skagit, Tulalip, Muckleshoot, Chimacum, S’Klallam, Duwamish, Lhaq’temish (Lummi), Á,LEṈENEȻ ȽTE (W̱SÁNEĆ) and Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group tribes
Alyson Gagne 