Seattle and Olympic National Park

Well, we arrived in Seattle at our quaint little B&B, the Green Lake Guest House (DEFINITELY would recommend it!), by early afternoon.  And instead of jumping into the busyness of city life, we enjoyed a bike ride around the 3-mile loop of the Green Lake park, right across the street (sorry, no pics).  We ended our evening at an authentic Mexican restaurant just a few blocks away and enjoyed practicing our Spanish (still fairly fresh) with the waitresses there.

Of course, our first stop the following morning was the famous Pike's Place Market.  We were super-impressed by the quality of fresh foods and handicrafts available, and we may have even started on some early Christmas shopping!

Yes, they did throw fish at the fish market... we got a good video, but it wouldn't download.

And this was as close as we got to the original Starbucks.  Neither one of us were big enough fans of their coffee to wait in that line.

But I did make sure to make my stop here... where we tried snickerdoodle ice cream... it was delicious!

In the afternoon we headed to the aquarium.  Overall, a very small aquarium, but some really cool exhibits...

We could touch the colorful sea stars, coral, anemones, etc...

Jellyfish are always one of my favorites...

And you gotta be impressed by the giant octopus...

 

This one we called "Fist of the Hulk."

Gotta love the colors of the Coral Reef.

And this guy made us laugh... we'll call him Bucktooth Bill.

And we ended with a really cool Harbor Seal feeding demonstration.

Just by luck, we found out that the US soccer team was playing in a World Cup qualifier in Seattle while we were in town.  When we looked up the location of the stadium and found out that it was just a few blocks from where we were, we couldn't resist... go big or go home, right?!

Of course, we took advantage of the free face painting offered by McDonalds.

And after getting free scarves upon entry, we looked like real US Soccer fans!

It was a really exciting game... we stood the whole time... and the US came out on top... 2 - 0!

The following day we made our way to the Museum of Flight.

The displays were incredible, and the amount of history they provided on the development of space travel, the establishment of Boeing (began in Seattle), and the use of planes in WW1 and WW2 was even more impressive.

We even got to tour inside an old Air Force One jet... quite a bit more comfy and luxurious than most planes I've ridden in.

That afternoon we ate at a hip restaurant in the Capitol Hill area called Skillet Diner.   The burger topped with bacon jam and creamy blue cheese was amazing (sorry... again, no pic).  And that evening we enjoyed some rest in the B&B and again at the Green Lake park.

Early the next morning, we headed on our way to Olympic National Park, taking a ferry ride along the way.

And we arrived around mid-day.

We took our first hike in the Elwha forest.  As you can see, we were surrounded by green...

And the trees were VERY tall.

Our hike led to a really cool passageway for fast-flowing river water, called Goblin Gates.

That night we slept in an area called Sol Duc.

And the next morning, we took a hike to Sol Duc Falls.

We saw these cascades along the way and loved the moss-covered rocks.

Here were the Falls... pretty unique with the three different outlets.

By mid-day, we reached the Pacific coast at Rialto beach... looks like we may be going a little crazy at this point.

We took some pics of real-life sea stars, just like the ones in the aquarium!

Enjoyed the beauty of the beach.

This structure was called "Hole-in-the-Wall."

And there were TONS of perfectly flat river rocks washed up on the beach... I HAD to pack one home in honor of my good Guatemalan friend Cata Ixcol.

And the coastline was lined with white, dead wood that somehow appeared so artistic and beautiful.

That afternoon, we walked through the "Hall of Mosses" in the Hoh Rainforest.  This was the best pic we got, but it just doesn't do justice to the beauty of the rainforest...

And that night we set up camp at the edge of Kalaloch beach.  We made tortilla veggie pizzas on a camp stove that just might rival the pizza we ate in Chicago... yummm!

And that night, we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset, sipping hot chocolate on the beach.

Had to get one more good pic on the beach the next morning...

Then we did a couple of other very short hikes through the Quinalt rain forest, where I found these beautiful purple flowers.

And we once again felt dwarfed by the size of the trees surrounding us...

On our way out of the Park, we stopped to see the largest one yet...

And yes, it was impressive, to say the least.

From Olympic National Park, we headed to Portland, where we are staying for the next couple of nights.  We are officially halfway through our 30-day trip across the States, but we look forward to our days ahead in Portland, the Redwood National Forest, San Francisco, and all that follows...