A few months ago, my niece, Kate, and sister, Nichole, invited me to join them on a trip to Washington for Kate's 16th birthday. A girls trip?! The Pacific Northwest?! Canada?! Party?! Of course, I jumped at the chance to go! After an unfortunate delay in my flight on Sunday, September 3rd, then a 90 minute drive to Bellingham from Seattle to pick up Nichole and Kate, we were ready to roll! We started our trip with a day excursion on Monday, September 4th, to Vancouver, BC, Canada. This was my first time to this part of Canada and it did not disappoint. We spent most of the day outside of the city. We began with a fear-invoking adventure at the Capilano Suspension Bridge. This bridge is 460 feet long and 230 feet high...and let me tell you, it sways, bounces, and moves all over the place! It was so fun to people watch as we confidently moved across the bridge. I thought I would have been more terrified than I was, but I really wasn't. To be honest, the narrow cliff walk was more terrifying than the bridge. We enjoyed the bridge, the treetop walk, the cliff walk, and all the other trails we were able to explore in this beautiful part of North America. There were even hints of Fall in the trees as we meandered through this area.
Next, we moved on to a little town about an hour north of Vancouver. Nichole and I have been watching a Netflix series called Virgin River that was filmed in this area. Yes...we are those people that visit the filming locations and get giddy about it. We visited "Mel's" cabin near Capilano and "Jack's" bar in this small town. As a bonus, to get to the town we had to drive on the sea-to-sky highway and it was breathtaking! We had lunch at Jack's bar (fish & chips and of course, poutine...when in Canada...) then hiked back to Shannon falls on our way back to Vancouver. I was so impressed with how clean everything was! Including the water! It was so clear! The falls were gorgeous and Kate and I decided to rock hop along the small river beneath them.
Finally, we made our way back to Vancouver where we explored Granville Market..and indulged on more delicious foods. To be honest, I kind of liked this market better than Pike's Market in Seattle. There were several vendors selling everything from pastries to pot pies and chocolate to fresh fruit. Nichole and I shared a clam chowder pot pie and yummy pastries. Kate loved the fresh fruit and flowers. It was a full day! We crossed the border then headed back to Bellingham for the night.
The next day, Tuesday Sept 5th, we headed to Seattle on our way to Forks. We spent the entire day exploring this quirky city. We started with a beautiful skyline view of the city from Kerry Park. From there, we headed to the Chihuly Glass Garden and the Space Needle. I have visited Seattle a couple of times now and done these before, but it was Kate's first time. She was blown away (no pun intended) by all the glass objects, but the Space Needle was still everyone's favorite. I love the glass floor...even though it is a little creepy to stand on and look down. Next, we headed to Pike's Market. We explored the shops and grabbed a drink from Starbucks before heading to our last activity of the day - an Underground Tour. Did you know there's a whole city under there?! This was by far our favorite activity of the day! Our tour guide, TJ, was hilarious! None of us had ever done this tour. Evidently, Seattle's downtown area kept getting flooded from the tide so the city eventually brought in extra dirt to build up the streets. Once they did that, they basically buried the entire first floors of the downtown buildings making the second floor the new street level floor. There's a whole story behind why and how this was done, but bottom line, it makes for a fun tour with random objects buried under the street. After the tour, we left Seattle to head toward the coast to explore the beaches and rainforests of Olympic National Park.
The next two days (Wednesday, Sept 6 - Thursday, Sept 7th) we stayed in Forks and explored Olympic National Park. This is the most diverse national park in the United States. It has everything from rain forests, to beaches, to lakes, and mountain trails....and we tried to explore a good mix of all of it. Thankfully, we had amazing weather throughout even though there were a few moody, foggy PNW mornings. We started at the Hoh Rainforest. It was incredible! The trees were so thick and the moss made it seem even more dense. Kate was our expert at spotting all the little things we missed (e.g., mushrooms, different plants, and of course the favorite banana slug). Nichole wasn't feeling well that day so she did a little loop trail with us then we headed toward the river on our own. Even though we were surrounded by green, there were still hints of fall wherever we went. Fall is my absolute favorite season so it made me even more excited to be hiking through these trails.
After leaving the rainforest, we headed to Ruby Beach. I love the beaches of Washington and Oregon. I love the crazy rock islands in the water and all the driftwood. I'm not much of a beach-lover (too much sand) or ocean-swimmer (scary fish!), but if there are fun rocks to explore, count me in! In fact, that's what Kate and I did. We got there around low tide so we could explore the tide pools on the rocks. We found sea anemone, hermit crabs, a little crab, shells, etc. We probably could have stayed out there much longer, but the water was rising and we were tired so we called it a day.
Thursday, September 7th, was Kate's 16th birthday! Nichole made shirts for all of us...but in true teenage fashion, Kate only chose to wear hers for a few token pictures. Still, she loved the attention she received because of the shirts Nichole and I were wearing. We started a day with a foggy drive to the furthest northwest point of the lower 48 states - Cape Flattery. We were a little concerned when we woke up to tons of fog, but the fog lifted and the view was incredible! Plus, we had the whole point to ourselves. We met one woman leaving the viewpoint as we came down, but then we were alone. It was such a beautiful way to start Kate's birthday...and the rest of the day didn't disappoint. Today, we chose to stay on the beaches, specifically La Push (where we explored more tide pools) and explore the tiny, quirky town of Forks. (I'm serious! This town had limited restaurants and even the ones they had had unpredictable opening times. Plus, the town had random blackouts at night to conserve energy I guess.) Kate has been reading the Twilight book series that is set in Forks. The town even has a little museum with costumes and props from the movies. There are also places around town that are designated as the houses of Bella, Edward, and Jacob. Kate absolutely LOVED the day! (Again, yes...we are those geeky people who get giddy about being in the locations of books and movies.) I was just the chauffeur at that point. I hadn't read the books or seen the movies, but I loved watching Kate (and Nichole) get excited. At the end of the day, Kate wanted to return to the beach to watch the sunset. It had been cloudy all day, but we hoped the sky would clear or that we could at least see the colors...but that didn't happen. What did happen was so much better! As we sat on some driftwood, eating our birthday cheesecake, Kate spotted a water spout in the water. It was a whale!! I'm serious! We watched this whale spout, crest, and swim for at least 15 minutes. There was even a little harbor seal that popped up in the area too. It was so cool to see a whale so close to the shore. It really was the perfect way to end her already perfect 16th birthday.
Finally, it was time to leave Forks. We packed up the next morning (Friday, September 8th) and headed for Port Angeles. This time we got to explore the lakes, waterfalls, and mountain trails of Olympic National Park (and by the end of the day, Kate was done with hiking! Haha!). We visited Sol Duc falls, Lake Crescent, Moments in Time trail, Marymere Falls, and Madison Falls. Due to wildfires in the area, we weren't able to make it up to the viewpoints of Hurricane Ridge, but what we saw of the other areas was breathtaking. Again, the water is crystal clear! The trails were a lot more dry, but still thick with trees. The falls were incredible! Sol Duc falls were huge, but I loved Madison Falls. It was the easiest hike and it was a beautiful cascade down mossy rocks. Plus, we had the falls to ourselves. After Kate decided she was done hiking, we headed to the town of Port Angeles to grab some dinner and explore the quaint downtown and wharf. We visited candy shops, bookstores, and the boardwalk. We tried to go out to a point on the water, but the smoke from the nearby fires made it almost impossible to see anything. We ended the evening with a delicious Italian dinner at Bella Italia (yes...another nod to the Twilight series) before heading to the hotel for the night.
Saturday (September 9th) was our last full day...and we left the country. Yup, we took a ferry to Victoria, BC, Canada to spend the day. Once we got there, we made our way to Butchart Gardens, but not before making a quick stop at a gas station (or I guess a petrol station) to grab some ketchup chips and Canadian chocolate. I loved the chocolate...the chips were weird, but palatable. We made it to the gardens in time for an afternoon tea. C'mon...we couldn't be in a commonwealth country and not have tea! The whole experience was wonderful. The food was great and the tea was soothing, but the gardens were otherworldly! We spent the next couple of hours roaming through acres of incredible flowers. It was crazy to think that one woman envisioned all of that. Once we finished strolling amongst the flowers, we headed back to the downtown area to explore the shops and visit Fisherman's wharf. I visited Victoria once before, but it was Nichole and Kate's first time. Still, I had never been to the gardens and I didn't make it to Chinatown either. This Chinatown is the second largest in North America following San Fransisco. There's this one "alley" in Chinatown that is the world narrowest street with storefronts. It was crazy! We had a blast just roaming in and out of shops, eating, and making memories. I was a little sad to see the sunset on what has been an unforgettable girls trip!
On Sunday (September 10th) we headed back to Bellingham where I would drop off Nichole and Kate at the airport. We took another ferry to Whidby Island on our way home. The town we left from was so cute! I wished we had more time to explore it, but we did have some time to see the Admiralty Head Lighthouse (in honor of Dad) and visit a roadside farmers market. There was also an old, abandoned fort at the lighthouse. When I saw the cannons, I immediately started to miss Jonas. He would have loved to see it! In fact, there were several moments on the trip that I thought of how much Jonas or Jeff would have enjoyed it...but I would be sharing those fun moments with them soon! I was sad to reach the airport and say goodbye to Nichole and Kate. I love that our road trips are just as much about the journey as the destination...and the memories made!
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