hello, seattle.

Now on to my recap about our Pacific Northwest [mostly Seattle] trip earlier this month.

We landed late afternoon, so by the time we arrived at the W Seattle, we were in need of some dinner. We hit up Nijo Sushi, which I thought was delightful.

What a great way to start off eating in this foodie city! We then walked towards the pier to watch the sunset.

The next morning we drove to Olympic National Park. The neat thing about this particular park is the different terrains. On the coastal side sits the Pacific Ocean; whereas on the other side, it has gorgeous mountain ranges.

We hit up the coastal side first.

…and we hiked down to the picturesque beach to play in the tidepools.

We saw a handful of orcas playing off the coast, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the camera ready in time to snap pictures. It was my first time seeing them in the wild. Totally frightening!

I forgot to mention that Olympic National Park also has rainforest terrain. We spent some time walking the rainforest floor, and it was a wonderful breath of fresh air.

We then ventured towards the coast again. We passed the city of Forks along the way. Yes, that’s the vampire/werewolf town from the Twilight books. No, we didn’t see any crazy creatures. Haha! I did find it funny that there were people posing next to the Twilight signs and posters, haha!

The coast is so picturesque. Quite honestly, I have hundreds of photos, but I’ll spare you from looking at all of them.

We eventually made it up towards Hurricane Ridge, where there’s a phenomenal view of the mountain range located inside Olympic National Park.

Don’t the hills resemble the hills from the Sound of Music?! That was what I first thought when we got to the top. Anyway, aren’t the views incredible?!

By the time we got back into the city, it was pretty late, so we decided to have dinner at Shuckers Oyster Bar in the Fairmont.

Mmm, it was delicious, especially the slice of chocolate cake!

The next day [while G had to go to some work thing] I went to meet up with one of my high school friends to explore the city. I love all of the vibrant colors in the market.

We also checked out the gum wall again. It always grosses me out, so I have no idea why I took pictures of it.

We also had to drop in for a coffee at the first Starbucks store.

Later that evening, we had dinner on the waterfront at The Crab Pot. If you order the strawberry rhubarb, just know that it’s a whole loaf of yellow cake! I was expecting a slice of cake, and our waiter came out with a whole loaf pan. Needless to say, we didn’t finish even half of it, haha!

On a different day [after G was done working], we visited the Chihuly Garden and Glass venue. I love his work, so to see a handful of it was spectacular. The glass pieces looked incredible.

…and I had to take obligatory photos of the Space Needle. We decided not to go to the top because we went up it a couple of years ago, so I just snapped photos from below.

On our last day in the city, we drive a couple of hours to visit Mount Rainier National Park. It’s definitely a sight to see. I was actually surprised that the majority of the snow hadn’t melted down yet.

Some of the snow obviously melted because the park houses waterfalls all around the park. Here are just a couple of them:

After we visited the park, it was time to head back to the airport. Thank goodness our flight wasn’t too delayed.

It was nice to spend a week up in the Pacific Northwest, but it felt nice to be flying back home. Actually, after a month of being on the road, it was nice to finally spend some time at home. I love traveling and all, but sometimes, there’s nothing like being in the comfort of your own home.