Pacific Northwest Before Deployment

Cruising and camping the Continental Coast

With plans to move overseas for full-time ministry within the next year, our family wanted to do one last big excursion stateside. The Pacific Northwest has been at the top of my unofficial travel bucket list, so in celebration of my 25th birthday, 1,000 days of being married, and all the other little milestones to account for before we leave, we ventured off for another camper van cruise out West (with our 9-month old!). As typical of my beginner-blogger days, I’ve got lots (note: lots) of pictures! ​

We began our trek by flying into Seattle, WA + picked up our camper van, decked out in its uniquely painted exterior. After loading all of our stuff in + picking up some basic groceries for the week, we drove to downtown Seattle, wandering the waterfront — which was studded with multiple piers housing lots of fresh seafood restaurants, shops, arcades, museums, tourism; and Pike Place — which is notriously known as the birthplace of Starbucks + Piroshky Piroshky, just to name a couple. We didn’t have nearly enough time to explore the intricacies of the Public Market, full of fresh flowers, fish on ice, a bounty of produce, specialty shops, artists + book stores, etc.! We skipped one major tourist-y thing (the Space Needle) + swapped it for another (The Great Wheel), and even with rain clouds + low expectations, we were wowed at the views of the city + Puget Sound atop the Ferris wheel. 

From there, we took I-5 up towards North Cascades National Park — a route lined with the dreamiest PNW-esque trees, snow-capped mountains behind spaghetti-junction overpasses, eliciting gasps of “wow”‘s as patches of water intersected vibrant greenery grounds. People pass this on their daily drive to work or the grocery store?! Our first camp night was near Darrington, WA, in the midst of moss-covered limbs + rainforest foliage, reminiscent of Yoda’s homeland. 
We took some nibbles of wild salmon berries found in our “backyard” of the van, then set out along the North Cascades Highway. This route, similarly, graced us with pine-covered mountains + shimmering turquoise-green streams. My eyes witnessed so many miraculous views that my camera couldn’t even catch. If only I could share all of those glimpses of glory. 
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((Diablo Lake + Thunder Knob Trail. Marblemount + Baker Lake))

The second night was spent mountainside along various moss, ferns, and tiny wildflowers. Baby boy enjoyed exploring all of the leaves + dirt, while Mama scouted out new types of flowers + touched all the moss (a tradition, of sorts). Near Baker Lake, we wandered the short Shadow of the Sentinels Interpretive Trail while baby slept in the chest carrier. This path was a simple, yet fascinating + majestic, boardwalk stroll through an old growth first. The Douglas Firs, some towering here for an estimated 680 years, were large + scattered around various ferns, berry bushes, and other conifers. The sounds of the forest were just as riveting — birds chirping, wood peckers thumping, insects chittering, and not a single other human hush or footstep to be heard. Praise be to the Lord, the Creator of heaven + earth, who made all things for His glory! 
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((Lilac + pearl foxglove line the roadway. Deer graze in the forest + pop across the gravel path))

Driving away from the North Cascades, we ventured to Anacortes, WA — a main point of our trip, as one of our favorite musical artists, John Van Deusen, calls this small port-town home (though he was unfortunately traveling for another performance during the time we were here). While here, I found a Turkish Cafe that I will cherish, and be glad my wallet is now very far away from. Like a kid in a candy store, my eyes perused the walls decorated with Turkish rugs + the glass cabinet full of colorful foreign treats: numerous Turkish delights, baklavas, halva covered in pistachios, saffron, rose petals, powdered sugars. It was dazzling. I got a traditional Turkish cardamom coffee served in a teeny blue + white designed espresso cup accompanied by a citrus Turkish delight, and a baklava milkshake for Jay. 

((Washington has a thing for mini drive-thru espresso shacks??!))

In Anacortes, we drove lots + lots through the town exploring all of the homes, shops, etc. nooks + crannies, then made our way up to Mt. Erie to see a panaroamic view from the top.  Washington Park also surprised us with serene solitude upon a lakeside after the rain. The shore beyond the tall trees had picnic tables + benches overlooking island hills, passing boats, diving foul, and native purple flower species. While in Anacortes, we camped at Deception Pass State Park, which we could have spent much more time at on their trails, beaches, and doing lake activities. ​

Our next National Park destination was Olympic, where we began awakening beside Lake Crescent before venturing through Marymere Falls + Sol Duc Falls. The latter of which was a highlight for me — bold rushing water cascading across black rock jewels dressed in lime moss, splitting into triple falls down the cliff + then converging into one rushing stream again. There were visible rainbows across the water, and muddy trails around, indicating the rising + falling of mist from the falls. Farther West, we hit Rialto Beach. The driftwood was huge like dinosaur bones + super smooth oval stones made up the shoreline in place of sand. So unique. ​

Olympic and Mount Rainier proved to be much different than North Cascades in the amount of people + crowds, making us wish we spent more time in the peace + serene of the North. Despite not being able to take the slow pace we would have usually in Hoh Rainforest, it was still neat to walk through bright green trees with droopy moss beards + to stumble upon a hidden path of mysterious findings behind our camp spot just outside the rainforest. Between parks, we made an impromptu pit stop at Lake Quinalt that housed a historic lodge, mountains trails, the largest Sitka Spruce tree, and the location for the sighting + research of the Sasquatch.

As for Mt. Rainier, it was one of many National Parks that began doing timed-entry reservations to enter the park, and our dates were unfortunately unavailable when I was booking our trip. We took a risk in going anyways, in hopes that we might find some trails or views just before the official park entrance gates. Instead, we ended up doing lots of wandering, re-routing, driving back + forth, finding new little mountain towns, and settling at two international restaurants. One of which was a small Himalayan restaurant that I had found interesting on Google maps before we came out here, and then we found to be even more interesting as we settled inside. There was this shrine-like section in the corner of the restaurant with articles, certificates, climbing gear on a model. As we were reading the papers arranged on the walls, we found out that the owner serving us in this restaurant holds the Guinness World Record for the quickest ascent of Mt. Everest — 10 hours and 56 minutes!! And he’s ascended the monstrous mount 15 times!

After 7 days van-camping in Washington state, we flew over to Sacramento to meet Jay’s great uncle Bill in his home. We didn’t stay there too long, though, since Uncle Bill wanted to give us a “great adventure,” something he + his wife Catherine know well how to do. The next morning after our arrival, he drove us up to visit Muir Woods. I had been here before, about 13 years ago, so there was much that was similar but also much that had changed or that I didn’t remember. The drive to the forest was one that I didn’t recognize, but it reminded me of somewhere else I had been before — La Paz, Mexico — with twists + turns through coastal hills of sand + green + ocean. The boardwalk path beneath towering trees of thick, red bark + deep, everest-colored pine needles was familiar; yet, loud + crowded + political bents were new experiences from my memory. Bill then drove us through San Francisco (at rush hour — yikes!) and down to Oakland, CA to have dinner with some distant family members. And to round out the full road trip of California in one day, we made our way down to Monterrey for the night, passing a blaring orange sun upon a golden-hued horizon + lavender silhouetted hills. The next day, we awoke to explorations of the Monterrey Bay Aquarium — a true delight! The journey back to Sacramento from Monterrey was full of miles + miles (+ miles) of farmland growing fruit + nut trees, and other produce such as artichokes, olives, and avocados. Uncle Bill’s notorious + hospitable “We are just delighted you are here” phrase will continue to ring in remembrance of our time in WA + CA.

Of course, there are numerous details + detours that wouldn’t all fit into one blog post, but it surely was a great adventure — not only experientially in nature, but even spiritually as God sanctified us (me) in many ways, teaching + refining us in necessary ways even when (maybe, most when) we are “away.” Perhaps those thoughts will make it into another post in the future :)