Battle, Battle, Hit it to Seattle!

The last stop on our end of summer trip was to Seattle, a place I hadn't been in 20+ years and the kids definitely hadn't been. We took the ferry from Bremerton for an awesome entrance to the city, and used the city pass to check out the aquarium, the Space Needle, and the zoo. We topped it off with a couple of games to see the Cleveland Guardians take on the Seattle Mariners. Though the Guardians didn't win, it was a beautiful ballpark and an all-around great trip!

Had a great time at the pop culture museum... Paul became king apparently.

And Nolan rose from the dead...

WHALES!

We stayed in Port Angeles on the top of the Olympic peninsula so we could take a whale watching trip to search for... whales! We were hoping to see some Orcas, because it's one of the best places to see such creatures outside of SeaWorld, but unfortunately, they were nowhere to be found on our trip. The boat did take us into Canadian waters where we saw some humpback whales though, which were definitely amazing. We also got to see some big chunky seals barking at each other from one of the islands we passed by, which was entertaining. The trip was well worth it and one we'll remember!

Rainforests and West Coast Beaches

After Portland we took the drive north and checked out Mount St. Helens, then headed back over to the coast for more ocean time. We took the long drive up the coast and into Olympic National Park, checked out some pretty impressive moss-covered trees, and checked out the unique driftwood covered beaches. Definitely a beautiful part of the world!

There's a volcano back there somewhere...

Big tree and a small Seed in the rainforest.

On the Trail to Oregon

Our end of summer trip this year was a journey along the Oregon Trail (sort of). We took the drive through Spokane to the Columbia River gorge and all the way to Portland. We stopped at one of the massive dams along the river and checked out a fish hatchery with some massive sturgeon. After a night in Portland, we hit the ocean, checked out Tillamook where they make some fantastic cheese, ate at the stand where they invented the corndog, and saw some pretty impressive rock features in the Pacific Ocean. Oregon is definitely a beautiful place!

Watching the salmon trying to jump upstream

Can't help but get into the water...

Finished off Portland with The Killers concert!