adventure shoes.: Seattle, Olympic National Park, & Life Lately

It's been a good long while since I last updated the blog; we've gotten swept up with jobs and work, Christmas preparations, friends visiting, and exploring around Van. But, with Christmas break and a week off from work, we decided to explore a little further afield and get away for a few days: hello Washington! (Seattle and Olympic National Park, to be exact).

In typical fashion, we decided and "planned" (I use the term loosely) our trip to Seattle at the last minute, chucking a few things in a backpack, and heading for the US-border.

We arrived in Seattle in the early afternoon and spent the remainder of the day playing tourists (examining our map at every street corner and trying not to look like tourists) and exploring downtown Seattle on foot:

We ate local grub.
We stocked up on Chinese looseleaf tea (flowering tea, anyone?!).
We got lost in the crowds at Pike Place Market, an interesting combination of genuine art and cheap trinkets
We watched the sun set over the harbour, and
We went to see both the Olympic Sculpture Park (where we promptly got kicked out for sneaking in after-hours) and the iconic space needle, of course

Thoroughly chilled and having covered some good ground, we ended the day at a small, unassuming (but totally delicious) Indian/Tibetan/Nepalese restaurant tucked away on one of the streets by the Market. Having stuffed ourselves with lamb curry (J) and chickpea/vegetable curry (me), we wandered around the quaint back alleyways - yearning after all the delicious baked goods (me) and chocolates (me again) in the windows of closed speciality shops - before making our way back to the hotel.

The next morning, we kicked off breakfast in true Seattle fashion with local coffee and doughnuts (and one or two other treats along the way), before going to see Kerry Park and Discovery Park, and finally heading for Port Olympia where we spent the night before beginning part 2 of our adventure: Olympic National Park.

Olympic National Park turned out to be a lot larger than we anticipated, and unfortunately, we ran out of time to see everything (but, we'll most certainly be back), so we chose a couple of key sights, Ruby Beach and the Hoh Rainforest - both very different, but equally magnificent.

We spent our first day in the park exploring the tide pools in Ruby Beach, clambering around on the rocks, and getting thoroughly drenched by the sea; it was perfect in every way. We stayed until the sun dipped below the horizon before setting off in search of a place to stay for the night. Luckily for us and our spontaneity (AKA lack of planning), we found a beach lodge a few kilometres down the road with an available room (doubly lucky, given it was New Years Eve) and a pretty ocean view.

Young buckos

Neon green anemones!

Goose barnacles - a [pricey] delicacy in Portugal and Spain. Apparently, Canada is one of the largest exporters. There was a lot of $ on that beach, all of the rocks were covered!

Neon pink tipped anemones! Tide pools are the best.

My favourite! ...As evidenced below...

Petting starfish because who could seriously resist?!

I mean, just look at him.

Looking back at these photos, it's hard to believe we were actually there. So beautiful.

We filled our bellies with whatever food was cheapest on the restaurant menu and headed down to the beach to build a bonfire (made all the better by the chilly, winter temperatures) and ring in the New Year. We sat on the beach with a cold beer in hand, warming our feet by the fire, completely content; one of my favourite memories of the trip.

The perfect way to ring in the new year. Here's to just as many (maybe more) adventures in 2015. 2014, you were a good year.

The next morning we took in the last of the ocean view, chucked the last of our clothes into our backpacks and set off for Hoh! The rainforest was beautiful; we hiked the Hall of Mosses and the Spruce Trail, saw three otters (!), and numerous fish. It was the best way to start the day and a really nice end to a great little trip. Olympic National Park, we'll see you again soon!