In September, work brought me to the Pacific Northwest. PAX West was on Labor Day, so Chris and tagged along with me for the long weekend before I took the train down to Portland.

We spent most of the weekend based near Lake Crescent. It was a glorious and sunny start to our trip; we hiked to Marymere Falls, and ate some noms on the porch of Lake Crescent Lodge.

We stayed in a cabin at Sol Duc Hot Springs. It was basically a motel, but it got the job done. The hot springs on site reminded me of happy, stinky days gone by in New Zealand… but I only went in once, to avoid my suitcase reeking the rest of the week.

Nearby was Sol Duc Falls, which we hiked to one gloomy morning before heading to the coast.

We drove west to La Push, where a spicy little trek up and over a muddy hill to Second Beach rewarded us with classic PNW views.

It was low tide, so we looked for new friends in tide pools.

As a teenage girl in the early 00’s, I did my time with Twilight, and wanted to pay pilgrimage to Forks. I had a vision of what Forks would be like (moody, misty, vampy) and it was most certainly not; apparently they filmed that whole franchise in British Columbia. There was a free Twilight museum which was basically a superfan’s garage.

While waiting in line for the museum, a gaggle of Gen Z gals pulled up behind us. We saw them again before dinner crossing the street in Port Angeles, three hours away from Forks. Then, we saw them a third time walking around Seattle a few days later. Then, we saw them a fourth time when they walked into Alibi Room, where we were eating pizza (highly rec). After the fourth time, I was ready to confront them, but Chris was like “these girls are not stalking us, and in fact do not know we exist,” and he was very right.

A highlight for me was visiting Hurricane Ridge at Olympic National Park. Gotta love stunning vistas that only require a white-knuckle drive.

We wrapped up our weekend with some time in Seattle. Besides PAX, we also snuck in a trip to the Aquarium, Waterfront Park, and Pike’s Place.

Chris headed back to Boston on Tuesday. I was busy during the day with meetings, but had some time in the evening to ride the Bainbridge Island ferry. It was absolutely gorgeous.

This write up made the trip sound very lovely, and it was, but this adventure has three giant asterisks:

*COVID finally caught up with us :( Chris tested positive after we got home. I somehow did not catch it from him, cementing my belief that I was immune. [SPOILER: I’m not and broke my streak in November, BOOO]

**The catalytic converter was stolen from our rental car in Seattle. I bought insurance from Dollar, but the fine print said any theft would only be covered if I was present in the car when the theft occurred. Sorry, what? Dealing with the claim was a 6 month process and a real PITA… thankfully we weren’t out any cash at the end of the day, but dannnnnng insurance companies love to drag things out.

EDIT: I literally just got another letter in the mail demanding more money and I am never renting, driving, or looking at a car again

***My third asterisk is a good one: I don’t have any pics, but the best meal I had in 2022 was at Takibi in Portland. It’s the restaurant attached to the Snow Peak USA HQ, and I know that sounds ridiculous, but TRUST.

where:
lake crescent & hurricane ridge//Cayuse,Umatilla, and Walla Walla/S’Klallam
la push//Cayuse,Umatilla, and Walla Walla/Quileute
seattle//Cayuse,Umatilla, and Walla Walla/Duwamish/Suquamish/Snoqualmie/Muckleshoot/Stillaguamish

[https://native-land.ca]

when: september and it was GLORIOUS
how: rode amtrak cascades from SEA to PDX

PNW LDW

crossing the country by train

trailtime ‘22