Wandering Around Washington Part 1

All great family vacations start with a memorable story. As we were admiring how we were leaving at the goal time from our driveway to the airport, we start backing up and hear some strange noises. My first thought was that we must have a flat tire and we would not be making our flight. My mom on the other hand thought we surely hit someone out for a walk since we live on a busy street.  As my dad gets out to investigate we quickly realize that we ran over someone's suitcase. Starting off a trip running over a suitcase probably is not  the best, but we will always remember it!

Before my plane to Washington took off, I told myself I'm ready for the adventures that await. I'm always up for a great adventure, especially if it is outside. I have never been to the Pacific Northwest before and I was excited to visit both Mt. Rainier and Olympic National Park. 

My family and I arrived at Mt. Rainier National Park first. If you have never been to Washington before, Mt. Rainier is visible from Seattle and it is one of the active volcanos in the U. S. After having been at the the lodge at Mt. Rainier, Paradise Inn, for nothing short of an hour the electricity went out and never came back on. I think our bad luck from the day carried over. I bet the electricity came back on after we left. However, despite having no power or cell phone service, we were able to throughly enjoy our time outdoors and together.

I went on quite the adventurous run when we arrived. I found the trails to be particularly confusing and ended up running up some steep mountainous hills. I really enjoyed running in the park. I always look at the Rave Runs in Runners World, and my runs there definitely felt like rave runs! It was very peaceful and wild flowers, pine trees, and lakes scattered the roads and trails. 

My family and I went on a longer hike one day and we saw some stunning views of the mountains and small lakes. 

If you enjoy uphill, peaceful hiking then I recommend the reflection lake trail at Mt. Rainier. This is the trail we went on and we saw many wildflowers and had great views of the mountains. 

After our time at Mt. Rainier was over, we 

took a longer drive to Olympic National Park. On our drive we had to hault for a peacock crossing the road!

I'm sure peacock crossings are quite infrequent.

Since the drive was a bit longer, we stopped in Port Angeles. If you are aTwilight Series lover, then the books take place around this area. 

We stayed at Lake Crescent in Olymlic National Park. This has to be one of the most beautiful, serene, and relaxing places I've ever been too. I would happily move out to live here. 

We stayed in small cottage that was next to one of park lodges. There were not many people here and I enjoyed that about Lake Crescent. This was a freshwater lake that reminded me of the water off the coast of Italy! It was very clear and shades of blue shimmered across the lake. I enjoyed reading by the water and running on the Spruce Railroad trail. My dad and I drove to this trail and it was very secluded across the lake cut into a mountain. This has to be one of the best places I have ever ran before. I started off running in the forest and slowly descended to run alongside the lake. Later in the day, my family and I kayaked along where I ran and we saw a bald eagle flying by! We enjoyed hiking to a waterfall and relaxing at the park.