Seattle to Forks

Previous: Backroads Trip: Olympic National Park

July 16

Seattle

Upon disembarking the ferry from the Bainbridge Island ferry our Backroads leaders shuttled us to the excellent Sheraton Grand Seattle which represents the end of our Backroads trip.  Our pals John, Ann, Charlie, and Luise (and just about everybody else from Backroads) were also staying at this unusually reasonably priced top-notch downtown hotel, so we hung out.  After check-in we grabbed a couple of Ubers and met up with John’s son and his wife who live in Seattle.  We met them at the funky SODO Urban Works in the Beacon Hill section of Seattle.  We got wine at Structure Cellars and pizza from Nine Pies Pizzeria next door.  Great pizza, great wine, and a great send-off with our great friends.

After an excellent dinner we Ubered back to the hotel in the heart of downtown.  We said our goodbyes to John, Ann, and Charlie and headed out to walk around the Seattle waterfront with Luise as our guide.  Luise was familiar with Seattle so it was great that she was willing to show us around after a long day.  It was a Friday night and very nice out so there was a busy nightlife going on.  We spent about an hour walking around seeing touristy things, mostly on the waterfront, and avoiding a lot of…umm…interesting people.

Back at the hotel we enjoyed a final nightcap with Luise at the hotel bar before bed.  We said our goodbye to Luise.  Tomorrow would be the beginning of the next leg of our road trip…to La Push, Washington and Olympic National Park (on our own this time).  Another benefit of the Backroads trips for us is that they provide a good orientation for us to an area we then explore on our own.  We did that two years prior in the Scottish Highlands, and now here at Olympic National Park.

July 17

La Conner

We had breakfast at the Sheraton.  We enjoyed a magnificent view from the 32nd floor, which is where the breakfast restaurant was.

Now, if only the fancy, spiffy coffee machines worked…eh, perhaps our expectations were a bit too high for a $75 breakfast.  The food was decent, buffet style, but again…lines at the one working coffee machine? Really?  The hotel was excellent in every way…except for the cost of a disappointing breakfast…we were thankful for the view. We also had a nice conversation with a young guy eating next to us at the window seat.  He gave us great insights for things to see in the area.  A major rule to follow when travelling that Emilie and I always adhere to:  ALWAYS talk to strangers!

The one leg of our trip that was left completely open-ended was getting from Seattle back to Lake McMurray, about an hour away, where we had left our car before the Backroads hiking trip. We ended up catching a noon Bel-Air Airporter shuttle bus from the Seattle convention center (which was a 3-minute walk from the hotel) up to La Conner, Washington, near Lake McMurray where our friends Mark and Karen would be picking us up. (it was their house where we left our car before they brought us to the Anacortes ferry when we began our week-long Backroads trip to the San Juan Islands).

So, this was the first time we had to lug all of our stuff.  During the Backroads trip, each day we only carried our backpacks, while the Backroads leaders oversaw the transfer of our duffel bags each transition day.  We had to get our backpacks and other travel gear to the bus stop. Emilie looked like a one-person band!

As it turns out, La Conner has quite a beautiful, swanky downtown, and a pretty active marina.  Mark and Karen’s favorite restaurant is there, and so after they picked us up at the Bel-Air shuttle stop in town we headed there.  They had made reservations at Nell Thorn waterfront bistro.  With the weather so nice we ate outdoors on their patio for waterside dining overlooking the Swinnomish Channel.  Dinner was as advertised…outstanding!  We took some time to also walk around town a bit to explore some of the interesting boutique shops in town, and of course the dime-store elephant ride!

Then, back to Mark and Karen’s where we wore out our welcome by doing all of our laundry, and then hung out on their awesome porch on the shore of Lake McMurray.

Off to bed.

July 18

Forks

We left Lake McMurray and our good friends at 10:30 a.m. to head to Forks, Washington. We decided to drive all the way instead of taking a ferry since our GPS was showing that it was only an hour and 15-minute difference, and we had already “done” the ferries the prior week.

Though about 175 miles as the crow flies, the drive took about 6 hours…welcome to traveling around the Olympic Peninsula.  We got to our La Push Hipcamp campground “Shangri La Push” at around 4:30 p.m. Hipcamp is basically AirBnB for car camping. We met the hosts and set up the tent in the host-recommended “honeymoon site” (because it was the most private of the sites on their property). Once settled into our site, we headed out and explored Forks, the home of the sparkly vampires from the Twilight book and movie series. Of course, everyone knows that the La Push section of Forks is the home of the Twilight werewolves. We didn’t want to show favorites and risk mutilation or eternal blood sucking so we explored both.

Next: Olympic National Park Days 1-2