Wow! It is crazy to believe Dillon and I drove all the way from Florida to Washington state. We literally went coast to coast. Our road trip has been such an adventure so far! On this post, I’ll share 3 of the national parks we visited in Washington state and my opinions of them.
Olympic National Park
On the first day we arrived in Washington after leaving Oregon, we went to Olympic National Park. Dillon has been to many national parks before (as well as Olympic in the past) and he personally said he thought Olympic was overrated (his honest opinion). But I actually enjoyed it! I thought it was different because it was a rainforest in a subtropical climate. As a girl who is from Brazil, I imagine rainforests being like the Amazon with tropical trees and snakes. But this one is not tropical at all. So I thought that was different and interesting.
The next day we went to Jiffy Lube because we were due for an oil change after 7,000+ miles on our road trip. Well actually, our trunk wasn’t opening out of nowhere so we wanted to see what was up. Jiffy Lube doesn’t specialize in those specific things but while we were getting an oil change, they noticed a hole in our air filter that looked like a small critter had chewed off. Thankfully, that was an easy replacement but I’ve heard of problems far worse where raccoons chewed up tubes or whatnot from cars and caused havoc! That’s something to keep in mind depending on what environment you park your car. We noticed some chipmunks near our previous Airbnb and figured they just wanted to keep warm inside our air filter or something.
Car problems aside, we enjoyed our stay in northern Washington. We went to Fogtown Coffee right after Jiffy Lube and I loved their Busy Bee coffee drink! So good! They have so many creative drink options, just take a look at their menu. It was just what Dillon and I needed after some car hiccups. Then we drove to Olympia and checked into a local hotel. We got dressed for dinner at Mercato Ristorante. Scroll below to make your mouth water…my shrimp pasta was too good!
The following day Dillon and I went to the gym. It can be a challenge staying consistent with workouts while road-tripping or traveling, but it’s so important. After a good workout sesh, we fueled up at Thrive Nutrition. They have so many options of smoothies, I wanted to try like 5 (but I didn’t lol). I tried the Pina colada smoothie because I love coconuts in almost everything!
Continuing our car fiasco, we took our car to the dealership to see what was going on and fix the issue. Thankfully, they figured out that our trunk wasn’t opening due to wear and tear so they fixed that. We killed our time at the Capital Mall while the car was getting fixed. I actually walked to a nearby plaza to get my nails done while Dillon worked at Starbucks. It’s harder when you’re on the go to have your nails look good all the time, but after some research I thought this place was pretty good:)
We actually spent the next few nights at other parts of Washington, then returned to this area to do the Hurricane Ridge Hill Trail hike in Olympic National Park. This hike reminded me so much of The Sound of Music movie for some reason, lol. The scenery was beautiful! Here is an Instagram reel of my hike there! The hike was pretty challenging because there’s not a lot of shade so if you go in the middle park of the day it’s going to be pretty hot in the summer. There were tons of flies too. But it was pretty cool that we saw a black bear at the end of the hike! It wasn’t close to us so I wasn’t concerned.
Places to eat/drink nearby:
Mount Rainier National Park
Dillon and I were actually so impressed with Mount Rainier National Park! This might be on the top national parks I’ve visited! The enormous Mt. Rainier in the background shoots up as you are hiking through the trails. Mt. Rainier itself is not for your average hikers, it’s for the serious rock climbers (plus you need to pay a fee to obtain a permit). Rock climbing is not my sport so I stick to hiking with Dillon.
The hike we did was the Alta Vista Trail. We absolutely loved this trail! The views are all around gorgeous (especially if you go when it’s wildflower season in the late summer). We went late July and it was pretty warm out. If you scroll down you’ll see that I wore a sun hat and a casual dress. This hike wasn’t too long so I took advantage of that and decided to switch up my outfit! If you are aiming for pretty pictures in picturesque mountain places while we, do some research beforehand on the hike you plan to do. It shouldn’t be strenuous or you might end up sweating through your whole outfit. The Alta Vista Trail was very steep in the beginning and I broke a sweat, but it was overall a pretty short hike and it was later in the day so I was good.
Scroll below for my Mt. Rainier hiking look. You can shop similar looks on the bottom of this post 🙂
Also I shared a picture of Dillon’s and my Airbnb stay. This one was unique because we spotted Mt. Rainier behind the lake. We booked a lake house cabin in a good location. The only downside was a huge heat wave hit Washington right around the time we were there. Our cabin didn’t have AC because it’s Washington and people don’t generally have AC. We got so hot we had to leave the patio doors open constantly. But overall it was fun staying there and seeing Mt. Rainier in the distance (see if you can spot it in the picture below.)
The following day, we planned to go to Mt. Rainier National Park again because we enjoyed it so much. This time around, we did a portion of the Shadow Lake trail in the Sunrise area of the Park. It was nice but we both preferred the Alta Vista trail by far. If you only have one day at the park, I recommend doing the Alta Vista trail. We fueled ourselves after the hike at Harvest Buffet.
Cascades National Park
Dillon and I only did the Cascades National Park for half a day. I would say if you only have half a day, do the North Cascades Thunder Knob Trail to see a great view of the turquoise blue water. This hike is 3.6 miles (5.8 km) roundtrip with 425 ft (130m) elevation gain.
If you’re not in the mood to hike, you can just stop by the overlook facing the Diablo Lake for just as good a view (if not, better). The overlook is an unobstructed view while the hike has some trees that block some of the lake. It was a good exercise to do the hike itself and we liked to get our circulation flowing after being in the car constantly. But know you don’t have to hike to get the best view in this park! You can see a video I took from the overlook spot here.
Now if you really want to get your workout on and enjoy pretty views at this park, check out the Cascade Pass Trail. Please note, Dillon and I planned to do this hike the next day because it is a full day type of hike, but we didn’t feel like driving the distance from our Airbnb to the park again the next day so we ended up not doing it. According to their website, when starting from the Cascade Pass Trail, you can go to three different routes with different levels of difficulty. If you go the Cascade Pass route, it will be 3.7 miles (6 km) one-way with 1700′ (550 m) of elevation.
The Airbnb we stayed at was in northern Washington (so close to Canada actually). There was a pretty river flowing right behind our place called the North Fork Nooksack River. It had a pretty light blue turquoise color. There was even a trail next to it. We enjoyed this Airbnb and the activities there. They had a basketball court in the community which Dillon and I took a shot at. It was a good time!
Overall, I thought Washington was beautiful! I enjoyed my time there and I hope some of the tips I shared will help you out next time you visit this state or the national parks in it!
Xo, Jessica Turner
