Having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, I’ve always been familiar with the history of the area and some key figures in its settlement, including Lewis and Clark, the famous 19th century explorers. In southwestern Washington and part of the Oregon Coast, there is Lewis and Clark National Park. We’re going to tell you all about this little known National
Having visited Vancouver Island and more specifically Victoria many times we definitely have some good advice for planning a trip to Victoria BC. With four different options for getting there, the Victoria Clipper is our top pick. Here's everything you need to know about taking the Victoria Clipper, including customs information, Victoria Clipper tickets, and an itinerary for a great
Having lived in Seattle for the majority of our lives we know the city like the back of our hands. It's been fun to discover new things and see things from a different perspective now that we have kids. Also, as more and more friends from around the world come to visit us, we've had to really consider what are
Staying fit while traveling has always been important to us. We make sure that wherever we go we stay active and when available, we take advantage of hotel fitness centers or go running. We’ve found a hotel brand that is the best hotel for fitness, particularly for the frequent traveler: Even Hotels, an IHG brand. We talk a lot about our
When we spend a weekend away in Seattle, we want it to be relaxing, fun, and convenient. We also love to do it on a budget because let’s be honest, stay-cations are better when you’re not paying through the nose to be close to home. For this, we love using points for travel, especially for staying at Hyatts in Seattle. Yes,
If you grew up in the Seattle area you know that going to the ocean is a production. You have to plan it out, get up early, pack up everything you could possibly need, including rain coats, and then head for the coast, being prepared to leave the beach early due to wind and rain. Well, we have had our
October is one of the best months to travel since kids have gone back to school and people are prepping for the holidays. Also a bonus: fall colors are going to be showing up and changing before you know it. We've been thinking about all of our favorite places to visit in the fall and National Parks have the best
As the snow stops falling up in the mountains we start to get excited about hiking. There are so many easy, kid friendly hikes in Washington, so actually picking where to go first is the biggest struggle. We’ve checked in with some of our favorite Pacific Northwest families and bloggers for their favorite springtime hikes and I love our collective
The Seattle area is best seen from the water: sailing, on a ferry, or on a kayak. Just short drives from the city are countless islands and bays to explore. Across the Puget Sound are the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas, which are dotted with lakes and waterways, ready to be paddled. Kayaking in the Pacific Northwest is amazing. When you visit
One of the most popular places or topics we cover is Olympic National Park. We've created so many articles and shared so much because it's a dream destination for so many. It's practically our backyard, so allow us to guide you and help you have an incredible time exploring. What began as Olympus National Monument until President Franklin Roosevelt was able
When you visit the Puget Sound area or more specifically the Olympic Peninsula, you’re bound to want to make a gazillion stops. We could tell you that every stop is awesome and worth your time, but we like to direct you to just the best stops. Sol Duc Falls in Olympic National Park is one of those spots that’s so
We’ve got another great, easy hike with kids to share! Our favorite hikes take us places with sweeping views and unusual sights, but we also love huge trees. The Hoh Rainforest is at the top of our list of hikes in the Pacific Northwest with kids, but let’s go ahead and add the Grove of the Patriarchs at Mt Rainier
Does anybody think of Washington State as a beach destination? Not hardly, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have the most beautiful beaches around. True, totally missing the palm trees, but we make up for it in other ways. Of all we’ve been to, the most beautiful beach in Washington is for sure Ruby Beach in Olympic National Park. What
One of our favorite things to do with the kids when we’re traveling is to go biking. We try to do it anywhere possible and it turns out that it’s even fun in our hometown. The opportunity came up to have a “dads day” in the city and we got to enjoying biking in Seattle. It was kind of awesome
The Pacific Northwest is a dream destination for so many. Sure, we have our rain and grey skies, but we also have incredible mountains, beaches and forests. Olympic National Park is the perfect spot to experience all of those things, and the west side in the Kalaloch area is really an ideal home base. Camping or lodging, Kalaloch has you
Unless you grew up in the Pacific Northwest you probably think right away of tropical destinations when you hear the term "rainforest." We actually have several protected, temperate rainforests here in Washington State. Exploring the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park is our favorite with the kids and we bring a lot of out-of-town guests here too. It's just so
The Olympic Peninsula is known around the world for its beautiful mountains, its beaches and the Twilight Saga. Well, there's more to it than that. We've spent countless days exploring the OP and not just visiting our old favorite haunts we've known all our lives, but also exploring places that are new to all of us. That's the joy of the
When we’re not lounging on a Florida beach in the hot sun or gallivanting the globe, we love to hike locally. Local, to us, is anything within a few hours’ drive of Seattle. One of our favorite local activities is hiking in Olympic National Park. It’s such an interesting place, with beaches, lowland rainforests, snow-capped peaks, and sweeping views from
It’s no secret that we love the weekends. I mean, who doesn’t? With or without the kids we try to break away to a new city or visit one of our old favs whenever possible, and we’ve partnered with Hampton by Hilton to share some of what we think are the best destinations to be a Seekender. There are loads
There’s no doubt that the West Coast of the USA is an awesome place full of diverse people, sights and nature. The cities of the West Coast are really progressive and each gives a totally different experience. We’re going to share with you how you can get the full West Coast road trip experience from the Canadian border to Mexico
More often than not we find ourselves visiting places we’ve been 10,000 times. We don’t live far from Port Townsend, Washington and that’s where a lot of our family is so we are there quite often. We love Port Townsend, as most Pacific Northwest residents do, and it’s our duty to share just why and what you can expect from
We love our hikes. Winter, summer, whenever. We also love visiting beaches. Have you ever done beach hiking? Beach hiking is an awesome challenge because it is so different than hiking on a hard rock trail. The Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge is a perfect place to experience beach hiking as well as have some fun in our Pacific Northwest coastal
When you’ve lived in Seattle for a long time, you stop trying to find new things to do or you forget the fun things you used to do. When we were much younger, Chris and I lived very close to Volunteer Park in the Capitol Hill neighborhood. The Hill is one of Seattle’s oldest neighborhoods and is also the “gayborhood”.
Since summer keeps us going going going we are always a tiny bit excited for fall. Fall is the perfect time to chill for a bit (for at least three weeks straight), prep for the next big trip (usually a warm couple weeks in Mexico) and do our pumpkin thing. Yes, most families have some fall traditions and ours always
We’ll never get tired of sharing certain types of things with the world. We have our favorite destinations and activities and we’ll share lots of different ways to experience them. Port Townsend, Washington is one of those destinations and something we love there is Fort Worden. And at Fort Worden we have discovered the Port Townsend Marine Science Center. We visit
We recently put out an itinerary for doing a road trip loop around the Puget Sound here in Washington State. With that, we got a few emails and questions about where to find the prettiest spots in Washington. We thought “Um, that’s such an opinion piece and is going to vary for everyone,” but we’ll indulge, so here is our
We always are traveling with friends or family, internationally and locally. Not everything we do is a group activity, but a lot of things are. Hiking as a group is always fun and usually is uneventful, but every now and then something happens and that’s when you have to think about hiking safety. Hiking in the woods is one of our
Okay, new favorite thing to do on a Thursday afternoon: destination dining. Whaaaaa? Yep, it’s the coolest and most unusual, but most Pacific Northwest thing you can possibly do. The Pretty Fork, a local Seattle progressive dining tour operator, has got the concept of destination dining down. I heard about destination dining with the Pretty Fork through some friends and
Every year we get together with our family for a big family reunion trip. Hold up, that’s a vague statement because our family is enormous. We get together annually with our immediate family for a week at Lake Cushman on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State. We love it there; it’s beautiful. We love even more though creating the most
Until I moved to San Francisco in my early 20s I’d always heard of Tahoe and people going to Tahoe for the summer or staying in a lodge for skiing at Tahoe for the winter and I never got it. It seemed so common and yet so exclusive. Well, it turns out that we have our own similar destination in