Pacific Northwest

#Portland

Our first weekend, we stayed in Portland, OR. We rented a great three-story house on the north side of the city that was great for all 10 of us to hang out. On our one full day there, we went to Powell Books and Deschutes Brewery.

On the way up, we all stopped in Olympia, WA for a break and some lunch. Some of us stopped for oysters along the Hood Canal too. Our final destination was a house in the woods outside of Port Angeles.

#Freshwater Bay

Our first day in Port Angeles we went kayaking on Freshwater Bay. We say river otters, sea otters, and a baby sea lion! Our guide shared a bunch of cool stuff about the kelp forests along the coast too.

#Hurricane Ridge

The second day we drove up to Hurricane Ridge where it was snowing. None of us was really expecting such a dramatic change in weather. The snow was beuatiful, but we were all a bit unprepared.

#Hoh Rainforest

The next day, we took a long drive around the Olympic Peninsula to visit the Hoh Rainforest. We hiked through the Hall of Mosses, and along the Hoh River for a while. We stopped along the riverbank to skip stones before heading back to our cars. On the way back to Port Angeles, we took a short detour to Rialto Beach, a rocky windswept beach covered in seafoam and driftwood. It was overcast and a little foggy but beautiful.

#Lake Crescent

The last full day of our time in Port Angeles, we took a short trip to Lake Crescent and nearby Marymere Falls. It was a short hike up to the falls. A little rainy but nothing we couldn’t handle.