Washington, the state.

Let me begin by thanking my wonderful hosts in Seattle, Caroline & Dustin. Caroline is one of my oldest and dearest friends from Chapel Hill, the kind that was a part of all the stupid stuff you did when you were a kid. She met Dustin while hiking the Appalachian Trail last year and moved to Seattle to start a new post grad adventure on the west coast. They were amazing hosts-- Caroline introduced the idea of Southern hospitality to the Pacific Northwest with that trip! Thanks again friends, I'll be back soon!
Typical rainy Seattle weather met me at the door to the plane so we headed it off by heading to Pike's Place Market to see the tourist landmarks of the Fish Market Guys that throw fish. A few airborne tuna later, I needed a caffeine fix and little did I know that Caroline was just the girl to show me the way.
A self-proclaimed coffee snob, Caroline took me to the first ever Starbucks. Her rationale: It's okay to buy Starbuck's when you're in Seattle... It's like buying local.
As the rain abated, we headed to the best views of the city at Volunteer Park and Gasworks Park. A note to those who have not visited Seattle: The Space Needle is not that big. I was shocked to find that it's actually pretty small in comparison to the rest of the towering buildings and it's the vantage point of photographs that make it look big. Mt Rainier, however, huge.

After a dinner at Thai Toms we headed home in preparation for an early morning. The next day brought much better weather (that stayed the rest of the trip) and we boarded the ferry for the Olympic Peninsula. On our way to the coast, we stopped at the Olympic Hot Springs. The natural sulfur springs are secluded and pristine-- few people make it to the last spring which is by far the best. Give it a little chillaxing and your body has this super clean euphoria of detox that was well worth the hike. Sad as it was to leave, we had to hit the road to make it to the coast by sunset.
Need I say more...
Olympic National Park: I honestly thought that a dinosaur could come waltzing down the beach at any moment. The gigantic proportions of the rocks, trees, driftwood, and ferns the park look like a scene from Jurassic Park.
Just to give you a little perspective on the size of the trees:
This one was definitely not the largest. Some of the trees were 11 feet in diameter and stood over 200 feet tall!

As the sun went down we set up camp and built a fire on the beach. For some reason, I am a wildlife magnet and this trip was no exception: elk, deer, starfish, sea anemones, a bald eagle, and sea otters!

Dustin spotted an otter skipping around a boulder and I followed it to see a family grubbing on a fresh fish.

We next ventured to the Hoh (repeat: Ho!) rain forest that likewise looked like the prehistoric stomping grounds for Little Foot and his friends. Clear water springs, river beds, gigantic Spruce & Hemlock trees, moss, and ferns cover the landscape.
We had a layover in Seattle to rest and prepare for another excursion to Eastern Washington where we went climbing near the Bavarian themed town of Leavenworth.

Up in Icicle Creek Canyon, we set up camp at Dirtbag campground. Our first climbing was at Clamshell Cave where we set up top ropes on 6 routes (a great climbing day!) ranging from 5.6 to 5.10-- after years of talking rock with Caroline, we finally got our first climbing trip together!

I was surprised that the rock in Washington was the slabby granite that I'm accustomed to on the east coast. Although our second day of climbing was a bust compared to the first, I can't complain because it was a spectacular exhibit of my return to the rock after a 6 month hiatus.

My last night in Seattle was spent with Caroline & Dustin in the Capital Hill district at Elysian Brewery topped off with a sweet tooth fix at Molly Moon's (of course two scoops: salted caramel and theo chocolate). I was sad to leave and definitely feel like there's a lot more territory to cover, which is a good thing because that means I'll be back to visit again...
Back to the grind...