We feel so fortunate to have spent a summer in this adorable little town on the Olympic Peninsula. The town has a homey, small-town feel to it (we jokingly referred to it as Gilmore River, sort of a cross between the towns in The Gilmore Girls and Virgin River).

Oddly, even though it is a small town, it has a Costco, a Super Walmart, and 2 decent sized grocery stores! It also has one of the nicest small RV parks we have ever stayed in, and, lucky for us, we were able to
Camp Host there for the summer! Gilgal Oasis RV Park is right on the edge of Sequim and is one of the nicest small parks we’ve stayed at. The owners, Pete and Lisa take real pride in the park and it shows. The park is well maintained with a lot of nice touches, like the beautiful hanging baskets! The view we had from our site was outstanding!

Fortunately we could walk into town from our RV Park, which we did many times! We had dinner several times at The Oasis Bar and Grill, a basic bar and restaurant with surprisingly good food. Candi loved their Cobb Salad! For our anniversary we went out for a nice dinner at the local Italian Restaurant, Tedescos.

Another foodie plus, we had a fantastic coffee and breakfast place called Adagio Bean and Leaf within walking distance of the park.

What really made our hearts sing – we had a Taco Bell practically right next door!

We were lucky enough to attend the very first show at the brand new Field Hall in Port Angeles featuring the Brubeck Brothers (sons of the legendary Dave Brubeck jazz piano player)!

Sequim is known as the lavender capital of the United States, so naturally we had to visit a few of the local lavender farms.

We couldn’t spend a summer in Washington state and not at least visit Seattle, right?!?

There is so much water in the western part of Washington that ferries are commonly used to get around. We decided to take a ferry to Seattle and then walk around or take public transportation.

We started at the Seattle Public Library, which is huge!

Then we went on to Pike Place Market, which is the oldest operating public market in the US! It was also huge, amazing, crowded, and confusing!

While we were at the market we HAD to visit the original Starbucks! The line was long but we decided to wait in it, even though there is another Starbucks a few blocks away with no line!

Then it was on to the The Space Needle for some beautiful views!

By then we were thirsty, so we hopped on the monorail to The Fisherman’s Restaurant and Bar for a beer and appetizer. Then walked to The Owl N’ Thistle, Seattle’s favorite Irish pub for dinner (and another beer!).

We finally made it to this must see area with incredible views!

Sadly, the visitor center here burned down shortly after we got here and this part of the Olympic Park was closed for much of the summer. It reopened recently and we waited for a clear day to go. The entrance to the park is near Port Angeles, which is about a half hour drive from Sequim. To try to keep the park from overcrowding they are doing ‘metered’ entry, which means they hold each car for 90 seconds before letting it go. Our total wait was about 20 minutes and we found a parking spot quickly. Most of the walks are short loops with a spur that goes to Sunrise Point.

As you can see, the views were spectacular!

We decided to take a drive to see the ocean! The beaches in Northern Washington are nice, but cold. We went during what they call a ‘heat wave’ and it was about 68 on the coast. Nice, but definitely not what we call beach weather!

We did get to see the ‘Tree of Life,” a beautiful spruce tree that is suspended between two cliffs!

Then we took a short, easy hike through part of the Hoh Rain Forest.

This was the second stop on our cruise. We decided on an tour that took us into the Yukon so we could view some of this amazing area. The tour bus drove up the Klondike Highway, which is the same trail the miners used during the gold rush of the 1890s. The scenery was breathtaking!

Our tour guide was great and really knew a lot about the area. He told us about the history of the town, including stories about the many brothels that were there. He explained (for the kids on board) that a brothel was a place where miners went when they wanted soup!

Lunch was at Caribou Crossing, which is basically a tourist trap with really cute puppies that they are raising to be ‘pretend’ sled mushers.

After that we drove a short distance to Emerald Lake which is known for its aquamarine color.

We stopped for ice cream at the little town of Carcross between Bennett & Nares Lakes.

Finally, we boarded the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad for a ride back to town.

Dinner that night was at the Red Onion, which was originally a brothel (apparently known for its soup!) and is now a really cute restaurant with great pizza!

This was the first port on our Alaskan cruise and we actually got off BEFORE the port! We did an excursion on the Tracy Arm Fjord in a small boat that met our ship on its way to Juneau to pick us up.

It was strange watching our cruise ship leave us behind!

We saw several waterfalls and cascades, plus some eagles and mountain goats!

We cruised through the inlet to the main destination, the North Sawyer Glacier, which was incredible! And we even saw a big piece break off!

Then the boat took us to the port in Juneau to meet our ship. We explored Juneau and had a great lunch at The Hangar On The Wharf while watching seaplanes take off and land!

We’ve always heard how beautiful Alaska is, but we’re really not interested in RVing there so we decided to take a cruise! Spending the summer in NW Washington made for easy access to cruises leaving from Vancouver, which is about a 4 hour drive from here.

We went on Holland America’s Vollendam and, although we had a great time, we wouldn’t choose Holland America again. The time we spent in ports was fun, but the ship itself had a dull vibe. The shows were mediocre and the bars were sort of boring. One show we loved was the dance troupe, which had a techno dance vibe. We also laughingly appreciated that the elevator mat told us what day of the week it was!

Mike surprised Candi with beautiful roses for her birthday and we had dinner at one of the specialty restaurants onboard the ship to celebrate.

Our first stop was Juneau, including the Tracey Arm Inlet which was incredible! Next up was Skagway and the Yukon, which was beautiful and fun to explore. Click on the links above to see separate posts.

Then we spent a day cruising Glacier Bay National Park.

The last port was Ketchikan, which has the third highest rainfall in the US. It lived up to its reputation, raining the entire day. We did go out and walk around the town a little, but spent most of the day on the ship.

We took a drive to Neah Bay to hike to the westernmost point in the continental United States! The road out is very twisty and rough in spots but has some great views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The hike is short and easy on a well maintained trail through a beautiful forest. Unfortunately, it was too foggy to see the lighthouse off the coast but it was still a nice hike!

A short hike through amazing old trees to a beautiful waterfall. The hike is only about a mile one way and is flat for about the first two thirds. The last part is somewhat steep but is well maintained with a lot of steps built in.

Afterwards we took a walk around Lake Crescent!

One of our first day trips once we got to the Olympic Peninsula!

Sol Duc Falls is a fairly easy one mile walk through beautiful old forest on a well maintained trail. The hike would have been great even without the falls at the end but the falls definitely made it worth it!

Of course, afterwards we had to get lunch. We stopped at the Corner Caboose, a permanently placed food truck for some great sandwiches!

After lunch we stopped at Camaraderie Cellars to try their wine. We each had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and enjoyed their beautiful yard.