Washington

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Death Valley sunset

How Solo Travel for a Year Transformed My Life

One year of traveling solo has seen me through many states, including Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina, and Mexico. I learned about why we travel, especially about traveling solo. How traveling solo renews your sense of self What I’ve realized about this last year of traveling is that it gives us a new way to see and understand ourselves. Not only are the places new, but we are different in...

Hoh Rainforest Trees

How the Hoh Rainforest is an Olympic Peninsula Dream

The Pacific Northwest is wet, so it shouldn’t have surprised me that it contains the Hoh Rainforest, but it’s just not something I expected in the USA. The Hoh Rain Forest is one of four rain forests on the Olympic Peninsula. But it is the only World Heritage Site and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. It’s also one of the most incredible places you can visit in the Pacific Northwest – a place where there are many unique places. I drove there...

Rene at Mount Rainier

Six Months a Nomad in the USA

I’m from the Midwest, or I was until I became a nomad. I’ve been traveling solo, living out of rented places and camping in my van on weekends. They used to say I was crazy; now they say I’m “living the dream.” Neither is wrong, but it took a lifetime to get here. When I was 17, I had a brief fantasy that I would get in my blue 1987 Camaro and head west without stopping until I felt like...

Forks, Washington

A Twilight Fan Visits Forks, Washington

I’m a total book nerd and “Twilight” fan, so when I was traveling within a few hours drive of Forks, Washington, I made a detour to visit. I love going to places my favorite authors have lived or written about and this was a spot I’d been thinking of since I first read Twilight many, many years ago. When I first read Twilight in 2007, I knew nothing about Washington, but by the end of the series, I was eager...

Mount Rainier with pink flowers

Visiting a Live Volcano in Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier National Park is the only park in the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest with a large active stratovolcano. That it’s on the “Decade Volcano List” because of the high probability of an eruption soon makes it an especially exciting park to visit. One of my favorite things about national parks is the area around them. The drive to Mount Rainier took me mainly through small towns and two-lane highways. I passed through industrial seaport areas and many...

Seattle, Washington Skyline

Seattle Whale Watching Around San Juan Islands

Outside the boat window on my Seattle whale watching trip, dolphin after dolphin jumped from the water. Their smooth grey backs arched and lept as they raced the boats around them. I was as delighted as a child, and this was just the beginning. The San Juan Clipper Whale Watching tour Early in the morning, I headed toward Seattle from my Airbnb in Gig Harbor and arrived at Pier 69. There I caught the boat out to the San Juan...

Red Parasail in Gig Harbor

Parasailing in Puget Sound in Gig Harbor

Outside of Tacoma, Washington, I tried parasailing in Puget Sound for the first time. It wasn’t just my first time in this area, it was my first time ever. It’s an epic location for great views and after spending several days watching the parasails soaring high with their colorful sails like oversized birds, I decided to join them. I only wish I would have remember my fear of heights before it was too late. Parasailing the Puget Sound in Gig...