Miss Bailey goes to Washington

State that is. A few weeks ago my friend Kim and I packed our bags to fly out west. I have wanted to do this forever, and was thrilled when my friend Kim suggested we take off for the Northwest for a bit. Um. Yes please. The reason for our regional selection to travel to? Kim fell in love with waterfalls that were on a screensaver. After finding that the majority of these were in Oregon and Washington, well then you have yourself a solid reason to take a vacation! This is why she is my friend. :)

I want to give the itinerary for our trip, just to show how awesome and packed it was. Then I will throw in a few pictures at the end.

Wednesday - fly out of DIA and arrive in Portland. Very late. Grabbed our rental car, which was an incredibly roomy Kia Rio! Cheap. Money wise and evidenced by the way this thing handled on the road. Scary. Don't worry, Kim didn't tell me until AFTER we returned the car that every time she was behind the wheel (we didn't want to pay to have me on the rental too) she prayed we wouldn't die. She is so nice. :) Stay in our priceline'd room in Tigard, OR.

Thursday - ate a healthy breakfast of granola bars and fruit roll-ups prior to driving across the road to the Portland Temple! Kim and I did a session and it was wonderful. It rained. Not surprised. Met up with UCDH grad Kristin for lunch where I scarfed an entire calzone at Chicago Pizza. Yum. Spent the rest of the afternoon/evening hiking for 5.5 miles near Multnomah Falls. BEAUTIFUL. Poured rain on us. Also not surprised. But so worth it the views and seeing Kim's face when she saw the waterfall from her screensaver. Love her. Met middle aged men from Arkansas who thought we were the cats pajamas and wanted pics with us. Drove to Puyallup, WA. I may or may not have screamed "We're in Washington!!!!!" when we crossed the bridge from Oregon. Then I realized I was off by a mile. Stayed with Kim's friend Heidi and hub and kiddos. Learned you say Puyallup like PEW-ALL-UP.

Friday - dressed up again and went to the Seattle Temple for some initiatory work. Awesome. It didn't rain all day. Surprise!! Seattle is awesome. We visited Pikes Place Fish Market. Saw a zillion flowers and peppers and fish. Went to the Space Needle. Climbed the troll under the bridge. Probably my favorite part of the entire city. :) Had a late lunch at McCormicks and Schmicks. Or something like that. I ate an entire appetizer of calamari on my own. Not fun actually. But my table-mates were wary to help me out. Chilled in Puyallup yet again.

Saturday - Olympic National Park! I will copy and paste the ONP's touristy teaser about what we did:

With one long day, you'll have time for a quick visit to each of Olympic's major ecosystems, the mountains, the forest and the coast.

• You can reach nearly a mile in elevation with a trip to Hurricane Ridge, where you'll find a visitor center and nature trails. Beginning early in the morning will increase your chances of seeing wildlife and help avoid the larger number of visitors later in the day.
• From Hurricane Ridge, a three-hour drive to the west will bring you to the Hoh Rain Forest. A visitor center, picnic area and short nature trails can enhance your rain forest visit.
• After leaving the Hoh, an hour and a half drive toward the northwest will bring you to Rialto Beach on the Pacific Ocean in time for sunset.

Yeah...So it was a coincidence our trip took us through Twilight territory. We were shocked when we squealed and giggled like we were 12 when we saw the Forks sign. And we were all a little embarrassed. The day was incredible though. So worth it. I have never seen such beautiful places. Heavenly.

Sunday - chill. Churched. Ate a half package of Oreos between Kim and I in the car after church. We got hungry. Visited Mt Ranier Park. Watched old movies. Got a stomachache from the Oreos. Heard Heidi's little 2 and a half year old tell her mom that she was going to be Erin when she grew up. Nice goal!

Monday - slept in and drove our rickety ride back to Portland. All in all, by the time we reached the airport drop off, we'd driven 1100 miles. Ah yeah. You know you're not hardcore until you've traveled that far in a Kia.