June 2021 I was able to take one of my dream trips with my now fiance to Washington state. It was a trip filled with good food, adventures, and some of the most scenic views I've ever witnessed. There were also a few really valuable lessons I learned when it comes to photography that helped shape how I took photos going forward. So this blog post will be a little bit of a combo of travel stories with some photography tips thrown in there. There is also a Spotify playlist I made for this trip that will be linked below, feel free to jam out while we relive this trip together.

While packing for this trip I decided to pack ALL the camera gear and more. I rationalized this since we will be staying in Seattle for 3 nights, going to Port Angeles for 4 nights and ending the trip with a night in Tacoma. I thought I needed the gear to cover street photography, a telephoto lens for mountain views, and a camera that can handle anything the crazy weather the Pacific North West could throw at me. I quickly realized camera gear would be my enemy on this lovely vacation.

Seattle

We landed in Seattle, took the train to the hotel and from there ventured out into the city. The photo above was the first I snapped. It was when I realized I was officially on the west coast for the first time and I was officially on vacation. Not only was every day we spent in Seattle sunny and warm but it did not rain a single day we were in Washington. We were quite lucky and took advantage of that. Each day in Seattle consisted of loads of coffee, walking, and filling up plenty of SD cards. It blew my mind that we were able to see Mount Rainier from Seattle every day, not to mention the stunning sunsets with endless mountain ranges.

Okay so let me nerd out really quickly about camera gear (if you’re not interested feel free to skip to the next photo). A few weeks before this trip I bought the Fuji x100f (blog post soon on that camera) and I decided to bring that camera EVERYWHERE I went as almost a point and shoot camera. I also brought a Canon EOS R, a 70-200mm, 24-70mm, 85mm lens, and a Panasonic xl100 for all the video clips I forgot to take. I quickly realized I would not be able to enjoy my vacation while carrying around a bag filled with 20+ pounds of camera gear that I wasn’t even using. So the Fuji camera became my best friend and honestly I took some of my favorite photos on this trip with that camera. Twice while in Seattle the EOS R and my telephoto lens did come in handy but was it worth all the other times it did not come in handy? I don’t know, that’s still up for debate.

There were two really special moments that stand out when I think of Seattle. The first was a ferry ride. Watching the sunset the first night on the coast we decided we had to find a way to see the sunset from the water. We really didn’t want to spend the $70+ per person for a 30 minute guided boat tour. We wanted to find a way to sit on a boat, freak out about how beautiful the sunset was, and take some photos. Kyra found a ferry that was going to Bainbridge Island and back. So that evening we were on a ferry ride with some of the most unreal views. The whole 45 minute ferry ride felt like something out of a movie.

The second moment was while we were exploring the city we found this park where we were able to see both the space needle and Mount Rainier from and decided that we had to come back for sunrise. The last morning we were in Seattle we decided to wake up at 5 am (vacations am I right?) and Uber to this park to watch the sun rise. It was stunning. I mean absolutely stunning. Watching the warm sunrise light kiss the top of Mount Rainier while the rest of the city was still covered in blue and pink color shadows blew my mind. It also helped set the tone for the rest of the trips. Our last full day in Washington was going to be spent exploring Mount Rainier, the exact mountain we have been staring at each day.

After a 5 star Uber ride filled with fun facts about Nirvana, Seattle and Mount Rainier we picked up our rental car. A Subaru Outback. We fit it quite nicely with the locals in the PNW and we were officially on our way to Port Angeles.

Port Angeles

Going from Seattle to Port Angeles was not only a long drive but a huge change in culture and environment. We went from a city that is the 20th biggest city in the USA to a city where I had barely any service and was shut down by 8pm. So it was fitting that we stayed in a RV that was 20 feet from a chicken coop for the next 4 days. Port Angeles to us was a home base, each of the following days consisted of visiting a new national park, doing a full day hike or anything in between.

Olympic National Park

There were a few hikes we did in Olympics and one of them was the ABSOLUTE hardest hike I’ve done in my life. I was raised in Queens NY, when you told someone you were going to go for a hike it meant you had to go somewhere far, like to the Bronx. As I hiked up this mountain with high ambition that slowly faded away, the back pain of carrying 3 lenses, 3 cameras, a tripod, lunch, a huge water bottle, and the shame of bringing all this gear started to settle in. Below were some of the photos I took but it was the first time I realized I didn’t need to bring all this camera gear with me and honestly speaking not only did my back hurt but my ego as well. I didn’t love the photos I took with my EOS R and I don’t think it was worth the struggle.

Besides the camera situation, the hikes, the views, the cold reflective water was unbelievable. I never really cared for national parks but this sparked a new found appreciation for them. Soon the lack of service became a beautiful thing as well. It was just Kyra and I experiencing these views with no distraction and the playlist I made on repeat.

Rialto Beach

Rialto Beach was wild. We almost didn’t get to make it, originally we were trying to get to La Push but it was closed. La Push was the one place near Port Angeles that I really wanted to see and was super bummed that that wasn’t going to happen. June 21st we ended up driving 2+ hours to Rialto Beach in hopes that we would be able to see the sun set from there. As we got closer and closer it got darker and darker. We were convinced we would just miss sunset and drive over 2 hours for no reason. As we parked and rushed to the beach we were greeted with this view that feels like something out of Blade Runner but on the coast. I specifically remember it was June 21st since that’s the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. We were able to walk around this beautiful beach with this warm yellow light glow as the sun set behind some rocks far out in the ocean. Slowly the sky turned this deep purple with hints of light pink lingering after. The sunset took so long and we appreciated every single moment of it.

Hurricane Ridge

The day we had planned to visit Hurricane Ridge I was exhausted, not only have I driven over 500 miles in the past 4 days but also did some of the longest hikes of my life at some of the highest altitudes yet (again, vacations am I right?). I was excited to see the views but I was not excited to move my body. At all. But nonetheless we set out a little tired and slow but as I white knuckled the whole drive up the mountain to finally get to the visitor's center my whole mood changed. This is the first time in my whole life I've had a 360 view of mountain ranges. It was beautiful. Seeing the snow caps on the mountains far off in the distance, the bright green grass contrasting the deep blue of the mountains cascading behind each other. The whole hike was filled with these views and I was filled with inspiration and awe.

Mount Rainier

Waking up to finally drive to Mount Rainier was a pretty special feeling. For the past week we have been seeing this mountain in the distance and finally were able to hike up it. We also learned after leaving Seattle that you can see Mount Rainier a max of 83 days a year. We got that view every single day.

This was our last full day in Washington State, we drove almost 1000 miles and walked or hike every single day. If I was exhausted before this now I was running on empty. But how often can someone visit Washington and have 8 full days of sunshine? There was only one hike we did at Mount Rainier and it was an easy but weird one. It was about 80 degrees out but we hiked through the snow. Another first for me on this trip. That was the last hike we had planned before we set out to Tacoma to check into our Airbnb. All we had left on our schedule was to visit Twede’s Cafe the next morning before flying back to NY. If you don’t know Twede’s Cafe it’s the diner that the pilot episode Twin Peaks was filmed in. It was pretty rad to sit there and have cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee in this diner. As we walked around North Bend we heard the reports of a heatwave hitting Washington and the Pacific North West starting the next day. Not only did we have sunny days each day in Washington but we were missing a record heat wave by 1 day.

This trip was everything I dreamed it would be. It took me a long time to get through the photos since I took way too many and editing them became frustrating. Like I mentioned, I had 3 different cameras. Each has their own color science so trying to make the colors match was not as simple as I hoped. I did slowly fall in love with the way that Fujifilm processed colors, especially the greens of the grass or the burnt orange sunsets at Rialto Beach. I took over 3000 images and so many of them in the moment I thought were so different but in reality they weren’t. After this trip I had a few other travel plans and learned to really think about what I needed to pack and stop bringing gear just in case I would need it. I also decided that I didn’t need to take 300 photos at each location I visit. Not only am I not as present but editing them is a pain.

As I reviewed each of the edited photos all the memories of each day started to flood in. It was such a happy moment reliving this and it reminded me why I did take so many photos. I wanted to be able to share this with others but also have these moments captured so I can revisit them whenever I want to. Through that I decided to write this blog post so I could not only relive what this beautiful trip was like but also share it with all of you.

-J