MGal Moves

I’ve romanticized the Pacific Northwest for a long time. My image of Seattle came from three sources that were prominent in my middle school life – Owl City, Macklemore, and my favorite Call of Duty streamer who’s since been cancelled. When Owl City game out with “Good Time”, I thought it was music’s peak. I went through his discography and learned all the words to “Hello Seattle”. Until Chappell Roan, Macklemore was the artist I could claim that I discovered before their songs were on the radio. The love letter to Seattle penned in “The Town” and to its baseball culture in “My Oh My” made me want to cosplay being from Seattle, a place that seemed to have so much more culture than suburban NJ. When I got Pinterest in high school, I was all over the wanderlust x string lights x Mumford and Sons vibe that to me only existed in Portland or Seattle. In college, it seemed like everyone from the PNW knew how to camp, listened to cool indie music, and always seemed to be posting pictures of their friends at sunset. Towards the end of college, I became a Brandi Carlile fan, and I had so much envy over the people Brandi described as “so kind and so rowdy and so polite and all the things I can count from Seattle” in the outro for Pride and Joy (Live at Benaroya Hall). They were everything I wanted to be. So Seattle was an aspirational city for me – a place that I wish I could have had a second life in – and the PNW more broadly called me.

Pre-Trip Planning – In August 2025, I had a family wedding in Seattle (hi Kevin and Joey). The trip fit my formula for a successful trip that is: city-nature-relax. Seattle covered the city – I knew we’d spend 2-3 days there. My mom must’ve put both Olympic and Rainier on my radar, that both were achievable in the same trip. I threw out Forks as a bit of a joke, but when it seemed like the most sensible stop in the middle of Olympic, I bought a Twilight shirt (which is missing by the way, if any friends have it). My mom and Sean deserve credit for the prep work to determine what was worth seeing in the parks. We rented a Turo in Seattle and used it for 4 days to get around Washington State. And then came to the Canada leg. I had almost as much aspirational interest in Vancouver as I had for Seattle, since they hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics and served as the filming location for The 100, my high school/college TV show obsession (hey Kelly). But in my research for the trip, Vancouver was looking less attractive while British Columbia, specifically Squamish and Whistler, seemed more promising. Ultimately, Whistler having the Olympic Village was the selling point for me, which ended up being the right choice. We also rented a Turo by the Vancouver airport and used it for 3 days.

Day 1 – In the beginning, it was just Leti and me. The trip started with a Thursday evening flight from DC to Seattle. Our Airbnb was within walking distance to Pike Place and the wedding hotel (which was sold out by the time we booked). I’m not above DoorDashing as a tourist – it replicates my own local weekly experience in DC. I remember we had leftover since the portions were huge and making a new rule for Leti and I to only order one entree at Indian restaurants when traveling.

Day 2 – Pike’s Place was so much better than I expected. DC has the Wharf and Union Market, but they don’t hold a candle to this. We went on a Friday morning while the flower stalls were setting up, the fish wasn’t being flung yet, and the line for Piroshky Piroshky was short enough. Piroshky Piroshky is a Russian bakery that’s been there since 1992. Google told me to get the cinnamon cardamon braid – which I did even though I’m not a massive cardamon fan – and my heart told me to get the cheddar garlic roll. I’m of the opinion that bakeries are worth a 10 minute wait but not a 30 minute wait, so this worked out. This kicked off our brunch pickings, which continued with El Mercado Latino, a bodega with huge empanadas, Pike Place Chowder, which was forgettable in a city that surely has better chowder options, and Social Grounds, during peak time at Pike Place and was a flop. We weaved through stores and piers and briefly met up with Sean. We took ourselves to the Seattle Antiques Market before heading back to the Airbnb to get ready for the rehearsal dinner. Sean, Leti, and I rode across to Salty’s on Alki Beach on the ferry. We lazily Ubered home and were treated to a firework show celebrating the Big Dumper. Evidently I was out of the baseball loop and had no idea who Cal Raleigh was.

Day 3 – Ludi’s, a Filopino restaurant, kept coming up on Google Maps and Reddit recommendations, with the warning that we’d need to get there early. Sean, Leti, and I committed to a 30 minute wait, bolstered by the knowledge that the restaurant was temporarily closing for a month and this was the last weekend to get their ube pancakes for a while. I was already a fan of ube (shoutout Purple Place in Mt. Pleasant, DC) but silog was new to me, and I’m now convinced that I would happily eat my way through the Philippines if I get there. The wedding was in the early evening, so we had time to tackle the Space Needle and Chihuly Gardens. There might be 3 categories of touristy things: A) touristy and somewhere between life changing and well-worth it, B) touristy and the thing people always ask you if you did and completely fine but more of a checkbox ticked than a memory made, and C) touristy and a rip-off and makes you feel bad for not doing something off the beaten path. The Space Needle fits nicely in that B. If you’ve been to the Empire State Building, you might have the same report (I did). Do I wish I did something else with my morning? Not really, I would’ve felt bad for not going up to the top, and the view was nice. But there’s not really anything to do other than take your picture and go back down. Chihuly Garden and Glass, however, was well worth it to me. Dale Chihuly’s glassblowing work is everywhere, in galleries, a greenhouse, and a garden. There’s a live demonstration on how the glass is bent to shape. It was unique, inspiring, and colorful – exactly what I want out of an art exhibit. Afterwards, we got ready for the wedding night, which took us about an hour out of the city, and came back to Capitol Hill for the afterparty.

Day 4 – With wedding activities over, we took one last half day in Seattle before getting on the road to Olympic National Park. I’m a massive (unpaid) ambassador of Turo. If you don’t know, it’s like Airbnb for cars. It’s an alternative to rental car services the same way Airbnb is an alternative to hotels. Leti and I have had great experiences in the DMV, and it proved to be cheaper than Hertz when in Washington and BC later on. We picked up our car and drove to Fremont, where we saw the Fremont Troll, met up with a friend who recently moved (hi Shaina!), and went through the Fremont Sunday Street Market. Between DC, Brooklyn, and Raleigh, this is probably the biggest and best one I’ve been to. This is exactly what I would do once a month with friends if I lived in Seattle. Ryan and Bridget were doing their own thing post-wedding, so we had a sibling get together before Sean, Leti, and I headed out of town and lunched at Pablo y Pablo. I don’t remember the meal well, but I don’t have any complaints and remember not feeling embarrassed for picking this place. We walked to Gas Works Park on what felt like the most beautiful day for a Seattle advertisement. So many people were on the water, dogs were playing fetch, and temperature was perfect. We had heard that August was the best time to visit Seattle, and I’m happy to stay naive of what 3 weeks of February rain feels like. We’ll be back in Seattle for 12 hours later in the trip, but this essentially concluded the city leg. Seattle lived up and surpassed its expectations. Leti and I loved it and hope to go back soon. From there, we drove the 2.5-3 hours to Port Angeles, having to go down through Tacoma. We went through wooded areas, farmland, crossed inlets and canals, and got to Port Angeles without much event. We grabbed provisions and seemingly dinner at Walmart and got ready for an early wakeup the next day. Port Angeles has an entrance to the park and was the closest to our first stop the next day, Hurricane Hill.

Day 5 – Read here to get a more detailed recap of Olympic. We wanted to get to the Hurricane Hill trail before 8am per online advice, and we came through the Port Angeles entrance. That first hike set the tone for our trip. We then drove to Marymere Falls by Lake Crescent. I could’ve skipped Marymere and would’ve preferred getting our hands on a kayak on the lake in hindsight. At this point, we knew we would be sleeping in Forks, which is west of the park. Rather than spend an early evening in Forks, we drove out of the park to the Makah Reservation and checked out Cape Flattery. I can’t say my time on the reservation was meaningful – I didn’t speak to anyone other than a cashier and did not engage in any thoughtful discussions about indigenous communities in the United States. If you’re going for a “cross-cultural experience”, it’s really not the place or way to do it. Cape Flattery was beautiful, but with only 2 days in the park, I wish we had done something else in Olympic. The cape was a bit out of the way, so we had about an hour of daylight left by the time we go to Forks. I wanted to see “La Push baby” from Twilight. We skipped Second Beach due to the darkness and fog and just went to First Beach, which is part of the Quileute Reservation. The fog is no joke and it is not the place to listen to a true crime podcast about disappearances. We got pizza afterwards, which was mid, and went to the hotel.

Day 6 – Read here to get a more detailed recap of Olympic. We

Day 8 – After several days of early morning wakeups and hitting the trail, we had a lazy last morning in Seattle. Leti and I grabbed coffee. I’m pretty sure I ate leftovers for breakfast. We said bye to Sean, who was taking the train up to Vancouver from Seattle, and made our way to the airport for a forgettable lunch. We flew to Vancouver and Ubered to pick up our Turo at a house about 15 minutes from the airport. Leti navigated us through some ugly Vancouver traffic that cut right through the downtown before spitting us out on the Sea-to-Sky Highway. It’s about a 2 hour drive from Vancouver to Whistler, and the highway offered amazing views of (wait for it) the sea and the mountains (that represents the sky, surely). If I may elaborate on the genius of this road, which was further developed for the 2010 Olympics. For much of the ride, it has 3 lanes in total, one going north, one going south, and one passing late that alternates for north and south every few kilometers. That means that half of the time you’re in one lane, with one crazily speeding past you or switching lanes idiotically. The other direction (let’s say southbound) has 2 lanes. Every few kilometers, you get a second (and the southbound side only gets 1 lane), meaning you can pass that slow car ahead of you or go around a truck, and then tuck back in to the right lane before it merges into one again. With the sun reflecting off the water to the west and the mountains surrounding you from every direction, and without insane drivers who make road trips stressful, it is my perfect highway. Anyways, we got into Whistler, picked up Peaked Pies Whistler, an Australian restaurant with savory pies, went to our Airbnb, and headed to the Olympic Plaza to see a drag show. I’m not a consistent watcher of RuPaul’s Drag Race, but Canadian runner-up Kendall Gender recreated the Eras Tour in a way that made me emotional? especially seeing all the families and young kids happily dancing without shame, fear, or hate. A chill travel day where the most notable feature was the highway.

Day 9 – Our only food research for Whistler included an Irish pub with live music and Tim Horton’s, a place as magical to Americans as Taco Bell is to Europeans. So, like the savory pies and pretty much everything else to come, we winged our meals and planned our activities first. We

Breakfast: Crepe Montagne

Take a tour at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre

Shop around at the Village Center, especially COWS Whistler

Dinner: Dubh Linn Gate Irish Pub with live music

Day 1, Thursday:

• Fly from DC to Seattle
• Late Dinner: DoorDash from Cedar’s Restaurant (Indian)
  • Not memorable enough to recommend
• Stay at The Oxford Hotel by At Mine Hospitality, Airbnb by Pike Place
  • Recommend

Day 2, Friday:

• Morning: Pike’s Place and the piers – flower stalls, Japanese goods, thrift stores
  • Strong recommend! Lives up to the hype. I get it’s probably a pain on a Saturday at 11, but on a weekday it was completely enjoyable.
• Breakfast: Piroshky Piroshky (cinnamon cardamon braid, cheddar garlic roll), El Mercado Latino (empanadas)
  • Both medium recommend if you’re getting multiple small bites
• Lunch: Pike Place Chowder
  • Not memorable enough to recommend
• Coffee at Social Grounds
  • Can’t remember exactly why, but I think something about this place left a bad taste in my mouth
• Take the ferry to West Seattle
• Dinner: Salty’s (wedding rehearsal dinner)

Day 3, Saturday:

• Breakfast: Ludi’s Restaurant – Filipino ube pancakes, combo silog
  • Strong recommend!
• Space Needle
  • Worth it but only for a short wait. Feels like a similar experience to the Empire State Building once you’re at the top
• Chihuly Garden and Glass
  • Recommend!! Very cool if it’s your first time seeing glass blowing
• Wedding
• After party at Havana Nightclub in Capitol Hill

Day 4, Monday:

• Fremont Troll
  • Skippable
• Fremont Farmer’s Market
  • Recommend! Met up with my friend Shaina (shoutout Box2Box) and browsed.
• Lunch at Pablo y Pablo
  • Recommend. While I don’t remember it super well, I don’t have any complaints and remember not feeling embarrassed for picking this place.
• Walk around Gas Works Park
  • Recommend, especially on such a nice day with so many boats and kayaks in the water
• Drive to Port Angeles
• Pick up snacks and easy lunches at a nearby Walmart
• Stay at Super 8 by Wyndham Port Angeles at Olympic National Park
  • Comfortable budget stay. We didn’t do anything in downtown Port Angeles (sorry Twilight fans) but I would’ve liked to spend an afternoon + evening there next time.

Day 5, Tuesday (Olympic National Park):

Here is my full page about Olympic National Park to learn more about each hike or activity.

• Hike Hurricane Ridge
  • Recommend
• Hike Marymere Falls Trail
  • Skippable
• Drive to & hike Cape Flattery on Makah Indian Reservation
  • Skippable if you’re short on time. Worth it if you have multiple days.
• Drive to Forks
• La Push First Beach on Quileute Reservation
  • Skippable
• Dinner at Pacific Pizza
  • Skippable
• Sleep at Town Motel in Forks, WA
  • Forks was convenient for our itinerary and had some of the only motels in the western area of the park. Despite that, my main takeaway is that Forks is not worth the stop. A friend went after me and did a lot more of the Twilight things, but even she agreed there’s not much to it. Next time, I’d look at Airbnbs or see if other nearby towns have more.

Day 6, Wednesday (Olympic National Park):

• Coffee at Outfitters Grind
  • Recommend – I liked this coffee a lot
• Hoh Rainforest
• Hall of Mosses Trail
• Spruce Trail
• Breakfast at Hard Rain Cafe
• Ruby Beach
• Kalaoch Beach
• Quinault Loop
• Dinner at Billy’s Bar & Grill in Aberdeen, WA, home of Kurt Cobain
  • Aberdeen was a depressing place, an example of a formerly bustling small economic center that’s been absolutely gutted. It provided a needed stop for dinner as we rounded out of the park and towards Mt. Rainier. I have no intention to come back.
• Sleep at Alexander’s Lodge in Ashford, WA by Mt. Rainier – this was an amazing stay. They really cater to the hiking clientele, providing a fulfilling breakfast, communal activities, and comfortable stay.

Day 7, Thursday (Mt. Rainier National Park):

Here my full page about Mount Rainier National Park to learn more about each hike or activity.

• Coffee at Rise & Grind
• Paradise Section:
  • Skyline Trail
  • Myrtle Falls
  • Christine Falls Bridge
  • Reflection Lake
• Sunrise Section:
  • Emmons Vista Trail
• Drive back to Seattle
• Dinner: DoorDash at Antojitos Jalisco
• Stay at Crowne Plaza Seattle-Downtown, an IHG Hotel – very busy with a weird elevator system, but comfortable beds.

Day 8:

• Breakfast in Seattle: Retro Coffee
  • Recommend if you’re staying in the neighborhood, but not if it’s out of your way
• Lunch: Airport
• Fly to from Seattle to Vancouver
• Rent a car and drive the Sea-to-Sky Highway to Whistler
• Dinner: Peaked Pies Whistler
  • Recommend
• Watch a drag show at the Whistler Olympic Plaza
• Stay at an Airbnb in North Village, Whistler, BC

Day 9:

• Breakfast: Crepe Montagne
  • Skippable
• Take a tour at the Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre
• Shop around at the Village Center, especially COWS Whistler
• Dinner: Dubh Linn Gate Irish Pub with live music
  • Recommend

Day 10:

• Breakfast: Tim Hortons
  • Recommend if it’s a novelty
• Walk to Lost Lake Park and relax
• Beer tasting at Coast Mountain Brewing
  • Recommend
• Coffee at Rockit Coffee
  • I remember the vibe more than the coffee. Better if you need to work or chill for 1-2 hours than to get coffee in a rush
• Drive to Pemberton and around Pemberton Meadows
• Dinner: Quattro Restaurant
  • Recommend

Day 11:

• Fly from Vancouver to DC
• Drive back to Vancouver w/ a stop in Squamish
• Lunch: The Buvette
• Coffee at the Sunflower Bakery Cafe
• Shop around Squamish