Seattle Vacation Destinations Part 1 (North, West, and South)

Christian: [0:00] Hello, hello, and welcome to another edition of the Awesome in Seattle podcast. This is Christian Nossum of the Awesome Nossum group at Wilson Realty Exchange, Inc, and with summer just around the corner, we decided to dedicate today's episode to vacation spots that are within driving distance of Seattle to help you plan some summer vacations. I mean, we live in a beautiful region of the world, and it can be easy to forget just how much there is to do and see in our area. But before we get into all of that and some of our favorite getaway destinations, I gotta welcome all of my co-hosts, the wonderful, awesome agents of the Awesome Nossum group First up, we have the one, the only, Mr. Les Cutting.

Les: [0:40] Howdy.

Christian: [0:40] We have the wonderful Seattle native, Reed Watson.

Speaker 3: [0:44] That's me.

Christian: [0:45] We have Melanie Ghadami, otherwise known as Mel G.

Speaker 3: [0:49] Hey, hey.

Christian: [0:50] And the data guru, Mr. Jason Saldarriaga.

Jason: [0:53] Hello.

Christian: [0:55] Hello. All right, so if you are new to the Seattle area, you may not have had the chance yet to explore much of the Northwest yet. And today we're going to expand your vacation horizons a little, at least hopefully. Uh, with so many beautiful and interesting places surrounding our area, uh, I thought we'd share some of the places that we like to visit best. So just to kinda help normalize the drive times that we're sharing here, we're just using downtown Seattle as the starting point. Obviously, that's kinda middle ground for everybody. If you live north or south, you can kinda add or subtract depending on where you're at. So to get started, we're gonna break this into different regions. So first we're gonna go north, then we are going to go… Then we're gonna go to the west, and then we're gonna end up in the south. So let's start going north. Okay. Whidbey Island is one of the first places that come to mind for me. And to get there, you can either take the ferry from Mukilteo, which is about a 25, 30-minute drive from Seattle, and then just take the, you know, 20-ish minute long ferry ride. Um, the ferry can get a little bit busy and backed up, especially on weekends or, uh, holidays, so keep that in mind. Uh, you can also drive all the way from Seattle through Mount Vernon and across Deception Pass up to Whidbey Island, which is kind of a beautiful drive as well, especially Deception Pass. That is about a two and a half, two hour long, give or take without traffic, uh, drive. And again, it's beautiful. Once you're actually on Whidbey Island, there is a lot to offer. There's a lot of cute stores and restaurants in the historic towns of Coupeville or Langley. That's right when you get off the ferry, that's kinda the closest little towns right there. I- Whidbey Island's actually famous for their Penn Cove mussels, which is awesome. You can go to Fort Casey, which is actually pretty amazing. I remember personally going there as a kid, and my brother and I thought it was funny to bring our flashlights into these big, old concrete tunnels that are completely dark 'cause there's no electricity. And we found, like, this really low hole in the concrete next to a hallway, and we would have our sh- flashlights off. And we would, like, as people walk by we would s- freak 'em out and, like- Like had a little, I don't remember, it was like a branch or something, and we would like touch them and then make giant noises and totally freak them out. And I'd be like- Oh, that's

Les: [3:23] funny … " Speaker: Thanks." Yeah. I was like six years old. My brother's five and a half years older than me. We did that for hours the time when we were up there. I just remember that being so funny. I don't know if you can actually do that anymore. We brought the kids there last summer. Uh, it was super cool to see it and kinda learn more about the history. If you are gonna bring kids, make sure you watch them cl- closely, 'cause there's not really any guardrails or anything, and there's some big drop-offs. So definitely keep your clo- close eye on your kids. Bring a Frisbee for sure, or a football, or a soccer ball or something to kick around, 'cause when you're not, you know, exploring all the, the cool barracks, like there's a big field and there's some cool stuff. You might also wanna bring some like sand toys, 'cause it's right on the beach. Uh, it's… But definitely read the signs that are there, 'cause there's a lot of really cool, interesting history and their whole thought process for building it and how they built like a triangle defense system there. It, it's, it's pretty neat. Um, you can also do whale watching. So between late March and early June, you could possibly see some gray whales as they make their way through Saratoga Passage.

Jason: [4:29] Um- Yeah, I was there. I dropped by. I don't even r- remember when it was. It was a few years ago. And like d- I h- heard this horn noise.

Christian: [4:37] Mm-hmm.

Jason: [4:37] And, uh, it was a whale horn, I guess. And you look out- Yeah … and there's like orc- an orca, not a, like, just right there in the sound. I was, uh- Yeah … pleasantly surprised. I was not expecting that.

Christian: [4:49] Yeah, I think that's in Langley. We saw that. Langley's like a super cute little town. Good, actually really good restaurants. Um- Langley Pizza

Les: [4:56] and Pasta.

Christian: [4:57] Yeah. Go check

Les: [4:57] it out.

Christian: [4:58] They have an ice cream shop where you say, "I want a small ice cream," and it's like three gigantic scoops, or maybe it was two gigant- I think it was two, two gigantic scoops tall. We made that mistake with our three kids. It took, it took a good half an hour and a lot of napkins to get through those for each of them, but it was delicious. But yeah, that, that bell is, I think, right there in Langley, kind of right above the stairs as you go down to the beach, one of the, the public beaches there.

Jason: [5:24] Yeah, it was a bell, wasn't it? Yeah. I, I was trying to remember exactly what it was. I it was cool.

Christian: [5:29] It was cool.

Jason: [5:29] So I had a good time there.

Christian: [5:31] Yeah. Uh, and if you like to hike, there's a trail at Ebey's Landing State Park.

Jason: [5:36] Oh, my

Christian: [5:37] favorite.

Jason: [5:37] Yeah.

Christian: [5:38] Yeah, it's really cool. It looks over the Strait of Juan de Fuca and you can see the Olympic Mountains on a clear day. Like, it's, it's a pretty beautiful place.

Jason: [5:47] Yeah, there, it's sand dune, uh, shoreline of sand dunes that you like, uh, pretty steep that you can walk up and then down, and it's right at the end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so you feel like you're kind of in the middle of the world, at the center of it all, because you see just all this water coming towards you. A lot of times there's very intense wind and weather, and, uh, you can see, you know, the US on the left and Canada, um, on the right. It's really cool. Yeah. I love that. That's my favorite hike

Speaker 5: [6:17] Nice. I'll have to check it out. My first experience of visiting Whidbey Island was actually as a kid, and we went to Fort Casey, but we called it Camp Casey.

Christian: [6:27] Hmm.

Speaker 5: [6:28] It was with my sixth grade class. Mm-hmm. And we spent about two days there just, we got to, you know, camp out in the little, the cabins, and then we got to tour, you know, the whole premise. We got to go down into the bunkers. I think we s- got to fly kites for the day. Oh yeah,

Christian: [6:46] that's a great point. Yeah. I

Speaker 5: [6:47] forgot about

Christian: [6:47] that,

Speaker 5: [6:47] yeah. If I recall correctly, these really cool, like, butterfly kites, and they all… Ah, whatever. They were just, like, all different types. So that was my first experience. And then of course, as an adult, I always try to go to s- Deception's Pass State Park.

Christian: [7:00] Mm-hmm,

Speaker 5: [7:01] mm-hmm. Um, it's so beautiful. I just feel like it's a nice place to just kind of unwind. It's a short hike down, short hike back up, so I love spending my time there.

Christian: [7:09] Yeah. Whidbey Island is just a lot of fun, and it's really not that far. Um, it, you can do it in a day. You don't have to stay there. We did that. I brought my mom with us and, you know, had a great little day with her last summer, and it was, it was a lot of fun. And if you have anybody come into town, like, it's a great way to show off- Mm-hmm … our, our area. Like, easy, easy day trip. Let's head up north a little bit further. What are some other favorites that you guys have?

Jason: [7:35] Yeah, not necessarily nor- uh, farther north, but kind of on the way to Whidbey is La Conner- Mm which is a really quaint little town. They have good food, a little, uh, walk along the, is it a canal? The, the water there. And then the tulip festivals, of course.

Christian: [7:51] Yeah.

Speaker 3: [7:52] Mm-hmm.

Christian: [7:52] That's a

Jason: [7:52] big deal.

Christian: [7:53] Yeah.

Jason: [7:54] Yeah.

Christian: [7:54] A huge deal.

Jason: [7:55] And then if you go really far north, like pretty much as far north as you can go- … unless you're, what's that little spit of land? Point Roberts up in basically Canada. Oh yeah.

Christian: [8:06] Yeah.

Jason: [8:06] Yeah. And you gotta go- The one where you have to go

Christian: [8:07] through Canada

Jason: [8:08] to get to it. Yeah, yeah. If you, if y'all don't know what I'm talking about, any listeners out there, look it up. It's pretty fascinating, Point Roberts. But Semiahmoo is pretty much as far north as you can go, adjacent just, uh, west of Blaine, Washington. It's kind of on a spit of land that juts out into the harbor, and it's about two hours away from Seattle. Very, very close to the Canadian border. Yeah. There's a really nice resort there, very casual. I drove up there and met my in-laws. They were spending the weekend, and, um, there's a piano that I could play, some nice beaches to walk along. There, they had a spa. Obviously there's golf and a pool and- Movies, all that jazz. Lots of restaurants. It's, uh, what you'd expect from a nice relaxing resort, and they have a- activities for kids and adults. So- Yeah … it's a nice place. Uh, a nice little getaway up there. Yeah. Right off of the- … right south of the border.

Christian: [9:06] Yeah, you can basically, like, throw a rock from the beach into Canada. Like, that's how close you are. And there's buoys out there that, you know, make the delineation between the two countries. And if you have, you know, if you ever see someone kinda i- if you're close enough to the land and you see someone kinda cross over, you can… or come into the US, there's, like, coast guard boats at the ready to jump in and stop them. Uh, one cool thing about Semiahmoo, I've stayed up there, I think a couple times at this point, it's super dog friendly, so if you have dogs, they, like, encourage it. And in the evenings they have these massive fire pits where they, they set, they set it all up, they bring out s'mores. Um, it's, it's really, really cool. So definitely if you're into, you know, just hanging out on the beach and relaxing, uh, it's, it's really fun. They've done a great job over the last few years doing a big remodel and refresh of the whole resort, but it's actually beautiful now. Uh, great restaurants on site, and it's, yeah, it's a lot of fun.

Speaker 3: [10:09] Well, another great vacation spot just west of there and north of Seattle is the San Juan Islands. I guess you could say that's quite a few vacation spots there.

Christian: [10:19] Yes.

Speaker 3: [10:20] Um, there are actually 172 named islands and reefs, not like tropical reefs like you might think of, in San Juan County.

Christian: [10:30] Wow.

Speaker 3: [10:31] Um, the main- I had no

Christian: [10:32] clue there were that many. That's

Speaker 3: [10:33] insane. I know, right? That's a lot. So there's a ton of them. Uh- Wow … you can't necessarily, like, go on all of them. A lot of them are either privately owned or owned by the government and… But the main islands include Orcas Island, Lopez Island, and San Juan Island, and you can take a ferry directly to any of those. Although most of the time you have to drive up to Anacortes to get on the ferry, so do plan for that. I think that one of the coolest things to do on the San Juan Islands is to take a bike trip around to a few of them. Lopez specifically is pretty flat and really nice to bike on, but all of them really are. Um, you can get on a ferry. You can take a ferry to Friday Harbor in San Juan, bike across San Juan Island to Roche Harbor, which is on the other side, then get on a ferry there and go to another island and do a little loop. I did about a hundred mile bike trip through four of the islands when I was a teenager, and it was just one of my favorite trips that I've ever been on. It's really cool. And if you're going down the main road that connects the two harbors on the island of San Juan, you might notice a camel along the way. That's one of the big attractions- … um, on San Juan Island. There is- Just a random camel. Yeah. There's a farmer. He owns a camel. Um, I guess, yeah, there's some interesting farm attractions up there. Some people have emu farms or bison farms as well. I believe there are a few of those on Whidbey Island too. But that's just a fun little, little sidetrack

Christian: [12:09] Yeah, I know I always wanted to do one of those bike trips in, like, middle school or high school, and for whatever reason I never got to do it. My older brother got to do it. I was so jealous. It sounded so cool. It's like a week or two long, depending… I mean, you can do it however long you want, I guess. But it just seems so cool, and I ha- I know they have these still. Like, there's, you know, pre-planned things. Mm-hmm. So if you're into, into that or you're, you're interested in doing it, I mean, you can definitely find them available, where they'll, they'll plan the whole thing and you just show up and bike, so.

Speaker 3: [12:40] Yeah. And the… I mean, just the ferry ride itself is really beautiful. Yeah. It's really easy to just walk onto the ferry with a bike and, you know- Mm-hmm … then hop back on a ferry when you're ready to go back.

Les: [12:52] I sold a house on Lopez Island once. It was actually a pre- it was actually a pretty cool house. Um, it was- I bet my clients, they had, like, a view of the, uh, sound.

Speaker 3: [13:02] Nice.

Les: [13:02] And, um, it was a really… They, they built, like, a house that was shaped like a lighthouse.

Speaker 3: [13:07] Oh,

Les: [13:07] wow. Oh, wow.

Speaker 3: [13:08] Mm.

Les: [13:08] Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Jason: [13:09] Um, what- On tonight's episode of Selling Lopez Island … Lopez Yeah. Let's go.

Speaker 3: [13:15] Selling the San Juans.

Christian: [13:18] Selling San Juans, yeah. Um, one thing to be aware of with taking any ferry, some of them allow reservations, some don't. I know going to Whidbey, there are no reservations going to Whidbey Island, but going to the San Juans it's generally recommended that you do get a reservation. And they have a whole breakdown of how to exactly to do that. It's a whole game that you gotta play, but it is what it is. So check out the Washington State Ferry website for more info on that.

Jason: [13:48] Continuing on from there, so if you head west, slightly south, I guess, uh, from the San Juans, you see the Olympic Peninsula. There's lots you can do there, that's for sure. The Olympic National Park is really great with Hurricane Ridge, some really nice hikes. Port Angeles, you can take a ferry ride to Victoria, like Christian said. Ferries, uh, look at the schedule, look at if, uh, whether you need to make a reservation or not, or whether you should. Um, if you have-

Christian: [14:18] Mm-hmm. If you need to bring your passport for that one.

Jason: [14:20] Yeah, exactly. You know, the ferry ride to freedom. I mean- Yeah … Canada. Um, there's like Neah Bay at the extreme- Yeah northwest corner.

Christian: [14:29] Which is pretty cool and an experience in itself.

Jason: [14:32] I've never been. I've, uh- It's- It's on my list, though … Speaker: really cool. Yeah, it's really cool. It's definitely worth checking out if you're all the way over there anyway. But I have been to Sequim and Port Townsend. You might be wondering, "Sequim, what is that? I have never heard of that." You might have seen it. You probably think it's Sequim, S-E-Q-U-I-M. Mm-hmm. It's pronounced Squim. Um-

Christian: [14:53] Or

Jason: [14:54] Sequim. Yeah, Sequim. Uh, they're both very picturesque little vacation spots on the peninsula, um, on the northeast side of the, the Olympic Peninsula. Um, they're about two hours drive from Seattle, and um, roughly 30 miles or 45 minutes away from each other. So you can definitely visit both on the same trip. Um, and they're both different. So Port Townsend is very much a small, charming, laid back, slightly quirky, artsy town. What isn't quirky up here in the extreme northwest? Mm-hmm. Um, speak for yourself. I'm normal. I, I asked- Sure … a rhetorical question, then I answer it on this podcast. Um, anyways, uh, it's a really great walking town. You'll find tons of various shops, especially arts and craft shops. And uh, throughout the year they host a lot of various festivals You'll also notice as you walk around the beautiful Victorian era homes, many of which are protected landmarks, so you can definitely explore that. And then in terms of places to stay, uh, The Water Hotel and The Palace House are both Victorian era buildings in Port Townsend that are highly regarded hotels in their own right. But then outside of Port Townsend, if you head north, it might officially still be Port Townsend, but just north of like the s- little town area is Fort Worden State Park, and that's a really nice well-maintained ex-army base. You can explore the bunkers and batteries. What I like, though, is the beach, and there are batteries along the beach, which, uh, it- it's just cool to explore. But there's a campground there, lots of RVs. I hear it's like a great spot for RVs. And then, uh, as you're walking along the beach, you'll find… You'll just be in awe of the beauty because you see, like, all of… So much of Puget Sound, San Juan, De Fuca, the Straits of San Juan De Fuca. It's just beautiful. And then at the far northeast corner, there's a little spit of land. You'll find a lighthouse fitting for the far northeast corner on a spit of land. Uh, it's the Port Wilson Lighthouse, also well-maintained and really picturesque. It was built in 1879. Definitely something to f- to check out when you're in the area. Now

Christian: [17:21] this- Is this, is this where, where the Dungeness Spit is and all of that stuff? Is that near Port Townsend?

Speaker 3: [17:27] It's very close by.

Jason: [17:29] Yeah, it's not too far. Uh, the Dungeness Spit is actually north of Sequim. Hmm. And that's a really cool… That's another spit of land. Very long spit of land that you walk along. It can be kinda scary if there's bad weather because you're like, "Uh, if there's like a wave, how, what's gonna happen? I'm gonna be separated from-

Christian: [17:51] Mm-hmm … Jason: the land, from the mainland." But really cool place to, to camp out, have a picnic. That's what I did when I was there

Speaker 3: [18:00] and, uh- And yes, indeed, the Dungeness crab is named for Dungeness, Washington. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Located on the Dungeness Spit, in case.

Christian: [18:10] And they do have a gigantic crab festival, Dungeness Crab Festival, each summer.

Speaker 3: [18:16] Mm.

Christian: [18:16] I have not been there Crab is one of my favorite foods. Yep. Um, and I have always wanted to go. So I, I want to go check this stuff out. I think this is gonna be something that my family and I do th- this summer, is to go out here, because it is pretty amazing sounding.

Jason: [18:32] Yeah, there's lots to do in the area of Sequim and Dungeness and whatnot. Golf, fishing, hiking, kayaking, paddleboarding, hot air balloon rides. Ooh. Sequim is known for its, uh, natural beauty, but also for being in a rain shadow, the rain shadow caused by the Olympic Mountains. It has an oddly dry climate, like shockingly dry climate, and as such, agriculture that doesn't work in other areas in the Northwest, one of them being lavender. So every year there's a lavender festival, very popular, the Sequim Lavender Weekend. I think it's the third weekend each July. My in-laws always go and come back with the most random lavender flavored and scented things. We got lavender mustard. Tell me what I'm supposed to do with that. I'm not sure.

Christian: [19:23] Mm-hmm. Yeah, what, what do you

Jason: [19:25] cook

Christian: [19:25] that with?

Jason: [19:25] Yeah, very odd. But yeah, they also have it at l- the Olympic Game Farm, which is kind of like a drive-through zoo. Yeah, I've- I've never been, but it- I've heard about it. It sounds- … looks amazing … Speaker: yeah, it sounds so cool. Like the- Yeah … stuff that they have there, like that's part of the reason why we want to go this summer. Yep, yaks, zebras, bears, elk, deer, bison, oh my. Lots of, lots of things to see. And, uh, most of the animals they have are apparently native to the Northwest area, so- Mm cool place.

Christian: [19:53] Awesome.

Jason: [19:54] Sequim and Port Townsend, y'all.

Christian: [19:56] Sweet. All right, so let's go more west, and let's go to the Washington Coast. So, uh, one of my favorite spots is Seabrook. Seabrook is- I'll tell you what I thought of it before I went, and now I'll tell you now that I've been there. So I thought Seabrook was going to be just like The Truman Show, where it's all fake, everything's so pretty and perfect, 'cause it was just like a pre-planned development. Um, and it was, like, very strict on what you can build, where you can build it. Like, one guy controlled the entire development, and I totally thought I was gonna hate it. And then we went, and I found out I actually loved it. So I was 100% wrong. I will fully admit that. It's recorded, so my wife can quickly play that back to me anytime she wants. Um, and it was cool. Like, it's about two and a half to three-hour drive away. It's just north of Ocean Shores. Like, I think it's about a half an hour north of Ocean Shores. But it's really, really well laid out. The homes are… They have anywhere from, like, a two-bedroom small house to, like, an air or 10-bedroom massive house. And you can go with, like, multiple families or do family reunions out there. Once you're there, you don't need a car. You can literally walk anywhere. They have restaurants, bakeries, bars, pizza place. We were there over Memorial Day weekend for my daughter's birthday, and they had a live band, like, music festival going on in this outdoor beer garden that was totally family-friendly. They have the cutest little bookstore. Like, it was just really, really fun. Ice cream shops, like, candy shop. Like, it was just everything you could possibly want to do was right there, and it was all walking distance. Everyone's walking, or all the kids are riding bikes. They have a pool there, um, that you can reserve and just go play in. It was, it was super, super fun. On Saturdays from late June through August, there's a downtown market with local vendors. Few past Canlis employees have opened up restaurants and s- bars there. Um, so they got, like, high-end s- really nice restaurants and food. They have a Mexican place there that was to die for. We ate there more than once in our weekend, 'cause it was that good. We also went razor clam digging. You… They have a shop called Buck's Where you can actually rent, like, anything that you could possibly want. So we got our razor clam whatever thing that you use to dig, which was awesome. They gave us the bag to put them in. They sold us the, the permit to go do it. It was super fun. Razor clam season's from November to late May, and when we were there, I think it was, like, one of the last weekends or something like that, and the beach was just all packed. Like, it was crazy how many people were there. And another thing there, too, is there are a lot of, like, mountain biking paths and things like that. I'm not really into that, but a lot of people have, like, their really souped up mountain bikes with the big thick tires and… It was, it was just super cool. They had a playground. Like, e- everything you could possibly want with kids was great. They have their own rental portal. That's right. Seabrook has their own rental portal, not through Airbnb, and that way it's all, you know, they're, they get to be in control of not only how the houses look, but how much you have to spend to rent them. Um, and a lot of them have really nice hot tubs that you can go in and, yeah, it was just, it was really cool. Very well laid out, very smart, and I totally was wrong about being Truman Show.

Speaker 3: [23:35] Don't all the houses have kind of funny names, too? I feel like you- They do … sent me one that was named after Stand By Me, and it was called-

Christian: [23:40] Yes

Speaker 3: [23:41] Sand By Me.

Christian: [23:42] Yes. Yes. That's right. Yeah. All the houses have their own special name, and I don't know how they came up with those. I think the owners came up with them. That's my assumption.

Speaker 3: [23:50] Yeah. Uh-

Christian: [23:51] They're pretty

Speaker 3: [23:51] fun.

Christian: [23:52] Yeah. It was pretty cool.

Les: [23:53] All right. So let's go to south of Seattle to the Oregon coast.

Christian: [23:58] South Seattle. Yes.

Les: [24:00] Right. See what I did there? Yeah. Inside joke. Inside joke. Inside joke. Between us. Um, okay, so there's some great options along the Oregon coast. The drive's a little bit longer than the spots we mentioned before, but there are many coastal getaways right outside Washington to be explored while still not straying too far away from home. Uh, you can be in Seaside, Oregon around three and a half hours, Cannon Beach in four hours, or in Lincoln City or Depoe Bay in around five hours. I think I've been to Cannon Beach once, and I rented dune buggies, I think. And, uh- Oh, cool … yeah, and just explored the beach. That was pretty fun. How about you guys?

Jason: [24:37] Yeah, north of Lincoln City is Pacific City, and there's, uh, Cape Kiwanda Park there. It's a, uh, sand dune park thing that juts out on, uh, into the ocean. It's awesome for hiking and just sliding down the dunes and for the natural beauty. I went and I will definitely be going back. It was similar to this Ebey's Landing, just a very cool little hike and excursion, and you can rent dune buggies and that sort of thing.

Christian: [25:06] Cannon Beach is beautiful. That's where they have, I don't remember the name of the rock, but a very famous rock that's like right outside or right in the ocean that you can see. Um, I will say Oregon coast is better than the Washington coast in terms of beach, in my opinion. Uh, it's actual sand versus rock, which is pretty much most of the Washington coast. It's… I had, I enjoyed it more. I thought it was like a very different atmosphere almost than the Washington coast, which is why I think it's important that we bring it up. Um, it's a, it is a little bit further away, but it's a different feel. It's a different vibe. Um- And getting out there, you can drive through Tillamook and go to the Tillamook Cheese Factory- Yes. Mm-hmm … uh, which is always fun. I love

Speaker 3: [25:50] that place.

Christian: [25:50] I have never been. By the

Speaker 3: [25:51] way,

Christian: [25:51] it's

Speaker 3: [25:52] Haystack Rock.

Christian: [25:53] Haystack Rock, that's right. Thank you. I-

Speaker 3: [25:55] Apparently you can book tours of the rock. It doesn't look big enough to really-

Christian: [26:01] Where do you go?

Speaker 3: [26:02] I don't know. You

Jason: [26:02] go to it and you say, "This is a rock. Look at this."

Christian: [26:04] Yeah. Welcome to Haystack Rock.

Speaker 3: [26:07] But they offer flexible cancellations, so…

Les: [26:11] How much, do you know how much it is by chance?

Speaker 3: [26:13] Uh, I don't, but I can tell you that it is the third tallest such intertidal structure in the world.

Christian: [26:20] Oh, wow.

Speaker 3: [26:21] It's kinda cool. Okay.

Christian: [26:22] That is kinda cool. It is very unique, like that's why it's so famous 'cause it's, it is pretty unique, especially in our area. There's nothing else really like it.

Speaker 3: [26:30] Oh, I guess the tours are timed at low tide so that you can actually access the rock.

Christian: [26:35] Oh, maybe there's cool- That's interesting … yeah, I bet there's a lot of cool things to look at, like at the bottom of the rock and surrounding it- Yeah … like its own little, you know, seascape.

Speaker 3: [26:46] Pacific Northwest beaches have some really cool tide pools and- Yes … a lot to look at and interact with. It's- Yeah … so great.

Christian: [26:54] In that regard, I actually think it would be cool to do a, a tour of it- Yes. … at low tide now that we've- You changed my mind completely … now that we've made fun of it, now I'm like, actually, that sounds really awesome. 'Cause going with someone that actually knows what you're looking at- Right … and explaining it all, like that's totally worth it, depending on the cost of course. But yeah, that, that actually sounds really cool.

Speaker 3: [27:14] And flexible cancellations.

Christian: [27:15] And flexible cancellations. Yeah. Yeah. You never know what happens.

Speaker 3: [27:18] Bonus. It's the only thing that Google mentions. Flexible cancellations.

Christian: [27:23] That's funny. Before we go, do you guys have any recommendations for going like north, south? I know we did the Oregon Coast, but what about more inland? Anyone have any, anything there that you've been to?

Jason: [27:32] Tijuana. Tijuana,

Christian: [27:34] yeah. There you go. That's, that's very, you know, driving distance in a day. There you are. Yeah.

Speaker 3: [27:38] I've been to Mount Hood, and I loved it. They've got a really cute little town there, and it's supposed to be great for hiking. I've been there in the spring for some hiking, and it was wonderful, and it's one of the only places that you can actually ski during every season as well, I believe. Uh, the lifts at the Timberline Lodge are open 10 months out of the year, and they stay running through Labor Day.

Christian: [28:02] That's

Speaker 3: [28:02] insane

Christian: [28:03] So

Speaker 3: [28:03] that's one I wanted to add. And then I haven't been here, but the place I really would love to go and still can't believe I haven't been yet is Mount Rainier.

Christian: [28:12] Mm-hmm. Um- That's a

Speaker 3: [28:13] good point.

Christian: [28:14] Yeah … Speaker 3: I, I just, I don't know why I haven't been, but I've heard only incredible things, and it's, it's closer than, you know, closer than Portland is. I think it's, what, like maybe two hours 45 minutes. Something like that, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'll add to that, and that is visiting Mount Saint Helens- Hmm … which is also not that far away, and gorgeous and different in its own right because of, obviously, the volcano that erupted years ago in 1981, I believe. And it's… I've been there, or I, I went there when I was really small. My grandparents from Norway came, and I was maybe five or six or something like that. So it wasn't that long after the top blew, and it was very interesting, and I'd love to bring my kids back there. In fact, we might- we had talked about potentially doing that this summer, just, you know, maybe taking a day trip down there to go explore, and they have a really cool visitor center that talks all about it. And it's, it's pretty cool. So I think you're right. Both those mountains are, you know, there's a lot to explore and lots of hikes to do, a lot of interesting history for each of them. And yeah, definitely something that's nearby that we can totally explore. All right. Well, thank you everyone for sharing your favorite vacation spots with our listeners. It was fun to tackle a topic that shows how lucky we really are to live in this area. I am actually really excited to now talk with my wife and use some of this newfound information and plan some summer vacation getaways, even if they're just day trips. There's so much to, to really go and do. And it's really hard to beat our summers. Like, the- I've been to numerous places around the world, and Seattle summers are extremely hard to beat Unless it's smoky. That's

Jason: [29:58] our little secret.

Speaker 3: [29:59] Yes, I agree.

Jason: [30:00] That's our little secret. We don't like that getting out for people not from this area.

Speaker 3: [30:04] It never used to be. True.

Christian: [30:06] Yeah, we, we are very lucky. So while we're here, if you're, if you're new to the area, definitely go explore and learn more about what we talked about today. Obviously, we did not go in depth on everything. We could have gone over probably 10 or 15 more places and things to do at each of these places, but we kinda had to stop it somewhere. But definitely use the internet as your friend to help guide you on your vacation, wherever it may be. And thank you very much for listening. If you ever wanna talk real estate, that's kinda what we do. We are Seattle-area real estate agents. You can always schedule a time to chat with us at AwesomeNossumGroup.com/schedule. We have free strategy sessions where we just kinda chat and go over your situation and help you decide what makes sense for you or what doesn't make sense for you. Um, and we also have, obviously, this podcast, the Awesome in Seattle podcast. If you haven't yet, please subscribe. It really helps us. Um, and if you ever want to learn about buying a house, we have free monthly home buyer classes. They are held on, or you can sign up right online at beersandhomebuying.com (opens in a new tab). That's beers, with an S, and home buying.com. Thanks so much for listening, and we'll see you next time. Bye.

Speaker 5: [31:22] Bye. Bye.