This short three-stop tour along the Hood Canal makes for a perfect day trip to the Olympic Peninsula.  It features waterfalls, dense forests and scenic views and, except for one stop, can be done any time of year.  From the Hood Canal Bridge driving distance is approximately 70 miles round trip.  Traveling from Seattle you can take either the Bainbridge Island or Edmonds-Kingston Ferries.  If this is your first visit to Seattle or you are hosting visitors, we recommend taking the Bainbridge Island ferry as it provides the must-have photo …

If you haven’t been east of the mountains lately, now is a good time to go.  Yes, it’s hotter than you know what during the summer, but as seasonal rains plague us Puget Sound Travelers, we can still find decent weather.  A place we’ve been meaning to visit for some time was Red Top Mountain Lookout in the Teanaway Ridge just east of Cle Elum.
Getting there was easy enough.  Just take I-90 to exit 84 and drive through Cle Elum.  You can optionally take the next exit bypassing the town.  However, …

Skagit Valley, 50 miles north of Seattle on I-5, is primarily known for the Tulip Festival every April.  However, as we recently discovered, there is much more to do there than meets the eye.  This area is one of our most frequent day-tripping destinations year round.
Skagit Wildlife Area – North Fork
We stumbled on this area one day after stopping at the Snow Goose Produce stand (a worthy stop in and of itself).  It’s a beautiful area that during good weather is great for exploration.  Bordered on one side by the north fork …

Yes, it’s been a while since we’ve day tripped but now that the weather is more conducive to our pursuits, it’s time to gear up again.  Strangely, with all of the snow we received this year, one would think that we’d be tired of it by now.  Not so!  A recent day trip landed us back in the snow along the Mountain Loop Highway.
You’ll probably start to see repeat visits to this area.  It’s a beautiful drive from Granite Falls along a forested highway that follows the Stillaguamish River.  There …