We departed in the morning for Truck Crossing border, where I was held up at the border for over three hours due to suspicion that I would "stay too long" in the states. Once over the border, we stopped by Seattle to have dinner at Ooink where I got myself a hot serving of delicious ramen while replanning the itinerary on the fly to make up for the lost time while sitting through Seattle rush hour traffic. We then departed for Olympia in preparation to start the sight seeing.

Oregon road trip roadmap

Arriving in Olympic

Starting out the journey with a hike as always, we tried to tackle Hurricane Hillto start off our day only to find out that it has been seasonally closed for maintenance. We then fueld up at Blackberry Cafe for brunch before attempting Mt Storm King, where we were rewarded with an amazing view of Lake Crescent after a fair bit of upwards ascend and scrambling with exposure.

Peak of Mt Storm King

In need of some grubs after our afternoon workout, we visited Port Angeles for dinner where I received the most succulent Lamb Curry from Sabai Thai, the best Thai restaurant on the  peninsula before retiring for the night.

Exploring the North Western Corner of Olympic

Our second day in Olympic started off with me learning about a new drink combination at Silver Lining Cafe, where I was recommended to replace milk with heavy cream for my Latte, needless to say I now no longer order regular lattes when given the chance. Once caffeinated, we took a short trail to check out Sol Duc Falls, as well as the slightly further yet slightly less powerful Lover's Lane Falls as a way to warm up ourselves to Olympic. After our quick workout, we departed for Neah Bay, where we visited Cape Flattery , the most north western point of the larger US land mass.

Hungry from the little walk through the forest, we went to BIGGINZ Burgers Seafood, one of the rare places I've seen with a 4.9 star review, where we got the Bigginz Seafood combo and ended up demolishing it at the Neah Bay Scenic View Point. With no reception, we departed for Shi Shi Beach, where I then spent an hour traversing the FSRs of Makah Indian Reservation in pitch black darkness before returning to civilization after coming across a shut down route only to realize the actual direction to Shi Shi beach was a 10min drive and a 1 hour hike rather than a 1 hour FSR trip + 20min hike before settling down for the night.

Our third morning started with a hike to Shi Shi Beach, where we got our first glimpse at the pristine sand of the Oregon coastline. On our way back, Ty wanted to explore a "shortcut" which ended up being an exhilarating 20min continuous scramble. We then immediately departed for Rialto Beach where we hiked the beach front to reach Hole-in-the-Wall just in time before the trail was washed away by the incoming tide.

Beach front at Hole-in-the-wall, Rialto Beach

We visited the Hoh Rainforest the next morning, where we were immersed in a temperate rainforest covered in moss. We then ended this portion of the road trip at Ruby Beach which was praised by a fellow road tripper as having the best scene on the route, take a look for yourself!

Ruby Beach beachfront

Leaving Olympic National Park with much left to be explored, we finally made it to Oregon! After a few hours of scenic rainy day driving we arrived in Astoria where we took a quick stroll around Riverwalk Trail to burn off the lunch we had before visiting the Astoria Column and retiring for the night.

Bright and early, we checked out Osprey Cafe where I got my first round of oyster shooters in the morning with my coffee. We then proceeded to hike Saddle Mountain, the highest point in Northwest Oregon, in record time due to the threat of Hypothermia on the windy hills. Starting to take in the full view of the Oregon coastline, we visited Ecola State Park where we got a breathtaking view of Indian beach, and of course embarked on a short stroll to check out a little lighthouse along the way.

Indian Beach

We ended up at Ecola Seafood Restaurant where I discovered my love for fried oysters while stuffing our faces with fried seafood after grabbing delicious crepes from next door, because dessert first as always! We then checked out the local town of Cannon Beach as well as Hug Point Park before making our way back to the metropolis early due to a change of weather that rendered learning surfing out of the question.

Back in Washington, we grabbed our first bowl of ramen in a week from FuddoYama Ramen. We checked out the amazing Abiqua Falls for one last nature venture before grabbing some roasted s'mores at 1927 S'mores Company and snoozing off into the night.

Abiqua Falls

When in Portland of course we had to try the Voodoo Donuts, I got the Grape Ape which tasted surprisingly like a Grape Crush soda in donut form. After spending the morning looking over Portland from the top of Smith Tower, we took a stroll through Pike's Place where we overestimated our appetite by grabbing the 8 chowder sampler from Pike Place Chowder, which has the most amazing New England clam chowder I've ever tasted. And of course we visited the Starbucks Roastery, where I got an interesting Whiskey barrel aged cold brew with olive oil that fueled my through a shopping spree at the Seattle Collective Outlet before retiring back home across the border.

Smith Tower

After satisfying my craving for the coastline, nature, and seafood, I still long to learn to surf once again, and would love to make the trip down to California to check out the Tesla factories and the Silicon Valley.