Had a chance to get out west this year with my wife for 12 days. Having visited Yellowstone and Glacier in 2013, we opted to try something new this year. So after a lot of thought and planning, we decided to mix three of our loves for a whirlwind trip: Baseball stadiums, US States, and National Parks. Since we got married in 2010, we've made a point of trying to visit all 30 MLB parks, all 50 states, and as many National Parks as possible. So far, we've knocked off 18 parks, 42 states, and about a dozen National Parks. This summer, it was the San Francisco Giants, Oakland A's, and Seattle Mariners, Yosemite, King's Canyon, and Olympic, and California, Washington, and Oregon.
We started in San Francisco and spent two days exploring the city. From the bridge, to the piers, to Chinatown and everywhere else, we hopped on and off the bus to see as much as we could. It really was a lot of fun. We caught the Giants for a night game in which the pitcher threw a perfect game up until a two out, full count single in the bottom of the ninth! One pitch away from a perfect game! After a few days in San Fran, we crossed the bay and went to see Oakland play. Not much to be impressed with there, but one more park out of the way. Early the next morning we headed out to Yosemite.
We were a little worried about our trip to Yosemite being cancelled due to the fire (we visited in early September), but it turned out most of the smoke was north of the park and we only had smoke in the valley for 2 of the days we were there. Unfortunately, Tuolomne was closed so we had to adjust our plans slightly, but visiting after Labor Day, with the fires, in the middle of the week, the park was nearly empty. We were also lucky to be visiting the valley on a night that Ranger Shelton Johnson was doing a presentation on Yosemite's Buffalo Soldiers. It was Gail's first time in the park - the valley was a little disappointing due to the smoke and low visibility, but Gail and I were both fascinated with the Marisopa Grove and the giant sequoias.
After our time in Yosemite/King's Canyon was finished, we flew up to Seattle to do some more city exploring. Seattle was a great city to visit - we were both first time visitors so we did the tourist things: the Space Needle, Pike's Place Market, REI (omg), and went to see the Mariners play a night game. I have to admit, after 18 parks, Seattle is definitely one of my favorites. The people there were great. After Seattle, we took the ferry across to the Olympic peninsula and headed into Olympic National Park. I would love to go back someday and do some backpacking. Its amazing to think you can be in the high country, drive through a rain forest, and end up on the beach in a span of just a few hours. We were planning on spending a few days in the park, but ended up only staying a single night in Mora down by the beach. The haystacks were pretty incredible and we loved visiting the Hoh Rain Forest (we were planning on staying there), but decided we'd rather just drive down 101 and see where it went. We ended up driving down the coast for a few days and getting down to Oregon where we visited Cape Disappointment for a night and then decided to give Portland a try. Portland was also a fun place. I'd go back just for VooDoo Doughnuts.
It was a great trip and we got to see a few parks we'd never been to. Would love to spend more time in all of them one day!
A few pictures: