Galloping Horse: USA Trip: of Space Needle and Twilight

Seattle City

We started our day 2 in Seattle by having our usual morning coffee at Starbucks Reserve Roastery which was just about 10 minutes walk from our place. Unusual to Starbucks Reserve that I have been to in Malaysia, this outlet showcased the coffee roasting process, with the pipe connecting to the counter. On top of that, there was a bar and bakery serving alcoholic drinks and Italian-inspired pastry. I got myself an Irish Cream Whiskey Barrel-Aged Cold Brew and Salmon sandwich. Currently there are six Starbucks Reserve Roastery in the world and the one closest to home is in Shanghai and Tokyo. Our AirBnB didn't allow luggage storage so we needed to check out before continuing on for our next agenda. My friend googled and found a place to store our stuff at hostel downtown via nannybag which cost 9 dollars per bag.

Entrance of Starbucks Reserve Roastery, as of current there are only six Starbucks roasteries in the world.

This outlet was spacious with the roastery within it.

Trying the drink menu that I possibly couldn't find in Malaysia

Princi Bakery to complement your Starbucks order should you want one.

Bidding goodbye to our AirBnB.

I would never forget the drama on our first day of checking in at this place.

After leaving our luggage at Green Turtoise Hostel, we walked for 20 minutes to our next point of interest, which was the Space Needle. It cost 37 dollars to enter the space-inspired iconic tower of Seattle. It has two levels of observatory decks whereby the first level offers outdoors with inclining glass wall for those photo ops and few camera stops (photos are linked to your ticket and can download them for free, included the greenscreen backdrop photo taken prior to the elevator) meanwhile rotating bar/restaurant is located upstairs. Bought myself few souvenirs from the shop before taking a bus to Kerry Park to have a good glimpse of Seattle skyline. I believe the park meant for the neighbourhood as it was surrounded by houses and it took quite a slope to get onto the viewpoint from where the bus dropped us. Known as the city with depressing weather, we were blessed with sunny blue sky on this very day.

Thought this landmark would be easily spotted anywhere in the city, only to see more of it during later days of my time in Seattle.

One with the tower, recognised this tower from Grey's Anatomy.

Going up.

Souvenir shop at the ground level, as we walked towards the elevator. Photo stop at top left.

I was falling. I mean, almost. The blue tape kinda gave it away. Look at that mountain behind me.

View of waterfront from the top. There were minor gaps between the big pieces of glass.

Floating in the air, sorta.

You can hop the bus with one time payment, as long as the time of boarding displayed on the ticket.

Skyline of Seattle city from Kerry Park. Truly loving this view.

We commuted back to the city for early dinner, or more like late lunch at Pike Fish Bar. Sorted our car at Hertz which was just nearby where we left our luggage earlier today, we bought a little grocery at Target (note: for free parking) and retrieved our bags, we started to drive towards our next destination, Port Angeles. There were few route options and we chose to board ferry from Colman Dock to Bainbridge Island. The voyage was around 30 minutes long and we exited the car to walk around the ferry. There was cafe or restaurant but it was closed. Vending machines are available to purchase food and drink. The sun has already set by the time we were onboard and I found myself mesmerised by the night view of city when the concrete jungle was illuminated against the full-moon lit night sky. Disembarked from port and there we went cruising on the road once again and reconnected to U.S. 101 Route. We were on the road for almost 2 hours before checking ourselves in at Super 8 and rested for the night.

Another round of fish and chip and clam chowder. This time with a glass of beer.

Needed that beer. I was almost half way through my excapade at that point.

In the queue for our ferry. It cost about 13 dollars per person to get onboard.

View of Seattle from our car while waiting at the terminal.

Night view of Seattle from the ferry. Pretty.

Excited to be on the ferry. And the cold.

Olympic National Park

Super 8, our motel at Port Angeles.

Saw this cat on the night as we parked our car but it ran away. Found it cozily lying on the couch before checking out.

Had our breakfast at the motel and checked out, we headed towards Olympic National Park Visitor Centre. Due to winter season, lots of section were closed to visitors due to snowy road conditions. Initially planned for three stops, we ended up with only two points of interest at Olympic National Park. The park was quite huge as from one point to another it could take up to two hours drive. It was half an hour drive before we started our tracking at Moment in Time Trail, which was by the Lake Crescent. The water was so clear which could see the perfect reflection of the mountain in the background. It was pretty serene and only bumped into a handful of visitors when we were there. There was a lodge nearby which appeared to be close, not sure whether it was temporary due to the low season or permanently not in operations. From the lake, we followed signage that led us to Marymere Falls, which was about 2 miles trail. Thought I have had of enough of snow back in Mount Rainier, despite of the slippery icy trail, the fluffy white matter continued to captivated me.

Driving a Chervolet this time, with a can of Rainier beer. I believe it was illegal to have opened alcoholic drinks in the car. Oops.

Lake Crescent. So calm and peaceful. Can see traces of snow at top of the hills, and a narrow glimpe of snowy mountain behind.

Closest attempt to mimic scene of Crash Landing On You.

Not sure what was I looking at but was such a poser here.

Hello, snow. We meet again.

Crossing this stream, Barness Creek.

One with the waterfall.

Last photo with the lake before leaving.

As we headed to Hall of Mosses which is about 90 minutes away, we passed by a little township called Forks. There was a hotel with LED signage that said "Edward Cullen didn't sleep here". Little did I know that Fork is the setting of Twilight movies, which explained there were some movie posters at the shop as we drove by. As the name speaks for itself, it was a loop trail through forest that covered in thick green mosses, with the snow too. We spent around half an hour before leaving for Seattle.

Check point, checked.

Dabbing in the middle of mosses and snow.

Of green and white.

What did I tell you? Loving the view of snow and hence, selfies!

We did a quick stop at Walmart Supercenter to return the tire chains that we bought earlier for Mt Rainier National Park. Thankfully we managed getting for a full refund since we didn't get to use it on our car back then, albeit we did unbox to have a look at the chains. It was 2 hours drive before we arrived at the ferry terminal, the same port we got off the night before. I believe we missed the last ferry by a close margin since we were the first one in line. Grabbed our last dinner at Boca before calling it a day at Four Points by Sheraton. Almost wanted to park our car outside the hotel since underground hotel parking came with a fee until we noticed there was homeless camping nearby, the hotel receptionist was kind enough to waive it for us since we checked in quite late, it was way past 10pm.