After hiking and kayaking for the past few days, we decided we needed something a little more relaxing, so headed to the Sol Duc Valley area of Olympic National Park. Our main purpose for going there was to spend some time soaking in the Sol Duc Hot Springs pools, but first we made a detour [...]

While the rest of the United States is suffering from a heatwave, the Pacific Northwest seems to be permanently stuck in winter. Sure, we’ve had a few nice days where the sun has actually made an appearance, but otherwise we’ve endured rain and temperatures in the low 50s for the past few months. Apparently spring [...]

Drive seventeen miles west of Port Angeles and you’ll arrive at Lake Crescent, a 12 mile long glacially carved lake nestled in the foothills of the Olympic mountain range. We were looking for a place to kayak during our Memorial Day Trip to the Peninsula. Our initial research on places to rent kayaks led us [...]

One country that has been on my list for a while, and yet I still haven’t visited, is Turkey. I was close to it in 2006, when I visited Yerevan, Armenia’s capital city located a mere 15 miles from the Turkish border, but due to poor relations between the countries, the border is closed. I’m [...]

After hiking the Ozette Loop, we headed to Cape Flattery. Located at the western tip of Washington state, Cape Flattery is where the Pacific Ocean meets the Strait of Juan de Fuca and is the most northwesternmost point of the contiguous United States (Cape Alava being the most western point by a mere 360 additional [...]

The above photo was taken in August 2008, when I met up with my dad and brother in New York City so that we could see a Yankee game before they tore down the old Yankee Stadium. (At the time, direct flights to New York from Los Angeles were quite a deal; I, of course, [...]

With the Cascades still under a thick layer of snow, we’ve been craving the chance to get out and do some hiking sans snowshoes. Thankfully, the Olympic Peninsula offers plenty of opportunities to do so and we were able to get a nice, long hike in during our long weekend trip there. We opted to [...]

If I had to pick one place in Europe to retire to, it would be Dubrovnik. It is just an incredible city with a great mix of history, architecture and natural beauty. My first visit to Dubrovnik was in April 2005, when some friends and I decided to go there on a whim. We had [...]

One of the reasons why I love Olympic National Park so much is its diversity; the park is home to rugged coastline, sandy beaches, rainforests, hot springs, and glaciated mountains. You can surf, hike, ski, kayak, snowshoe, or just lounge on the beach. There really is something for everyone here. Located 17 miles south of [...]

We spent two weekends in May exploring various parts of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, and because the area is just so beautiful and quickly becoming one of my favorite places in the United States, I took way too many photos. The below shots are from Rialto Beach, a classic Pacific Northwest beach replete with barriers of [...]