Washington state Seattle area suggestions wanted

In Everett, Wa is the Boeing Company Tour. https://www.futureofflight.org/boeing-tour-seattle

Also, Boeing Field: http://www.museumofflight.org/Plan-Your-Visit/Tours-and-Experiences/Boeing-Field-Tours

alesis wrote:
Hey everyone,
We leave this weekend for a 16 day trip from Michigan to Washington. Because of the loooong drive, we have 3 nights each near Olympic, Rainier and North Cascades National parks.
We’re a family w kids ages 7, 11 and 13 and love all things outdoors (hiking, scenic drives, adventure parks, etc) and typical touristy stuff.
Just wondering what y’all consider “must-do” while we’re out that way. Of course we’ll cisit each park and the ocean as well. Just looking for more suggestions. Thanks in advance!!

Are you military active or retired, or DOD civilian active or retired?

Olympic national park is huge! Each section of the park has a different ecosystem. There's mountains, ocean beaches, lots of waterfalls, and rainforests. Sunset along Rialto and Ruby beaches is very pretty with the large rock formations. One of my favorite areas was the Hoh rain forest. I was there in the fall, and all of the trees were turning yellow, and dropping leaves onto the green ferns below. The Sol Duc falls are pretty too.
I was in a rental car on that trip and had to get back to Seattle for a conference, so I took the auto ferry from Bremerton back to Seattle. I didn't specifically plan it, but the ferry I was on was right at sunset....we came around the islands, and Mt. Rainier popped out of nowhere bathed in sunset pink light. It was spectacular! Then the ferry got into Seattle right at dusk, with the deep blue sky, as all the building lights starting to come on.

I hope these blog posts are helpful -- lots of photos and descriptions of hikes. This is a link to the first of three posts:

North Cascades/Mt. Baker/Olympics blog posts

The next two posts are about Rainier. On this trip, we were mostly on the north and east side of Rainier:

Rainier blog post

On this trip, we were mostly on the south and west side of the mountain -- scroll down to the part of the blog post that deals with Rainier:

A different part of Rainier

Here is another thought -- there is a hike at Rainier called Comet Falls. In early July, at around noon, the sun angle causes a really unusual phenomenon -- a circular rainbow! It is a pretty tough hike, but my 8 year old and 5 year old boys did it (30 years ago), with some coaxing.

When you get to the base of the falls, you walk as close to the water as you dare -- the rocks are slippery. You will get soaking wet (which is ok, since it can be pretty hot). But the spray rises up around you, surrounding you with a bright circular rainbow. The rainbow is not there in September, we discovered.

Bring a plastic bag to put your camera into. My wife, who is a rainbow and waterfall fanatic, said that this was one of the most amazing experiences of her life, which is quite a strong statement.

Olympic- Lake Ozette, Hoh Rain Forest, elk on the beach
Rainier- Ice Caves, hike to glaciers, Paradise, Ohanapecosh 1000 yo trees
N Cascades- get out and hike and notice the glaciation