Trip to Pacific Northwest 2017: Day 1/8

1/30/2023

The Flight & Arrival

Jeremy and I waiting to get on the plane.

Boarding pass - my position number is my lucky number!

This was the first flight where I experienced light-headedness, but the flight attendants with Southwest were great and had us laughing at their jokes. Jeremy played on his DS and was pretty much silent the entire flight, and I read my book, Grapes of Wrath, showing off funny excerpts to Jeremy. Towards the end of the flight Jeremy rested his head on my shoulder, so I rested my head on his, and we napped that way. As we started to descent, we saw a giant mountain, which we believe to be Mount Rainier, from the window.

Mount Rainier from the airplane window

We got off the plane, grabbed my suitcase from the carousel, and hopped on the shuttle to the rental car pick up. This was also my first time renting a car, well kind of. The rental had to go under Jeremy's name since I wasn't 26 yet. We ended up getting a special birthday upgrade to an SUV: Mercedes Benz GLA250, white. The man who completed our rental paperwork was very funny, from North Dakota, and had some advice for our vacation.

Jeremy and I in our rental car.

We drove to our hotel. The building looks like a pretty apartment building, but the decor is very warm, welcoming, and tasteful. After unpacking, we left for Snoqualmie Falls, stopping at a Wendy’s on the way since I was starving.

Snoqualmie, Washington

We drove to Snoqualmie, Washington and went straight to Snoqualmie Falls. The sight was beautiful, the water below almost like a lagoon.

Snoqualmie is from a Salish word (from the Salishan Indigenous Nation) that means "moon".

Jeremy standing in front of Snoqualmie Falls

Snoqualmie Falls

We decided to go to historic downtown in Snoqualmie to find a place to have real dinner. We parked, walked down the sidewalk of the only main road in the area, and marveled at the quaintness of the town. We went into a candy store, but decided to eat dinner before grabbing ice cream.

Church in Snoqualmie, Washington

We decided to have dinner at Gianfranco Ristorante Italiano. Jeremy ordered the spaghetti di mari, and I ordered the pollo boscaiola. The food was delicious. We got there just in time, as we saw many couples get turned away due to not having enough space.

Jeremy and his dinner

Me with my dinner

After dinner, we walked hand in hand back through the town. There was an old train station set up as a museum that was closed, but we walked further down the road and looked at a plethora of vintage train cars and engines. One had a giant tree trunk, and we posed in front of the “big ass tree”. We continued down the path, sat down in the lit up gazebo and cuddled together in the night air. After that we left to go back to our hotel, stopping at Safeway to pick up snacks for our upcoming road trips to national parks.