This is the first year ever where I have sat down to make summer vacation plans ahead of time, other than for our yearly trip to Utah. It began when I realized there is a possibility this will be our last summer living in Washington and we really haven't explored all that much. (We could be here a few more summers, but we are always keeping our ears open for Utah jobs.) There are quite a few nearby beautiful places on our list we haven't seen yet, including Mt. Rainier, Olympic National Park, Forks, Victoria Canada, and Seabrook. It feels like we were constantly exploring when we lived in Wyoming but we haven't as much here, even though there is more to see here. We are chalking it up to me being pregnant/sick and us having a car-hating newborn for most of the time we've lived here. This summer is our time to make it happen, so realizing that vacation rentals fill up FAST, I started considering all our options for a low-key 2-night Washington family trip.
Our first plan was to rent a rustic cabin on Mt. Rainier. But in June it can still be snowy there, in July we will be in Utah, and August is an expensive month to rent on Mt. Rainier. Plus Alice is at an age where we likely wouldn't be able to hike much. So we ditched that plan and shifted our focus to Olympic National Park. We found a cute little lake with some VRBO lake houses to rent near the park entrance. But this vacation option would require a LOT of driving. It would take 3-4 hours to get there from our house, and then each day would require hours of driving to see all we want to see in that part of Washington. Alice isn't ready for that kind of vacation and it would likely be miserable. So we pivoted to something not on our exploration list at all but that I'm really excited about: a staycation on a small lake 10 minutes from our house.
Staying in a house right on a little lake with a private dock is at the very top of my Washington must-do list. Although I initially thought it would be nice to stay on a lake in a new area of Washington so we could combine the lake experience with exploring somewhere new, I realized that with young kids, staying at a home base will give everyone the best chance at being able to actually relax and enjoy ourselves. We can hang out on the dock while Alice naps, play on the beach and take turns paddle boarding, and if for some reason Alice has a terrible time sleeping in a new location at night, we won't have to abandon the trip or be sleepless zombies--we can just have one of us zoom home for her to sleep at night and then zoom back first thing in the morning. It's a peaceful little lake I have always loved. Very excited to have a baby-friendly family trip on the docket for this summer.
We are also working out the logistics to book a one-night stay in a fancy spa hotel in the mountains to celebrate our 10-year anniversary a year late. 10 years just came at a weird time with a nursing baby, and we still don't feel comfortable leaving Alice longer than a night or two. So instead of a long or exotic anniversary trip, we're going to do a short but fancy one somewhere we'd never be able to justify the price on otherwise, but in the name of "10 year anniversary trip" it will be a really cool experience. (You can look up "Posthotel Leavenworth" if you're curious. It's giving "Harry Potter Prefect Bathroom" vibes and that's why we picked it haha. It's also in a Bavarian town, and since we met in German class and honeymooned in Germany, this option felt cute for our 10-year anniversary.)
It will be good to have something to look forward to each month of our summer this year. Last summer dragged onnnnn and onnnn and was kind of brutal to be honest. We'll see if planning out some trips and a one-week sports camp for Jack will be the magic recipe for a happier summer. As always, I'll keep you posted.
