Hey Guys!
My hubby and I recently took a trip to Seattle. We had $300 in airline credit that was about to expire and there was no way I was about to let that happen! 😉
Read Day 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here, Day 6 here & Day 7 here
We had only flown into Seattle once before when we did an Alaskan cruise.
However, we didn’t get to spend anytime there because as soon as we picked up our rental car, we drove to Vancouver as that’s where we were boarding our cruise ship.
When trying to decide what place we would visit, I stumbled upon a rental property on Instagram that was in Skykomish, WA. I actually get a lot of trip ideas from Instagram!
Since we would be going the week of my birthday, I decided to splurge and spend 2 nights in this AirBnb property called Sky Haus.
With the $300 in airline credit and the rapid reward points we had with Southwest, we flew to Seattle for free.
The morning we flew out, we had to be up at 2:30 am so we could drop off our vehicle at the off site airport parking lot by 4:00.
Our flight out from Nashville was at 6:30 am and anyone who knows me, knows I’m a stickler for getting to the airport at least 2 hrs before my departure time! 😉
We flew into St Louis and then onto Seattle. The flight to Seattle was around 3.5 hrs from St Louis.
If you look closely, you can see the space needle.
Flying over Seattle…Can you spot the CenturyLink Field? It’s the home field for the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Sounders.
Seattle is 2 hours behind us so we arrived around 11:30 am.
Once we landed, we picked up our rental car and headed to our first stop.
I decided not to plan too many stops for our first day since I knew we would be exhausted from having to get up so early.
Our first two nights, we were staying at the Ship Harbor Inn in Anacortes.
I chose this hotel because it was less than a 5 minute drive to the ferry that took you over to the San Juan Islands and since we had to be at the ferry at 6:30 the next morning, I wanted a hotel that was as close as possible.
The drive to Anacortes from the airport was approximately 2 hrs.
Arriving to Anacortes
Our first stop was lunch! My hubby is the foodie so he had researched the restaurants he wanted to try at each of the places we were visiting.
We had 2 restaurants on the list for Anacortes, Adrift & RockFish Grill. We decided to go with RockFish Grill.
It was crowded when we arrived but we got seated pretty quickly.
We both ordered the fish and chips….the fish was an Alaskan white fish hand dipped in their “special” batter and quick fried.
After having fish and chips in Iceland last year, I have to admit, I wasn’t very impressed. The fish didn’t appear to be a good quality “white” fish to me. It was average at best.
A few shots of the inside of the restaurant
A few shots of the outside of the restaurant
After lunch, we decided to go ahead and check in at our hotel before heading to our next stop.
A sign over the street welcoming visitors to Anacortes
We loved the hotel…it was very quaint and had views of the water!
Our room was really nice and spacious!
Shots of the property
A few pics of the room and our view
After unloading our luggage, we decided to head to our next stop, the loop road at the Washington Park.
The loop road is a 2.5 mi scenic drive in the Washington Park. A lot of people will use it as a walking trail so you have to watch out for pedestrians.
There are several places you can pull over to take in the scenery.
The road is lined with tall pine & fir trees!
Views along the way
We pulled over and spotted this huge tree that had fallen…can you spot my hubby standing on the tree?
Views of the mountains & water….the water was ice cold!
We stopped off at this beautiful beach surrounded by pine trees…..I love being surrounded by mountains, trees & water! 
My hubby searching for that perfect rock….he brings back rocks from every trip we go on! 🙂
After leaving the beach, we continued our loop drive …it ended at an overlook with some pretty awesome views!
We spotted these cool looking trees nearby
We also spotted 2 bald eagles flying right above our heads…unfortunately, I couldn’t get a photo of them with my iPhone.
After leaving the park, we headed to the summit of Mt Erie.
Sadly, the views were obscured by the trees
We spotted this memorial nearby…..so sad.
We walked off the trail to get a better view…the views were incredible!
After leaving here, we headed to our last stop of the day. It wasn’t anything too exciting but I found it during my research and thought it was really cool so I just had to add it to the list.
It was a very old merchant ship named the La Merced that was turned into a breakwater in 1966.
The La Merced was a four masted schooner, commissioned in 1917. In the end it was turned into a breakwater by filling it with dredge; the woodlands are a natural byproduct. It’s so big that it’s visible from the road.
Read about the history of the ship here & here
It was really cool!
After taking 236 pics of the ship, we decided to call it a night and head back to our hotel.
We had an early start the next morning so we were definitely in need of some sleep!
Thanks for reading & stay tuned for Day 2!!
Other things to see/do in Anacortes:
- Lake Erie
- Ship Harbor Interpretive Reserve
- Cap Sante Overlook at Cap Sante Park
- See the giant chess set at the Cap Sante Marina
- The historic Tommy Thompson Trail
- Sunset, West & Rosario Beaches
- Burrows Island Lighthouse from a kayak
- Address for the La Merced ship – 3022 Oakes Ave
- Seafarer’s Memorial Park
- For a list of all the parks in Anacortes click here
- Take a 5 minute ferry to Guemes Island
- Whale Watch Tour – Feb – Nov
- Kayak Tour
- Deep Sea Fishing
- Stand Up Paddle Tour
Other restaurants in the area:
- A Town Bistro
- Bob’s Chowder
- The Secret Cove
- Frida’s – Mexican
- Dad’s Diner
- Anthony’s @ Cap Sante Marina
- Ice Cream – Mad Hatters & Lopez Island Creamery
- Breakfast – Calico Cupboard Cafe
Great pictures!! The sign about falling was convincing to not climb the mountain. 😳
Happy Birthday 🎂
Thank you!! Yes, I agree. We always stay a good distance from any edge! I’m terrified of heights!