Day 2
I always love nature. And there are two beautiful national parks close to Seattle, the Olympic National Park and the Mt. Rainier National Park. I had a hard time picking which one to go, and I looked at some reviews, and decided to go with the Olympic National Park. We woke up really early because it is a 2-hour drive to get there from Seattle, and therefore we need coffee!!! The only good coffee place I found that's open at 7am in the morning is actually on the Pike's Place Market called " Le Panier", and the coffee is very good and they are famous for their pastries, so we got some for the road! When we finally arrived at the park, we went on the staircase rapid loop trail. It is a 4-mile trail with lots of trees and water, absolutely gorgeous!
There's a picture of the car we rented for the trip! A convertible 2-seater! They ran out of options by the time we picked up the car, so we ended up with a nice convertible! *bonus* I have been to a lot of national parks around California, Arizona and Utah, but the habitat here is just soooooo different. It is just sooooooooooooooooo green everywhere! Even the branches of the trees are covered with mosses and ferns! The water of the creek is so clear and green that I feel like I can just drink it! (don't ever do that... bad idea) After this gorgeous hike, we were looking for some other hikes, but unfortunately, this part of the park is very segregated from the other parts of the park. There are supposed to be some coastal hikes, beaches hikes, mountain hikes, a variety of different sceneries, but unfortunately, despite our endeavor to try to find it, we got lost and barely made it out of the woods. (A large portion of the roads were unpaved......with holes....) I guess I should have done more research before I came, oh well..... I thought I have been to enough national parks that I would be able to find my way in this one...... Anyways, we went back to the city and decided to visit the Chinatown/International District. Then, we went to downtown Bellevue to have some good Taiwanese food, the place is called "Facing East". That place was just PACKED, but it was worth the wait. There is some authentic Taiwanese street food that is not easy to come by in US, and the food was pretty good.
Last stop before the night ends, we went to the space needle! How can you tell people you have been to Seattle until you have been to the space needle! It was not too bad of a line, and apparently there's early/late bird discount (6-9am, 9-12pm), which in my opinion, is the best time to see the day/night view anyways! The space needle is 600 feet tall, and was built for the 1962 World's Fair, same idea as the Eiffel Tower for the 1889 World's Fair. (a little fun fact moment there) The SkyCity Restaurant is a revolving restaurant at 500 feet at the space needle if you would like to enjoy the city view while you eat. I did not go for it because I don't think the food is worth it. We went up to the top and the city view is awesome! (One thing about this view is that.... the space needle is not in it lol)