Long Northwest 2026

We have been so excited about our trip to Washington – we knew we wanted to go hiking in the Olympic National Forest, get our fill of tidepools, and see some beautiful mountains. As I was researching the trip, I happened upon a whale watching option, and after much input, excitement, and further research – we decided to tick the checkbox on this bucket list item and go for a full day tour on the Salish Sea to spot some whales and other wildlife. So with that in mind and a lot of packing, some new to us check luggage, we were off.

We left our home at 3:30 in the morning, and caught a Lyft with a really nice driver. Tula got to ride up front for the first time, because – did we forget to mention?!?! – she broke her foot right before we left.

And so she got to ride in a wheelchair through the airport and didn’t have to do any walking. We all got to do pre-boarding, and even went through the quick line at TSA. It was kinda amazing, but still would have taken a unbroken foot instead. Our first flight was a quick one to Dallas, and Tula was gracious enough to give Wylder the window, and they both held my hand during take off – but I was the one who was nervous not them.

We had a brief stop in Dallas to switch planes, and then off again to Seattle. By the time we arrived in Seattle our bodies felt like it was lunch but it was only 930 am. We hadn’t realized that the last FIFA game was happening the next day so waiting for our rental car took a while – hungry and tired, with some grumps we finally made it to our car.

With gas price so high, we opted for a Tesla and had a huge learning curve to deal with the “optimizing” as we called it, we had to learn how to turn it on, lock it, and realized its quite a bit different.

We ended up picking a yummy place to eat which turned out to be in a mall, then hit up good ol’ Freddie Meyers for provisions, found a park (Seahurst) for some tide-pooling and general movement and nature awe – and then headed out on our first adventure – Harbour Wild Watch!

I of course am a nature nerd – and have one Tik Tok channel that I share with the kids – Harbour Wild Watch! We’ve been watching Rachel, the main naturalist, speak to us about octopus, moon jellies, chitons, nudibranchs, and more for ages – so we drove straight to Gig Harbor to take in the home base. We made it just in time for the “Feeding Frenzy” where volunteer biologist Natalie took us to each tank and described and fed many of the creatures. It was so fun.

After that we drove some more and sought out more food with our tired bodies, and then went to check in at our first night stay – a tiny home in a working farm called Dragon Wheels Farm. There were goats, pigs, ducks, chickens and one very aggressive goose named Tony (and his two sons, and several haughty lady geese)

Tony was in prison because he can be very rude to guests. His prison is a small garden bed with lovely flowers, and a chestbone high (to him) and shin high (to us) garden fence, that keeps him in. We encountered him rushing at us and honking in the pen, and after I made a comical bow as he inclined his head, we got into a bit of a “bow off” – in which I thought we had come to some accords. Tula joined in.

Tony in his prison cell and Tula in bowing accords

I later found out that he just needs to know you won’t back down, and he thought we were being rather aggressive ourselves. He apparently loves cuddles, but will bite the shit out of you when he feels like it.

We checked out the duck pond and the chickens, and were instructed to feed the goats from the nearby willow tree. We took some pictures and then got ready for dinner in the Tiny House.

We were all so tired we crashed as Papa went to charge the car nearby, and he came home and watched Hummingbirds feed at the lantern plant as we slept. Tula and Wylder had little couch pullouts, Chris had a loft, and I, too hot for the loft, made a pallet on the floor between the two big littles, and we all passed right out until the goats stirred at Dawn.