Planes, Buses, and Boats: Exploring the Pacific Northwest

Cruise ships in Juneau, Alaska

We are back from another amazing trip! This time, we headed to the Pacific Northwest to cruise to Alaska on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas! We went to a lot of places that have been on my list for a long time and I really feel like I just got my toes wet in this beautiful area!

This may not come as a surprise to longtime readers, but we will go to some great depths for a cheap flight. For this trip, we booked nonrefundable flights to Seattle with a cruise leaving out of Vancouver with the thought that we would take Amtrak across the border, but when we went to book the train we learned that it hasn’t been operating since COVID. There was hope that they would get it running this summer, but now it’s been pushed back to the winter. So, after doing hours of research we decided to take the bus across the border. Because of schedules we ended up book Greyhound from Seattle to Vancouver and then QuickShuttle from Vancouver to Bellingham, Washington where we rented a car for the rest of the trip. I will give our thoughts on these options as it comes up in the trip report.

Here’s a little rundown of what is to come on this trip report:

• Day 1: Seattle
  • Space Needle & Chihuly Gardens
  • Pike Place Market
  • Greyhound to Vancouver
• Day 2: Vancouver
  • Capilano Suspension Bridge
  • Downtown Vancouver & Vancouver Lookout
  • Stanley Park
• Day 3: Embark Serenade of the Seas
• Day 5: Sitka, Alaska
  • Fortress of the Bear
  • Alaska Raptor Center
  • Sitka National Historic Park
• Day 6: Juneau, Alaska
  • Mendenhall Glacier
  • Whale Watching
  • Mt. Roberts Tramway
• Day 7: Skagway & Haines, Alaska
  • Dogsledding & Musher’s Camp Excursion
  • Klondike Gold Rush National Historic Park
  • Haines, Alaska
• Day 8: Cruise Tracy Arm Fjord
• Day 10: Disembark Ship, Quickshuttle to Bellingham, Rent Car to Port Angeles, Washington
• Day 11: Olympic National Park
  • Lake Crescent
  • Rialto Beach
• Day 12: Hurricane Ridge
• Day 13: Sequim, Washington
  • Dungeness Bay National Wildlife Refuge
  • B&B Family Lavender Farm
  • John Wayne Marina
• Day 14: Hoh Rainforest
• Day 15: Mt. Rainier National Park

As you can tell from this overview, this was a busy trip and I’m so excited to share it with you! Be sure to check in next week as I detail our day in Seattle!

Thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my updated Gear Page.