Seattle / Olympic National Park – August 2024

One of the Facebook groups I follow is Award Travel 101. It is a points and miles group where I have read and learned a lot about this new hobby of traveling frugally. These groups have meetups several times a year for networking and education in different locations. Several months ago, I learned of a meetup in Seattle in August. I didn’t have anything on my calendar for August at that time and when I looked, the airfare mileage was a very low 12,000 points round trip. I convinced my sister Lisa to go with me, so we made plans to attend. And since we were going to be in the Northwest anyway, might as well visit Olympic National Park while we were there.

We left Fort Smith (FSM) on the 8pm flight on Thursday, August 15th. That put us in Seattle after midnight. Let me tell you, Uber/Lyft surge pricing is in full force at that hour! LOL! $62 from the airport to our hotel. There is a light rail train that runs that same route for only $3 – but not being familiar with the area and it being so late at night we decided it was safer to pay for the Lyft.

Friday, Lisa and I set out on foot exploring the downtown area. First stop – McDonald’s. I didn’t have coffee at the hotel, so I grabbed an iced coffee and egg mcmuffin. We downloaded an audio walking tour and headed down to the waterfront pier to begin. Naturally, we had to make a quick detour to ride the Seattle Great Wheel – an enclosed ferris wheel on the pier. The walking tour took us along the pier, through Pioneer Square, past the Seattle Pubic Library, and finally back to Pike Place Market and the famous Gum Wall! After lunch at Pike Place Market, we made our way back to the hotel to rest after walking for hours.

Our first meetup with the travel group was that evening in one of the Hyatt Regency suites. Those of you that know me in real life, know that social gatherings are really not my thing … unless it’s something I’m passionate about! We arrived at the suite and visited with one person, then another. By the end of the night, half a dozen of us had found seats at the table and were enjoying getting to know each other. Most of us in this little group were new and eager to learn more, while there were a few that had many years of traveling for free under their belt. One lady had been travelling exclusively for several years. Another was on the verge of selling her house and taking the plunge of full time travelling. One lady had been to Atlantic City to do what’s called the “merry-go-round” of status matching. Another had been to multiple countries as a solo traveler. So much to learn!

Saturday morning, there was a group event of a harbor tour. This was a good time to take in the sights and visit with even more of our new friends. A group of us went to lunch and Lisa and I soaked in even more tidbits of information from the group. In the afternoon, Lisa and I took the train over to the Space Needle area. The walking tour we did on Friday had a bonus tour of the park. It talked about the different buildings that were built during the 1962 World’s Fair. Our event Saturday evening was at the local “Whisky Bar”. Great appetizers, finger sandwiches and drinks were served and more networking to be done. Our evening was cut short at the bar due to a pop up thunderstorm. But lucky for us, the suite at the hotel would hold us all. At the end of the evening, we said goodbye to our new friends. Several of us linked up with Facebook connections so that we could keep in touch.

My memories of Seattle are as much the smells as the sights. One block may be filled with bakery or seafood, then the next block over the smell of people living in the streets with no public restroom facilities. We would have to be careful of where we stepped because there might be a fresh stream of urine. The sights included flowers at the market or the destitute of a person down on their luck.

Sunday led us on a new adventure! We hopped aboard the train and headed back to the airport so we could pick up our rental car. Then off we went to Olympic National Park. When we got over there, clouds had set in and the ridgeline drive didn’t have much of a view. So back down we went and we found a couple of hiking trails to waterfalls. Madison Falls was a quick trek with a nice view. Marymere Falls was a two mile hike. Both well worth the trip. The weather had turned cloudy and it rained on us off and on throughout the afternoon.

Our plans for Monday were to make a big loop around the park and head back to the airport by around 9pm for out midnight flight. We made it to Forks (of Twilight Trilogy fame) and Rialto Beach on the Pacific Ocean. By this time, the rain was not letting up. It was cold, windy and wet! The views of the islands off the coast were all but non-existent. So we turned around and went back the way we started…well, going back to Port Angeles to retrieve Lisa’s watch may have had a part in that too! But that gave us an opportunity to ride the ferry – which I was wanting to do and our plans had not allowed for that on Sunday.

We arrived back at the airport in plenty of time to drop off our rental car and visit The Club lounge. One of the perks of my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. The lounge in the South Satellite Terminal was very roomy and not busy at all that late in the evening. They had an assortment of soup, salad and chips and dips. That was enough to fill us up for dinner. The red-eye flight got us into DFW early Tuesday morning and we had a couple of hours to kill before our flight back to Fort Smith. Time to check out another lounge! The Club in the D Terminal had breakfast and coffee waiting for us!

What a fun trip! And using points and miles to cover the costs is just the icing on the cake!

Trip costs:

Airfare	12,000 miles round trip per person	American Airlines
Hotel – Seattle	18,000 points per night x 3	Hyatt Regency
Hotel – Port Angeles	$211 less $150 credit through Delta credit card	Royal Victorian Motel
Car rental	$138 (last minute change to save $100)	Thrifty Car Rental