Hurricane Ridge Photography | Our Washington Trip Adventures | Washington Travel

Last month Marcus and I made our way to Washington State. This trip was a happy unexpected surprise as one of my couples graciously flew me out to have their engagement session photos shot. Nothing right now is normal so travel there with a plane half full and masks required the entire time was different. Our first day in we went to the must-see places of Seattle. We explored the Pikes Place Marketplace and walked the gardens surrounding the base of the Space Needle. I checked the Space Needle’s website daily up until we arrived and we just did not get there in time for it to be open. I think we will definitely check it out more when we go back in future.

Friday we made our way up the PNW for our engagement shoot where we were able to enjoy an adventure session with my couple while enjoying the deer and lake views of Lake Crescent. I seriously could have stayed at Lake Crescent for a solid week. It was a cloudy day with fog coming over the tops of the mountains. It was so beautiful. Next time we are here, we will definitely be kayaking around this beauty and attempting the King Storm Trail! (You can check out their amazing engagement session here)

Lake Crescent

We stayed the night in a Port Angeles airbnb, which had 4-week old toy poodle puppies!!!! THEY WERE SO LITTLE! I do not have photos but they were cute. The next day after a peaceful night of sleep, Marcus and I made our way to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. A lot of Washington had been closed due to COVID; so I jumped on this opportunity when Hurricane Ridge opened back up a week before our scheduled trip. This location did not disappoint. The drive up the mountain gives you a little teaser of what you will see as you climb above the clouds on winding roads. The spectacular mountain views hit you right in the face once you get to the top. We just sat and soaked it all in for a little while. Washington is the Evergreen State; the whole mountain smelled like a crisp Christmas morning. The air was so fresh and walking the trails were a true pleasure. Deer are so used to people they would just walk out right in front of you. This location was easily a top highlight of our time in this beautiful state.

Can’t get Enough of Lake Crescent?! Don’t worry neither could I! I shot a whole adventure engagement session at Lake Crescent. You can check it out here!

Hurricane Ridge

Sunday and Monday were both spent back in the city exploring places like Discovery Park on the beach in the sun, checking out Washington Waterfalls, and Kerry park with the awesome views of downtown Seattle. There are so many more spots I want to explore in the state of Washington, But I feel like we were blessed enough to see a lot while we were there! Huge shout out to Marcus for being the best driver and getting to our places safely and on time!!

Can’t get Enough of Discover Park?! Don’t worry neither could I! I shot a whole couples session at Discover Park in the morning! You can check it out here!

Discovery Park

Snoqualmie Falls

This little day trip is only 45 minutes outside of downtown Seattle. Out of all the stops we made on this trip this location was by far the most touristy and populated. It is easily accessible, which I think was part of the draw for people.
I really wanted to venture to the bottom of the falls but it was closed at the time we visited. The hike from the top to the bottom was not hard but it wasn’t easy. We all were out of breathe when we got to the bottom only to find out there was a parking lot at the bottom we could have driven to instead. I would 100% do an engagement session at this location only if the bottom of the falls trails were open at the time. Other than that I would probably not visit this location again.

Discovery Park Couple Photography | Jenna & Trevor | Seattle Couples Photographer

Discovery Park Couple Session with Jenna & Trevor!

Jenna, Trevor, and I met at Discovery Park for their couples session in Seattle, Washington! Even getting up early we didn’t have the whole beach to ourselves BUT there were only a few of us. We enjoyed running on the beach in the morning sun! I am not kidding when I say we took a brief moment to admire a bald eagle just sitting above us.

Jenna and Trevor were in the same circle of people when Trevor spotted Jenna for the first time. Jenna describes it as he “HUNTED ME DOWN for 6 months” before she gave him a chance at a conversation. His pursuit of her paid off and it wasn’t long after that he moved to Seattle too. That was the motivation of Trevor moving to Washington, as this beautiful lady made the transition to a new life in Seattle. They love hiking all around the Washington area with their doodle, Molly.

I am SOOOO glad I was able to hang out with these cool cats while in Washington! Please enjoy the sunrise couple session on the beaches of Discovery Park!

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Are you JUST as OBSESSED with these two as I am?! The viewing doesn’t have to stop there.
Check out Christy and Micheal’s Lake Crescent Engagement Session HERE for more Washington Magic!

Lake Crescent Engagement Photography | Christy & Micheal | Washington Engagement Photographer

Christy & Micheal’s Adventure Engagement Session at Lake Crescent

The Engagement Session

Christy & Micheal’s Engagement session started at the beautiful Purple Haze Lavender Farm. The staff was kind and the flowers are just starting to bloom. We added this stop last minute and had no regrets; this was my first time seeing lavender farm in person and they blossom from June through August so we were there just in time. After we were done enjoying the amazing smells and purple flowers we continued on our adventure to Lake Crescent, where we spent the majority of our time.

Lake Crescent is a stunning lake with mountain views and crystal clear water. Christy and Micheal were laughing and enjoying their time together as we explored both the water as well as a near by trail that took us to Marymere Falls! How cool is it that we were able to get some wildlife shots of deer from the area too?! Washington gave us lake views, waterfalls, and ocean smells. We ended our good day on a Port Angeles beach. It was more like a very slipper rock figure but that didn’t stop these two! Lots of laughs all day and I know it shows in their photos.

How They Meet

Christy and Micheal were a casual set up from Christy's brother-in-law who was pushing her to meet him when she was out in Washington. That Sunday they went to church and sat next to each other. All Michael said was Hi and they didn't talk again. Later that night they went out to eat with friends as a group and Christy felt it was so awkward because he wasn't close enough to talk to so they hardly talked at all. Christy was visiting her sister to celebrate her nieces 1st birthday and she felt bad like she hadn't given Michael real chance the first time they met. So Christy gave it another try and started talking to Michael and hasn't stopped. That night Michael got the courage to ask for Christy's number and they've been talking ever since.

How He Proposed

Christy and Micheal had talked about getting engaged and Christy thought it would be July 4th when Michael was supposed to fly over for the weekend. But God and the covid-19 had other plans. Christy was studying for school when her mom started pestering of her to do her nails to help her to relax. Christy was concentrating hard on her school work; she just could not understand why her mom wanted her to get her nails done so much and she ignored the advice. That same afternoon Christy's mom told her that she needs to come on a walk with her just to relax and get some fresh air to take a break from studying and as anybody knows moms walks are about an hour. So Christy kept declining but Mom was persistent enough that she finally gave in.

On the walk Chris's mom casually brought up the engagement, asking her when she thought they were going to get engaged. Christy was kind of explaining their plans when up by the head on the trail was a guy walking his dog came into view. As Christy explained this all to her mom, she made a passing comment that the dog up there looked exactly like Micheal's dog, Abe. But it was a little bit bigger than the dog in question and that's when Christy's mom got pretty quiet, gave her a smile and Christy finally connected the dots that it actually was Abe and Michael waiting for her at the end of the trail. Mom walked away to give them a little bit of privacy as Christy excitingly went over to see Micheal. They sat on a nearby bench and talked all about him being there and surprising them. Even though she didn’t want to get her hopes up that he would propose just then, she still had a slight desire that it would happen. As they were cuddling on the bench, Micheal nudged Christy off his shoulder, made her stand, got down on one knee, and proposed. She could not be more happy to say YES!

HUGE Thank you to the Purple Haze Lavender Farm for letting us enjoy your beautiful farm!

Are you planning your state park engagement session too?? I wrote a whole blog post about it to help get you started! You can check it out HERE!