So, we're still in Seattle.

Originally the plan was to leave today but, after thinking about it, we decided by the time we picked up our hire car and sorted the rest of our stuff out for the next part of our trip, it would be better to have another night here and set off tomorrow, fully prepared.

The plan is to leave tomorrow morning and head round the Olympic Peninsula, camping a few nights and checking out the old growth forests, temperate rainforests and wilderness coast, before making our way down to Portland, Oregon.

Yesterday, we had a lazy morning in the hostel before heading down to Pike Place Market for some amazing clam chowder. We then headed to the EMP (Experience Music Project) and Sci-Fi museum housed in an interesting building in the shadow of the retro-cool Space Needle. Unfortunately most of the Sci-Fi museum was shut to create new exhibits, but we did have fun in the EMP jamming on instruments and mixing consoles they have set up, and there was quite an interesting exhibit about Nirvana and their effect on the music scene up here, and in the world. I also enjoyed the guitar gallery which traced the history of the guitar and had some really interesting and rare examples on show.

By the time we got finished in the EMP the rain was belting down so we jumped on a bus to head up to REI, the coolest outdoor shop I have ever been in. The place was spread over 3 huge floors with a 65 foot climbing wall and bike test track inside, and a waterfall and mini-forest outside. Our mission was to find a cheap tent and camping gear, so after a tip-off from a sales assistant we headed into the lower level of the shop to the 'gear garage' where all the returned stock is sold for knockdown prices. After a bit of raking we found a used but decent tent, and after setting it up and finding it wasn't in particularly bad condition we bought that and an amazing sleeping bag for around $70, the original prices of both items totalling around $500. We left the stuff to pick up later with the car, and headed back to the hostel.

We went for dinner to a local restaurant specialising in local and sustainable produce and had a really nice meal, sharing an amazing burger, fries and some Buffalo rabbit saddle, basically chunks of rabbit cooked like classic Buffalo chicken wings. Mmmm.

After that we were beat, so we headed back to the hostel, chatted to our roommates for a bit then hit the hay.

Today, we were up a bit earlier. After sorting out our hostel booking for tonight we headed downtown to get our hire car, picking up a road atlas along the way. Once we got our paperwork sorted we were introduced to Miles, our sleek grey Nissan Sentra. We were originally only supposed to have a 'compact' but had been upgraded to an 'intermediate' sized car for the same price, which was nice. After jumping in and familiarising myself with the automatic transmission and the radio controls, we set off to Ballard, north of downtown Seattle to pick up supplies and see the Hiram M. Chittendem locks.

After a cruise up and over the Ballard bridge, we got parked at the locks, which connect the saltwater Puget Sound and freshwater Washington Lake, and wandered around for a bit, watching some pleasure cruisers and a yacht using the smaller of the two locks to move up and downstream, before checking out the salmon ladder, very much like the one at Pitlochry. Unfortunately we didn't see any salmon, or any big vessels using the larger lock, which looked like it could take some fair-sized boats.

Leaving the locks we headed to Fred Meyer, the Pacific Northwest's equivalent of Tesco to pick up supplies for our upcoming camping forays. We found some good cheap camping gear to complete our checklist, and loaded up the trolley with water and cheaper tinned food, noodles and other camping staples before checking out and heading back into Seattle.

Next on our agenda was to pick up our tent and other gear from REI which we'd left the previous day. Whilst in the shop we spoke to the very helpful chap at the National Park help desk who gave us some good pointers about the Olympic Peninsula and some maps. After getting our gear, it was around 5pm but I was determined to make one more journey before we called it a day, and I am so glad we did.

I was a bit worried about getting stuck in rush hour traffic but, taking our chances, we got onto the interstate and headed East, before taking the exit and heading to Snoqualmie. I simply had to go here while I was in the area as this is where the iconic waterfall from one of my favourite TV programmes of all time, Twin Peaks, is located. We enjoyed the views of the falls and Snalish Lodge AKA the Great Northern Hotel perched above it, before heading a few more miles South through Snoqualmie to North Bend. It was here that we found the diner used as the 'Double R' diner in Twin Peaks (Now called Twede's) and we headed in to have some cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee (black as midnight on a moonless night, of course). I found out that the diner had been burnt to pieces in an arson attack in 2000 but had been rebuilt to be exactly the same as before, and it was very much as I remembered it from the programme.

The geek in me satisfied, we headed back on the road and made our way West back to Seattle, enjoying some fantastic views as the setting sun bathed the wooded hills around us in that golden sunset glow. The views of the fancy houses right down on the Sound as we crossed the water back into the city, and the downtown skyline in the setting sun were also excellent.

After a pretty productive day we headed back to the hostel to get checked into our new room and relax for a bit ahead of the start of our camping adventure tomorrow.