current aesthetic: pnw
My favorite kind of date is the kind that doesn’t feel like real life. A long drive. A map with no urgency. Something ancient and beautiful that makes you go quiet for a second. The Pacific Northwest is perfect for that. It’s moody, unreal, and a little holy in the way nature can be when it’s bigger than you.
hoh rain forest
Hoh rain forest doesn’t feel like a “forest”. It feels like the planet got bored and decided to show off. This place gets insane rainfall each year, and it shows - everything is saturated with life. Moss hangs off branches like wet velvet. The air is thick and quiet. The ground looks soft enough to swallow sound. You walk in and immediately understand why people describe it like a fairy tale… but it’s more like something older than that. Like the forest existed before language and just tolerated humans showing up.
tree of life
The Tree of Life looks impossible, which is kind of the point. It’s a spruce tree suspended between two cliffs, held up by its roots like it’s refusing to give in. Erosion hollowed out the ground beneath it, and instead of collapsing, it just adapted - exposed roots gripping the earth like a spine. It’s one of those places that makes you stare longer than you meant to. Not because it’s necessarily pretty, but because it feels symbolic in a way that’s almost aggressive. Surviving is not always graceful. Sometimes it’s just… stubborn.
tulip fields
The tulip fields are the soft reset. Perfect rows of color, like someone organized spring into neat little lines. It’s bright in a way the PNW usually isn’t; an entire landscape acting cheerful for once. It’s a contrast that makes it hit harder: cloudy skies, distant mountains, and then this explosion of color. It’s also one of those places that looks fake on camera until you’re standing inside it. Like you walked into a screen saver.
pikes market
Pike Place is loud in the best way. It’s chaotic, alive, and slightly overwhelming - which is how Seattle should feel. The market has been there for over a century and it still feels like the citys pulse. Fresh flowers, fruit stands, handmade things, and food smells that basically grab you by the neck and drag you closer. My favorite stop is the Mee Sum Pastry, and I will always get the same things; curry beef puffs, hom bow, and green tea sesame balls. We went back twice. Zero shame. That place is a trap.
Road trips are my favorite kind of date becayse they don’t require performing. You just exist together in new places. You walk. You eat. You get tired. You find something beautiful and stand in front of it like you’re remembering what it feels like to be a human. The PNW is perfect for that. It doesn’t try to impress you. It just is.