The Junction Retreat.

The Journal

Stories & guides from the Junction.

Slow weekends, local favorites, and the little details we've learned from hosting. Part travel guide, part love letter to West Seattle.

Start reading

11 stories, one trail through them.

Browse all 11 stories About 54 minutes of reading
  1. The perfect West Seattle weekend, hour by hourGuide · 6 min read
  2. Evenings under the pergolaThe House · 4 min read
  3. Downtown without the bridge: the water taxiGet Outside · 4 min read
  4. An old-growth forest hidden in the cityGet Outside · 4 min read
  5. July 4th in West Seattle: where to watchGet Outside · 4 min read
  6. The rainy-day West Seattle playbookGet Outside · 7 min read
  7. Where to eat at the Junction: the short listEat & Drink · 5 min read
  8. A market breakfast, then a kitchen morningEat & Drink · 5 min read
  9. West Seattle with your dogGet Outside · 5 min read
  10. Where to catch the best West Seattle sunsetGet Outside · 5 min read
  11. Built by two best friendsStory · 5 min read
A line-drawn map of the West Seattle peninsula, north up: Puget Sound to the west, Elliott Bay to the north with the downtown skyline across the water, the Alki Point lighthouse on the northwest tip, Lincoln Park on the southwest shore, and a dashed water-taxi route from Seacrest to downtown.
Illustrative map, not to scale · Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Stories on the map

Where the stories happen.

Six places the journal keeps coming back to. Choose a pin or a place, then jump to its story.

  1. Read: 07 Where to eat 08 Market breakfast

  2. Read: 04 Old-growth forest

  3. Read: 09 With your dog 10 Sunsets

  4. Read: 03 The water taxi

  5. Read: 05 July 4th

  6. Read: 10 Sunsets

All stories

Ten more from the Junction.

Get outside, eat well, come home to the deck. Each pine on the trail marks a story, and it fills in as you read.

02The House

Evenings under the pergola

Rain or stars, the louvered pergola changes the whole evening: open to the stars or closed against the drizzle. How an evening on the deck actually unfolds.

4 min read

Under the louvered pergola on the back deck: a gas fire pit, two Adirondack chairs and a carved wooden bear, with the edge of the Softub at left.
The back deck
03Get Outside

Downtown without the bridge: the water taxi

About 12 minutes from Seacrest to downtown's Pier 50, and how to make a day of it from West Seattle.

4 min read

About

12minSeacrest to downtown's Pier 50, by water taxi.

04Get Outside

An old-growth forest hidden in the city

Schmitz Preserve is a short drive and a world away: firs, cedars and a quiet creek trail. Here's the walk we love.

4 min read

An animated drawing of a cedar creek trail, like the old-growth trail at Schmitz Preserve.
05Get Outside

July 4th in West Seattle: where to watch

Hamilton Viewpoint for the fireworks and the downtown skyline, Alki at golden hour first. The local playbook.

4 min read

Where to watch

July 4thHamilton Viewpoint: the skyline, then the fireworks.

06Get Outside

The rainy-day West Seattle playbook

Rain in the forecast? Good. The Softub, a slow breakfast and the water taxi downtown: the full wet-weather playbook. The Softub is a portable, insulated soaking tub with a rigid shell and no permanent plumbing, easy to set up and move.

7 min read

Living room: a leather sofa, wood slat walls and a picture window.
Living room
07Eat & Drink

Where to eat at the Junction: the short list

Our favorites within a short walk of the house, tested more times than we'd like to admit.

5 min read

On foot from the door

3minCoffee in the Junction 4minBakery Nouveau

09Get Outside

West Seattle with your dog

Leashed walks on the paved Alki Trail, why the beaches are off-limits, and where to go instead. Our honest guide for guests with dogs.

5 min read

Welcome, up to

2petsDogs or cats, with an outdoor dog-wash station for after the walk.

10Get Outside

Where to catch the best West Seattle sunset

Alki or the Lincoln Park bluffs? A local's ranking, by season and by mood.

5 min read

A local's ranking

2spotsAlki's shoreline or the Lincoln Park bluffs, by season and by mood.

11Story

Built by two best friends

The thinking behind the design, the materials, and the calm we wanted guests to feel.

5 min read

The primary bedroom: a king bed with rust-colored bedding facing a black slatted feature wall, and a big picture window.
Primary bedroom
12Eat & Drink

Coffee, a few doors down

The closest good coffee to the house is a Seattle original: Uptown Espresso in the Junction, home of the velvet-foam latte.

3 min read

Since

1984The year Uptown poured its first velvet foam.

Twelve stories. One front door.

Back to the first story

The trailhead

Every story starts at the front door.

Park once, walk everywhere. Coffee and Bakery Nouveau are a few minutes on foot, an old-growth forest is a short drive, and downtown is ten minutes away.

Check availability See the neighborhood

Questions first? Email the hosts

The entry: the front door open to the porch, beside a slatted wood coat wall and a bench.
Entry