For the first time since 1921, Penn State football took the 2000-plus mile journey from State College to the West Coast for a matchup with Washington Saturday.

The Nittany Lions held off a second-half comeback attempt by the Huskies, winning 28-25 to improve to 5-4. Along with the nail-biter at Husky Stadium, the football beat explored some of the gorgeous Pacific Northwest.

Let’s take a look at all that went down during Onward State’s four-day trip to Seattle!

This road trip recap is brought to you by the Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA). To find out more about the services CATA offers, folks can visit here.

Friday

Ericka, Oscar, Lauren, and I piled into Ericka’s Volkswagen Tiguan at around 9 a.m. Friday morning. We began chugging down the interstate toward Newark, New Jersey, where we had a 3:30 p.m. flight to Seattle. Unfortunately, Jamie couldn’t make the trip due to a last-minute illness.

Our first stop obviously had to be Starbucks, since its first location was opened in Seattle. At first, I was going to pass on getting into the Pacific Northwest mindset with some caffeine, but a $3-off coupon in the Starbucks app made the decision much easier.

The @OnwardState football beat is en route to Seattle!

Getting in the Pacific Northwest mood with some Starbucks pic.twitter.com/J6eeInW67M

— Cadyn Gill (@cgill214) November 6, 2026

Ericka and I got sugar cookie lattes, while Oscar opted for a caramel macchiato. I wasn’t blown away, but I’m always happy to participate in seasonal consumerism.

After waiting a good 20 minutes for our drinks, we continued our journey through Pennsylvania when, all of a sudden, our journey came to another halt, this time not by slow baristas, but at the hands of law enforcement.

So @ericka_apolskis, my fellow Texan, might have been a little heavy-footed on the gas pedal for the Central PA Police’s liking #justawarningtho pic.twitter.com/xFxCrrSgJh

— Cadyn Gill (@cgill214) November 6, 2026

Fortunately, the cop gave us a warning, but not until he questioned our ability to read. He also claimed we were going 95 miles per hour in a 70 mph zone, but that didn’t add up. We were behind the cop before Ericka passed him because she thought he was trying to get over to an exit.

Once we got closer to the airport, we had trouble finding the parking facility, so between a slow Starbucks, the encounter with the cop, and an overstimulating parking lot service, we had just under 30 minutes to get to our gate.

Thankfully, TSA was pretty swift, and we got there with enough time to get food before takeoff. I got a turkey sub, Oscar got pizza, and Ericka got Starbucks.

We landed in Seattle around 6:30 p.m. PST, grabbed our luggage, and then went our separate ways. Oscar and I stayed with Jamie and my friend Owen, since he’s from Seattle and also made the trip for CommRadio. Ericka and Lauren stayed with a friend who lived in the area.

Oscar and I went out to dinner at a Japanese katsu spot with Owen and his family.

Afterward, we explored the Capitol Hill area and got ice cream at Salt & Straw, a chain with elevated flavors and unlimited samples. We tried the entire limited-edition Thanksgiving menu, including salted buttercream dinner roll, pumpkin pie, turkey & bacon caramel, cranberry shortbread, and paple koginut squash. I opted for a scoop of half turkey & bacon caramel and half dinner roll, and it was truly amazing.

With our bellies full, we went to sleep in preparation for a long day of delivering Penn State football coverage.

Saturday

Gameday.

We got up and at ’em at 7 a.m., which gave us plenty of time to grab a coffee and pastry at Inkling Art Cafe and then explore around Husky Stadium before heading in to begin our coverage.

We did a lap around Washington’s entire athletic program infrastructure, including volleyball, basketball, baseball, softball, and football. All of the venues sat right on the water of Union Bay, which made for some incredible views.

I was elated to win a free Lipton Tea hat at a promotional tent before meeting up with Ericka and Lauren to take pictures outside the stadium.

We entered the stadium at 9:30 a.m., dropped our stuff in the press box, and immediately went down to the field to enjoy having pregame field access for the first time all season (shoutout to Washington athletics).

Closer to kickoff, we went back up to the press box and ate our boxed lunch, which was surprisingly delicious.

Had PTSD from the Temple boxed lunch disaster from earlier in the season, but consider me impressed with the boxed lunch in the Husky Stadium press box pic.twitter.com/2vORWZ3PCF

— Cadyn Gill (@cgill214) November 7, 2026

Then came kickoff.

Penn State cruised to a 28-6 halftime lead, but played horrendous football in the second half, and were just a few plays away from a devastating collapse.

Thanks to our field access credentials, we were able to go down to the field at the 8:00 mark of the fourth quarter, which meant we saw Penn State’s entire 7:40 drive to put the game away. That was my first time being on the field during a Penn State game, and I had legitimate chills.

Penn State offensive lineman Anthony Donkoh is HYPE after the win pic.twitter.com/LpfvVeTyXk

— Cadyn Gill (@cgill214) November 8, 2026

After talking to Matt Campbell and players during postgame media, we went back up to the press box to write our postgame pieces.

Oscar and I left Husky Stadium at about 8 p.m., Ubered home, and then set out on foot to find some grub. Unfortunately, we got a taste of Pacific Northwest weather, as we were beaten down by wind and rain.

We eventually arrived at a place called Monsoon, which was incredibly fitting. There, Oscar and I shared a plate of spare ribs that were genuinely a 10/10.

For my main, I got lemongrass chicken in a claypot, which was also incredibly flavorful and hearty.

We then returned home to recharge for our exploration day.

Sunday

Helloooo, Seattle!

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, Oscar and I began our day with a brisk walk through Capitol Hill to a popular Vietnamese coffee spot.

Kicking off our Sunday in Seattle with Vietnamese coffees at Phê. Oscar is watching the Rams, I’m watching the Cowboys at 10 a.m. I guess??? pic.twitter.com/rXLGr65Bmr

— Cadyn Gill (@cgill214) November 8, 2026

We sipped on our delicious cà phê muối while watching NFL football at the unholy hour of 10 a.m. Oscar is a Los Angeles native, so he was obviously accustomed to it, but I, a Texan enrolled at Penn State, have only seen noon or 1 p.m. kickoffs.

While walking to the Space Needle, I stopped at a popular bakery chain, Piroshky Piroshky, where I got a salmon pate pastry. It was solid, and I was glad to check off another touristy spot.

After reuniting with Ericka and Lauren at Seattle’s most iconic building, we bought the Seattle City Pass, which got us entry to the Space Needle and four other popular attractions of our choosing for $140.

We hit up the Museum of Pop Culture, Pike Place Market, the Seattle Aquarium, and Lumen Field just as the Seahawks game wrapped up.

Oscar and I split a Seattle dog, which is a hot dog with cream cheese, grilled peppers and onions, and sriracha. I was extremely skeptical, but ultimately caved, and I’m glad I did, because it was delicious. The cream cheese cut through the saltiness, and the sriracha gave it a nice spicy tang.

We hit up three different thrift stores throughout the night and got dinner at FOB Sushi, which was a self-serve sushi bar where you paid by the pound.

It’s never the end of the night after walking 30,000 steps without a sweet treat, so we went to Molly Moon’s, where I had the best ice cream I’ve ever had. It was a limited seasonal flavor: Dutch apple pie.

After we made it home, we did some Onward State-related work and then packed up our belongings.

Monday

Calling our return flight a red-eye feels like an understatement. Oscar and I woke up at 3:15 a.m., then took an Uber to the SeaTac airport at 4 a.m.

We met up with Ericka and Lauren at our terminal, and immediately began the quest for some pre-flight fuel. I opted for the atypical airport breakfast of chicken & waffles from Skillet. The Southerner in me was quite dissatisfied, especially considering the absurd $26 bill, but it did the trick, I suppose.

Shortly after scarfing down our breakfast, we boarded.

Thank you Seattle for a lovely weekend.

Back to State College we go! pic.twitter.com/8JhilKbc0h

— Cadyn Gill (@cgill214) November 9, 2026

I made sure I stayed awake long enough to get my complimentary beverage and Biscoff cookies, then drifted off for about two hours. I woke up and had my snack while re-watching two episodes of “Stranger Things 5.”

Despite some uneasy turbulence during the descent, we landed 40 minutes early, which is always appreciated.

We took a shuttle back to the parking facility and started the home stretch.

We stopped just once at Wawa, where I lost my Gobbler virginity. The bowl of mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce was delicious and really hit the spot after hours on hours of travel.

The next two hours on the road went painfully slow, but the extremely dangerous scenario of a large buck darting out in the middle of the road while we were going 80 mph woke everyone up. Fortunately, I spotted it fast enough, and Ericka was able to decelerate to avoid a collision.

We made it back safely to State College just before 7 p.m.

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