For the Olympic National Park portion of your trip, Sequim is a great base. It's a quiet town with easy access to Hurricane Ridge. There are several comfortable Airbnbs and hotels in the area. The drive from Sequim to Port Angeles takes about 20 minutes, and from there you can access the main park entrance. — From Meredith Goldstein's experience. ChatGPT never mentioned that: (1) Sequim is pronounced "Squim" (not See-quim) — her colleague had to tell her, saving her embarrassment with locals; (2) Sequim is the lavender capital of the United States with acres of lavender farms. She wrote: "ChatGPT did not tell me this. Because I didn't ask." The AI won't volunteer what you don't know to ask about. (Source: Boston Globe, Oct 2025)
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Expert: Meredith Goldstein, Advice Columnist (Boston Globe) Two things ChatGPT never told me about Sequim: (1) It's pronounced "Squim" — one syllable, rhymes with "swim." I was about to walk into town saying "See-quim" and mark myself as an outsider. A colleague saved me. (2) Sequim is the lavender capital of the United States. Acres of lavender farms. July is the festival. I was there at the right time and nearly missed it entirely. Why didn't ChatGPT mention this? "Because I didn't ask." That's the fundamental blind spot with AI travel planning: it answers your questions but doesn't anticipate your ignorance. A good travel agent or local friend would say "oh, you're going in July? You HAVE to see the lavender." AI won't. You only get what you explicitly request. And the most valuable travel advice is the things you didn't know to ask about. — Meredith Goldstein, Boston Globe, October 2025
Actually, ChatGPT got this right. Sequim IS pronounced "Skwim" — it comes from the Klallam word for "quiet waters." And it IS known as the Lavender Capital of North America, with the Sequim Lavender Festival running every July since 1995. The AI's facts on this one are accurate. Not every AI response is wrong — and we should acknowledge when they get it right. — Alex Thornton, Pacific Northwest travel writer
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