Hi Brad, Welcome to birding in Western Washington.
Your loon sounds like a Red-throated Loon. These are the palest of our
loons and often look speckled.

One suspect species on your list is the high numbers of Herring Gulls.
Only 1 in 1000 gulls might be a Herring in this neck of the woods, if that.
Thayer's are actually more common than HEGU. Our glaucous-winged/western
hybrids can look similar to Herrings.

Have fun in the rain.

Tom Schooley, Olympia WA , dunlin at mail.tss.net
"The earth that directed itself instinctively in its former phases
seems now to be entering a phase of conscious decision
through its human expression." -Thomas Berry