You can't stay there forever.

My Washington stay was about to end so instead of coming home, Ms Darlene flew up for a few days.

I pretty much took her to the sites that were reasonably accessible, such as Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle, the skyline view from West Seattle, Gig Harbor, Mount Rainier and a lot of really neat places.

I had not been north of Vancouver British Columbia so that was added to our quick agenda as well.

Here's a few pictures.

The Seattle skyline from west Seattle

 

Then there's Pikes Place Public Market with peppers 

 

Ruston, Washington with Mount Rainier

Traffic is almost as bad as Baton Rouge

 The trip would have been incomplete without taking her up to Sunrise on Mount Rainier

Part of our plans were to ride up to Vancouver but after arriving, we decided to move on up the coast to Whistler, he home of the 2010 Winter Olympics.  Along the way we hiked around the coast.  The sites were stunning to a pair of bayou drifters.

There were waterfalls along the way.  Not much of a hike.

 

Probably the most interesting thing we enjoyed was the Sea To Sky Gondola ride.  We watched for a while to make sure that's exactly what we wanted to do.  You know, it's a long drop if one of those cables break.

 

Longer and higher than we thought.

At the top, there was a suspension bridge we negotiated.

Although signs warn people not to run on these things, it never fails finding some dufus who thinks it's too scary to walk and decide to run causing the whole thing to swing and shake.

Ms Darlene was certainly not ready to come home but time was limited.  So, back to Seattle for the last day.  Here's one of the nice restaurants we tried; Anthony's on Pier 66.  Good seafood here.

I put her on the plane early Monday morning and made sure she was on the right side so she could see Rainier one more time as she flew back to Louisiana.  I followed a couple of days later.

It's awful, why would anyone want to see this?

Being facetious of course. 

Over the past couple of weekends, I've continued to walk, drive and climb around on some of the prettiest area of the country.  I've ranged from the Olympic Peninsula, out on Oak Harbor and Whidbey Islands, the Cascade Mountain parks and of course, Mount Rainier.  I probably won't get sick of it anytime soon.

One place I really wanted to get back to was the Wallace Falls State Park area.  It had been 5 years ago when I last visited so I had hoped for some really neat little waterfalls.  However, this is summer and those little streams I remember were nothing more than a drip now so that meant I would have to negotiate the rocky trails with my trusty hiking stick praying I wouldn't sprain an ankle on the imbedded rocks.

After a nice hike, I had the opportunity to rest at the edge of the water at small falls about 2 miles up.  Very nice even though I had a lot of visitors doing so.

Another spot was Deception Pass, north of Seattle and separates Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands.  Deception Pass has a dark history, including smuggling Chinese illegals.  Seriously, read about it here.

The tide going in and out through the pass is so strong, it has it's own waves and I could see some smaller boats struggling against the current.

Completed in July of 1935, the Deception Pass Bridge connecting the islands is another steel marvel.

I've long been a sucker for sunsets and small waterfalls.  Yes, the big 100'+ falls are grand but I just love sitting near small falls and hear the rush of the water.  On my way to another spot on Mount Rainier, I found myself stopping often, sometimes crawling up under a low bridge and scooting around on the rocks.

My favorite thing is slow shutter speeds that result in a "foamy" look to the rushing water as it spills over the rocks.

Bridges are everywhere and I can't resist the stop.

 
































Often, you would make a turn just to see another shot at Mount Rainier, sometimes with meadows; sometimes with trees but the presence was always around another switchback.

Over and over again, beautiful falls.  This one is Christine Falls.  There's a bridge above the apparent one that you may not be able to make out here.

If truth be told, the chief reason for going up today was an image I'd seen on the internet called Reflection Lakes.  The article had said to go in July so the flowers would be blooming.  Perhaps I'd not paid any attention to the accessibility that was mentioned.  Somehow, I had in my mind that I was going to have a 3 mile round trip hike for this.

Nope...drove right up to it.  As a matter of fact, If I had so minded, I could have taken this picture from the drivers' seat of the car if all the other tourists would not have gotten in my way.

After picking up a pair of geezers who had hiked up a distance and were worn out, I deposited them a couple of miles downhill at a parking lot.  I pretty much had put the camera away until I drove through the little town of Elbe, Washington.  Here  there was an entire business community of espresso shops, one gas station and a whole train that had been converted into a hotel and inn.  I'm not so sure how many people actually stayed in the thing but for a Sunday after Independence Day, it was wrapped up with motorcyclists, bicyclists and a host of Washington style rednecks with pickup trucks. Yep, I felt right at home. Maybe the Hobo Inn wasn't so bad.

I'm looking forward to Ms Darlene coming out soon to see this.  Thanks, Mr. Jones.

Still in Washington

After a whirlwind trip back home for a family reunion, I'm back in Washington and probably will be for another 5 weeks.

Although it's a long flight out here and you do get sorta cramped up with the ride, it's still nice to look out and see landmarks like Mount Rainier as you come in.

Some days when I drive in to Enumclaw, it's not visible at all but for the past few days, it really has been nice here so I'll post a lot of pictures of Rainier while the sun is still shining making the flowers (weeds) in the fields really glow.

The cattle seem to be OK with it too.

Further up the mountain, bicyclists, sports car enthusiasts and motorcyclists can't resist a sunny day either.

In 1889, Seattle was mostly a harbor town built from the abundance of wood available.  The streets had problems with flooding and when they dumped the sewerage into the Puget Sound, the tides would bring it back in.  On June 6 of that year, a cabinet maker was making a vat of glue which overturned and ignited which spread and destroyed the town.  At least that's what I got out of it but you can read about it here.

Immediately, they set on a plan to rebuild, this time with brick stone and mortar.  Realizing they would eventually have the same problems with flooding they commanded that all new buildings should be built with no less than two stories.  With that in mind, as finances came available, they built up the streets one story higher than the ground floors.   So now, there is an abandoned underground portion of the city that is open for tours.

The original underground sidewalks had a series of skylights that illuminated the subterranean sidewalks.  It should be noted, some others on the tour also had a "dim" view of my "earthquake" quip.

Eventually, the below ground store entrances were abandoned.  Today, there are a couple of tour companies that will take you down (for a modest fee) and deliver an entertaining experience which ironically ends (of all places) in their gift shop.  Imagine that.

Another great attraction is the downtown Public Market.

Here you can find fresh produce, fresh salmon and several restaurants.

Also, along Pike Place is the original Starbucks which always seem to have a folk band outside to entertain the very long line of people are willing to wait to get into the place.  It's not like you can't find a Starbucks on every other corner.

In a vain attempt to get away from the maddening crowds, there's also an option of going over to West Seattle to check out all the people who have the same idea as you.  It's never ending a parade of traffic attempting to find a place to park.

Great sundowns looking across at Bainbridge Island.   Before I leave I hope to get up there.

At this time of the year, you have to wait pretty late for it to be dark enough to see the city lights.

On yet another island I checked out just this weekend is Worden State Park on Wilson Point which has a decommissioned lighthouse.  You can see Mount Baker behind it probably 50 miles to the north.

This is definitely an interesting place with plenty to see and do, at least for some.  This is a place with a huge homeless population.  Old downtown common areas smell like urine, many neutral spaces have homeless encampments and you'll even see tents under the overpasses.