Washington

Somehow we raised some great kids. They are both contributing to society and making good lives for themselves. We love them both very much and now that we have more time to see them both, we want to. With Jeff and his wife Samantha living in Washington State, that means we will be spending more time there while still still being with Emily and family in Virginia.

This could get exhausting! But fun as well.

We've been to the Puget Sound area to visit Jeff and Sam before, including on this trip. But this time we did some different and fun things that really gave us a good sense of what it's like there and food for thought for the future.

Puget Sound

No matter where on Puget Sound you are, Mt. Rainier looms over everything. The people around there say, "the mountain is out," when it's visible, but they know it is there when it isn't in eyesight.

Mt. Rainier is 70 miles away from this sound-side city. But it's still this big.

Ghostly Rainier looming over downtown Seattle. We're 75 miles away from the mountain.

Truth is, a major eruption of that quite active volcano will be devastating to much of the area. But not all of it, unless it's an eruption on an uprecedented scale. Until that happens, it's quite a beautiful thing to look at.

The first day we were there we drove around the Kitsap Peninsula to look at communities and some real estate. We're not in the market yet but wanted to get a good idea about what's available for the price. There are some wonderful places there but nothing really knocked us off our feet.

Some remnants of a company logging town remain at Port Gamble

The interior of the Port Gamble general store, which has been converted from the original company store.

A shirt for sale at the store. Phil almost bought it but he knows these rules already.

We ventured to Mt. Rainier National Park with Jeff and Sam and saw some great beauty -- after we waited in line to get into the park for 1 1/2 hours. We went on a Saturday and even though we left Poulsbo at 7:30 a.m., we didn't get there early enough. But once through the gate we were able to see the mountain until it was obscured by clouds. We also chased a waterfall or two and marveled at the landscape the mountain has created.

Looking west from a shoulder of Mt. Rainier

A valley carved by a former glacier coming down from the peak of the mountain.

Found this waterfall!

Message to future travelers is to go on a weekday and even then get there by 8 am or so. It's a really beautiful park and we strongly encourage people to go.

The next day Jeff joined us on a sojurn to downtown Seattle to the Pike Place Market and a Mariners game at T-Mobile Park. We took a ferry from Bainbridge island to Seattle and walked everywhere after that.

Leaving Bainbridge on the ferry to Seattle.

Pike Place Market is a great public market with just about everything one can think of available. It's a little over a mile from there to the ballpark, but it's mostly downhill. We enjoyed the game; we weren't fans of either team playing but the home team won so everyone left happy.

T-Mobile Park. It's a nice stadium with really good food!

Heading back to Bainbridge.

A local shop owner making known his opinion about the current status of immigration enforcement.

The next day we said goodbye to Jeff and Sam, packed the Road Warrior up once again and headed out across the state to Spokane. Approaching and crossing the Cascades was very pretty but the further we traveled east the more hazy and smoky it became. There are wildfires burning in northern Washington and British Columbia and it had an impact on the visibility.

Once we got over the Cascades we encountered the central Washington desert. Dry treeless hills with dead grass on them, scrubland and dirt, yet very weirdly miles after miles of fruit orchards. Apples, cherries, apricots, nectarines -- every valley floor was covered with the trees.

Apple trees in the desert.

Then, after about 75 miles of fruit, we climbed out of the Columbia River valley onto a high plateau that was essentially one big wheatfield for nearly 100 miles. We didn't see a tree for more than an hour unless it was right next to a farmhouse. And even farmhouses were rare.

Wheat!

We eventually made it to Spokane, which seems like a really interesting place. We found an amazing restaurant for dinner, the Wooden City, which exceeded all the reviews we had read about it. Very, very good!

The next morning we skipped the free Hampton Inn breakfast (the hotel was nice but that breakfast....) and enjoyed good homestyle cooking at Frank's Diner. Highly recommend!

We left the diner, filled up the Road Warrior with yet more expensive gas, and pointed it towards Idaho, Montana and Glacier National Park. That amazing story is in the next post, coming soon!