Super Seattle

Day One

Our hotel was a little bit east of Seattle, so we drove around some before going into the city.  We drove north to Bellevue and Everett.  Wow, look at those 6-lane highways!  What a change after weeks in national parks!

Actually, this kind of driving was a drag so we got off in Everett and drove around.  There's a navy base there (we saw an aircraft carrier at dock) and the home of a huge Boeing factory.

We went into downtown Seattle and checked into our hotel, a Courtyard on Lake Union, a lake in the downtown area.  We were within walking distance of lots of attractions - the Space Needle, a trolley to the main business and tourist areas, and lots of restaurants.  There was a wooden boat festival going on at Lake Union and we saw tall ships.  There's also a seaplane operation on the lake, with regular sightseeing flights as well as flights to Canada.  What a place!  Here's the view from our hotel.

We took a tour of Seattle with a group of about 10 or 12.  This was very personalized and the driver/guide was full of stories and jokes.  We heard a number of things that would be repeated over the next three days as we took other tours. For example, how the city burned down and rebuilt using only brick and stone, and how Magnolia hill is misnamed, and the famous houseboat from the movie Sleepless in Seattle.

Here are some highlights.

In an area called Fremont (self-proclaimed Center of the Universe), there was some get-together of zombies.  I think they were trying to set a world record.  This was both scary and hilarious.  We went to a popular chocolate store and it had a sign in the window - Please no blood on the samples!

Of course, we also saw "normal" stuff.

Union Lake is a fresh water lake and there are locks between it and the salt water Puget Sound.  This is in one of the pictures.  The dam/locks place also has a salmon ladder, where the fish can swim upstream.

Day Two

We went to church at a local, downtown UM church.  They claim to be the oldest operating church in Seattle.  This place has its own parking garage!  At first I thought things were rather loosey-goosey because the woman helping with service was barefoot!  It turns out she later did a liturgical dance, so I guess it was okay to be barefoot in church!   It was a group of about 8 women and kids who danced while another person read the creation story from Genesis.  It was rather effective, even with bare feet!

We took a trolley to the main downtown and had lunch at a Chinese/Asian market.  The stores were overwhelming!

We went to a National Park (Klondike Gold rush) and learned about Seattle's role in the 1889 gold rush in Canada.  Matthew got another Junior Ranger.  I think this was his seventh!

Later in the afternoon we took a tour cruise that started in the Seattle harbor and went around to the locks (and through the locks) to Lake Union.  We got off right at our hotel!

Oh, did I mention it was misty and rainy?  The tour guide said Seattle actually gets a bad rap about rain - it does not rain all that much, but it's frequency cloudy and misty.  I guess we were lucky to be here on a rare rainy day.

This was the 4th of July.  We saw fireworks (really spectacular) over Lake Union.  Too hard to take pictures.

Day Three

The high point was having lunch with cousin Beth.  The place was close to her school so we walked over there and had a tour.  It was good food and great to catch up with Beth.

After that we walked to one of the star attractions of Seattle - the Ducks!  There are vehicles that can go into water.  Each driver is wild and wacky and they encourage the group to act crazy.  Our driver was Captain Rowen D Boat, or something like that.  It was lots of fun and we really did see a lot.

From there we walked across town to the waterfront area and had dinner at the famous Ivers.  We also saw the famous Gum Wall, which claims to be the second germiest place in the city. People can put there chewing gum on the walls.  Yuck.  We didn't ask what the most germy place is.

It kind of reminded Beth and Bill of the wailing wall in Jerusalem.  Not sure that was the original intent, but there were some notes stuck to the wall with the chewing gum.

Moving On

From here, we drive to Mt Rainier national park and then on to Olympic NP.  We will meet the Pacific Ocean there and that stops our westward driving.  We'll turn around and head (slowly) for home!

A gem in northern Idaho

We left Glacier and started the long drive to Seattle.  We spread this out over two days.  We spent the first night in Coeur d'Alene.  This town has a mixture of hard-core working class but also resort influences. It is in a mining area of Idaho (which might be true of most of Idaho, come to think of it) but also close to some ski resorts.  The town is on the side of a beautiful lake and is surrounded by mountains.

Our hotel was one of those old-style 50s motels where you can park right by your door.  This was a real blessing after our last night in Glacier, where we were on the third floor of the lodge!  In addition to no wifi and no TV, the park lodges don't have elevators!

We had dinner in a pasta restaurant where Matthew made is own olive and Canadian bacon pizza.  We walked around the downtown area and a large park on the lake.  We saw a sea plane land and a few brave kids swimming in the lake.

On the next day we completed our drive across the state of Washington.  The western side of the state was very arid, much like we've seen in other western states.  We crossed the Columbia river at a place with a really dramatic gorge.  There was also a windmill farm on the heights next to the river.

We then came into more fertile land and saw huge farms.

We arrived at Seattle on Saturday, the 3rd and have been having a great time.  I'll write more in a later post.

Glacier High Points

Saturday, July 3.

We're in Seattle now. We spent three nights in lodges in Glacier NP and not one of them had wifi!  This will be a quick post before we take off for sightseeing in Seattle.

Day One in Glacier

We were staying in the East Glacier Lodge, one of those stately western-style lodges made with huge logs, big, open fireplaces, and gorgeous views of the mountains.

This is also a rustic lodge, with original plumbing from 90 plus years ago!  Matthew enjoyed the tub.

Day Two

During the day we took a boat ride on a small lake and then a short hike.  Matthew is learning more and more about the geology and ecology of the park.  The views were magnificent.

We moved to another lodge - one in a place called Many Glaciers.  This area of the park has two 'active' glaciers.  We took a boat across a lake and then did hiking up to a glacier lake.  Not sure the pictures will captures this, but lakes fed by glaciers have a distinct color.  The glaciers grind against the rock and produce "glacier flour" which is suspended in the water for 100 years or so.  The water is very green-blue.

Day Three

This was the day for the drive across the peak of Glacier - "Going to the Sun Road."  This was built in the 1930s and they are still working on it!  There was about 6 feet of snow at the visitor center at Logan Pass, the highest point.  Even some sheep showed up!

For me, Glacier Park was the best part of the trip so far.  The mountains are really majestic.  Thousands of books have been written about it. One writer called this the "Crown of the Continent" and it certainly applies.