For our St. Augustine friends, you might have missed the previous blog,
which was posted right after Hurricane Mathew hit St. Augustine. It is posted below this one. We hope your hurricane recovery is going
well.
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| Seattle and Space Needle from Overlook |
After
we left Mt. Rainer, we spent about a week in and around the Seattle area. Neither of us has spent much free time in the
area, and we were looking forward to an interesting and fun visit.
We
spent a lot of time downtown. Although
going to the Space Needle gave a nice view of downtown…right next door was the
FABULOUS Chihuly Glass and Gardens Museum. If you have been to some of the expensive
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| Chuhily Glass Garden |
resorts in the world (like the Atlantis in Nassau and some Los Vegas casinos),
you probably have seen his artistic glass chandeliers. We were awed by the
themed displays in room after room of his work.
This is a must see if you ever get to Seattle.
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| Flower Stand at Pike Public Market |
We
loved walking the waterfront and sampling the delicious restaurants along the
wharves. The Pike Public Market was
great; lots of fruit, vegetables, and other fresh food vendors with the most
fabulous flower stands. In general, the
food here has been fabulous, especially the salmon. To quote a good friend of ours, “We had the
best salmon ever at Ivars”; Bob really wanted to eat there since he loved the
salmon there while on a work project over 35 years ago! We went to see the Seattle Mariners play their
last winning game of the season and Linda won the grand prize for the 5th
inning Fan Appreciation drawing: two
tickets to Diamond Club seats directly behind home plate (including unlimited
refreshments)…now we have to figure out if we can use them next season (a $500
value) J.
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| Underground First Level Store Front After Street Raised |
Seattle’s
historic waterfront district history is fascinating. The tide range in Puget Sound is about 10-12
feet, and the oldest part of town was basically built on tidal mud flats. Houses and business were routinely flooded
during higher tides and storms. The
plumbing was a problem, and sometimes toilets “erupted” with seawater and
sewage during storms or higher tides. The
city got a second chance to build the city “right” after the Great Seattle Fire
in 1889 destroyed the entire central business district of Seattle. They decided to build the city about one story
higher, but it would take 10 years to complete.
Of course, businesses could not wait 10 years to rebuild their business
so they continued to conduct business at the lower street level (now the
basement) while finally getting the city one story higher (about 15 – 18 feet)
-- a tribute to human inventiveness.
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| How Street Level Was Raised in Seattle |
The
businesses rebuilt with stone and brick to prevent future fires; the lower
level entrance and windows were very basic in design and style since they would
be covered up and below the ground within 10 years. The “second” stories were the elaborate
entrances and windows you see now at street level. Retaining walls were built at the curbs
around each block and water cannons were used to wash mud down the hills which flooded
the streets behind the retaining walls and became the ground for the higher
lever street. The last step was to build
sidewalks over the old street level, connecting the new street level with the
second story of the buildings – now ground level. We recommend the entertaining Underground Tour
to see this very interesting history.
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| Snoqualmie Falls |
We
also spent some time outside of downtown.
Snoqualmie Falls is gorgeous and another example of hydroelectric power
use in Washington. The 100-year+ old US
Army Corps of Engineers Ballard Locks was interesting; during the summer
months, up to 100 pleasure boats can be moved between Lake Washington and Lake
Union and Puget Sound with each lock opening.
It’s hard to believe so many boats are owned here, with so few months to
enjoy them! The fish ladders at the
locks were full of salmon migrating upstream for the annual fall spawning….fun
to watch through the underwater glass windows.
Best of all, we were able to enjoy several lunches and dinner with Bob’s
long-time Navy friend Paul Thor; we had not seen him since 2002.
The
traffic in Seattle is among the worst.
Between the large Lakes Union and Washington and the Puget Sound, the
highways have limited area to travel, and they are mostly only 2-3 lanes
wide. It seems to us that the traffic
outgrew the highway system here years ago.
It often took hours to travel from downtown to Bothell and around town. Major accidents occurred multiple times each
rush hour, and caused us to be re-routed 2-3 times every time we traveled. (As an
observation, recreational marijuana is legal here. Studies have shown that driving under the
influence of pot increases the accident rate 2xs, due to slowed reaction time
and increased rear end collisions – Cause and effect? )
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| Rainbow Over Port Townsend |
We
next headed west to the Olympic peninsula.
We stopped at Port Townsend and Port Angeles. They are both cute historic port towns, but
the most interesting part was Fort Worden near Port Townsend. The picturesque historic Army artillery base
has been converted to a state park, and has several interesting museums. The movie, An Officer and a Gentleman, was completely filmed there. It was already off-season, so many exhibits,
museums, and restaurants were already closed, and with so much rain (it rains
almost every day on the Olympic Peninsula), many outdoor activities were
limited.
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| Lake Quinault, Olympic National Park |
With
fall upon us, the leaves were turning yellow (no brilliant reds here), and LOTS
more rain and colder and shorter days.
Of course, rain on the west side of the Olympic Mountains is not
unusual….after all, it is a temperate climate rain forest. We camped at the Sol Duc Campground and Hot
Springs Resort which is part of the Olympic National Park. From there, we explored the northern part of
Olympic National Park, including hiking to and around Hurricane Ridge (the
winds were over
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| Sol Duc Hot Springs in Fog, Olympic Nat Park |
40 mph on non-windy day), Madison Falls, Lake Crescent, and
the beautiful Lake Crescent Lodge, and on the west side, the Hoh Rain Forest
(in the rain of course), and Lake Quinault. In spite of the cold, rain and fog,
we were able to enjoy some time in the campground hot springs, finally getting
some warmth into our bodies.
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| Cape Flaherty, Westermost Point in Continental US |
We
took a day trip to the westernmost point in the continental US, Cape Flaherty,
west of Neah Bay, where the Strait of Juan de Fuca meets the Pacific Ocean. We were able to see up and down the beautiful
rugged coast during a brief break in the weather, and enjoy a short hike to the
point. Bob had worked there over 35
years ago to put in a tide gauge when he worked for NOAA. We searched a while for the actual site, but
we never found it (we found out later we were close by, but missed it). We had fun in Neah Bay at lunch, watching a
sea otter entertain us for quite a while.
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| Linda at Vampire Treaty Line, Forks WA |
For
Twilight fans, we camped in Forks and
visited La Push on the far west side of the peninsula. Apparently, the author of Twilight had never been there, but
googled “the wettest place in the US”, and Forks, WA came up; the rest is
history. While the timber industry has
decreased dramatically, the businesses in Forks and La Push have been able to
take advantage of their notoriety, and have now built businesses around the Twilight series…. People now come to Forks from all over the
world.
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| WA Beach Littered with Huge Trees |
The
coast and temperate rain forests here are similar to those we visited in
Vancouver Island, Canada. Lots of rain
and fog, huge trees in the ancient groves (only those spared from the
lumberjacks), rocky beaches littered with huge tree logs, and high cliffs with
crashing waves…. beautiful to see and watch, but from the comfort of an indoor
fireplace please J.
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| Columbia River and Cape Disappointment Lighthouse |
Our final peninsula stop was at the
southwestern tip at Cape Disappointment at the Columbia River, where Lewis and
Clark ended their 1804-1806 exploration.
The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center is excellent, we learned all
about the incredible journey of Lewis and Clark and their impact on our nation’s
geography and history. The primary objective was
to explore and to map the newly acquired territory, to find a practical route
across the western half of the continent, and to establish an American presence
in this territory before Britain and other European powers tried to claim
it. The campaign's secondary objectives
were scientific and economic: to study the area's plants, animal life, and
geography, and to establish trade with local Native American tribes. With maps, sketches, and journals in hand, the expedition returned
to St. Louis to report its findings to President Thomas Jefferson. We
visited several sites where they camped during their journey. Interestingly, their trip west took two years,
but the return took only six months. We
look forward to stopping at several other points of their journey on next year’s
trip.
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| Mt Olympus from Cape Disappointment |
The
entire time we were on the Olympic Peninsula, we never saw Mt. Olympus or any
of the other snow-capped peaks; we did see them once from the north on Vancouver
Island across the Straits of Juan de Fuca, and then again as we left Washington
State from Cape Disappointment at the very south end.
In
spite of the cold and wet weather, we enjoyed our visit to Seattle and Olympic Peninsula,
but will be glad to drive south to California (and hopefully warm and sunny
weather) for the last leg of our trip.
We will be visiting a few places, but mostly visiting longtime friends
in the various places we have lived.
We
continue to be blessed with a great trip and safe travels. Feel free to pass the blog link on to anyone
who might be interested.
Best,
Linda and Bob
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