July 24 HOT hot hot here. It seems like this vacation we hae not gotten out of the heat. Record highs yesterday and today. Suppose to be little cooler tomorrow. I hope!
Downtown Seattle Nothing is ever as easy as they say to find. The directions seemed clear enough and we sure saw Seattle Center as we went right by it.
Seattle-Space Needle After turning around and seeing the signs hidden by trees, we found the correct turn off to get to the Space Needle. We parked and walked over into the park. We actually only went down there today just to see if we could find it. We only wanted to see the SciFi Museum. The rest of the touring we are going to do with my sister and her hubby.
Space Needle We really enjoyed the Museum!! I found out today that I am a true SciFi geek. I thought I was merely a fan but most of the stuff in there, I had read or seen...so guess I am a geek. Fun stuff...Captain Kirk's chair from Star Trek. The tunics worn by Kirk and Spock and loads of other stuff. It was a fun couple of hours.
SciFi Museum Then we drove back and found our new motel. Settled in with Jay doing some more work on my computer and I went and found the guest laundry and did some laundry. Hard to believe that we have been gone over a week.
My sister and her husband arrived around 3 and we had a great reunion and visit over dinner. Tomorrow we do some serious tourist stuff.
July 25 What a difference between today and yesterday. We woke up to cloudy skies and a temperature of 67. I think I have been in the heat too many days, I was actually a little chilly with the temperatures this morning but it sure beats the high 90s.
We went out to a nice breakfast and a nice chat with Marie and Dick. We got the maps out and decided to go the Seattle Locks and the Salmon ladder first thing. I called the vistors center to find out how to get there and he basically told me he didn't know how to get us up there from where we were.
Marie and Dick By some miracle we did manage to get up there. Driving in this city is interesting to say the least. We have been just blindly going out and heading in the direction we want to go and accidentally finding what we are looking for.
The locks were quite interesting and we stood there for quite a while watching the boats go thru. The water really rushes in when they open the gates up.
Seattle Locks We watched the salmon going thru the ladders. Interesting process that goes on with them moving upstream to spawn. They have an area below the water where you can see them as they are moving up the ladders. Fascinating to watch.
Salmon in the ladder Back in the car, we headed in the general direction of the Seattle Center. We happened on right street once again...found a parking garage and walked to the Markets. They are a lot of fascinating places and a lot of food to eat. Lots of fruit, cookies, ice cream, coffee and chocolate. We are going back on Friday and I have my eye on some things that I would like to get.
Market area downtown Seattle The best was Pike's Place Market and yes, they really do throw those fish. The employees really do have way to much fun for it to be work. The other shops in the place were a lot of fun too.
Looking down the hallway at Pikes Place Market Fish throwing at Pikes Place Market The day was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed it a lot. No supper for me tonight!
We are heading to Mt Rainier National Park tomorrow and there is no internet service at the lodge we are staying at so it will be at least Wednesday before I update again.
July 26 We were up early this morning so we decided to leave early for the Mt Rainier National Park. It was a slow drive. The traffic on the interstate was heavy and then when we got to the park…the roads were twisty and hilly and we stopped frequently for pictures.
Mt Rainier Since we couldn’t check in for 4 hours we decided to lock up our stuff in the truck and hit some of the trails. So we headed up to a trail called Alta Vista that was suppose to have a great view from the top. What a climb! It was beautiful and breathtaking in more than one way. The gradient of the climb was such that we had to keep stopped to catch our breath. But we made it past the snow line and to the summit. The view was spectacular. The mountain on one side and a valley below us. We were almost at the timberline. We stayed up there for quite a while just taking in the view.
Us and the mountain Climbing down was almost as hard…it was steep and very tiring to try and keep yourself from giving into gravity. When we got to the bottom, we decided to take a hike up to Myrtle Falls. It was a more gradual climb and we managed without oxygen breaks!! It was certainly worth it. Mt Rainier supplied a marvelous background to the falls which in the quiet air you can hear for a couple of miles before you get to it.
Myrtle Falls We went another half a mile further before we turned around to come back to the lodge. We spent some serious money in the gift shop and then sat out and just enjoyed the view for a while.
At the Snowline Dinner in the lodge was a nice time, we ate and talked and just relaxed. Took a few sunset pictures and then came back to the room. This is the northwest that I always pictured in my mind. Pictures just can’t do the scenery justice!
Mountain range near Ranier Tomorrow back to Seattle to catch the ferry to Victoria, BC.
July 27 It was an interesting night’s sleep last night. It was quiet. No TV, no phones, everyone was in bed very early and the sleep was good. No traffic, fresh air. I slept great. We were up early. We had to be back in Seattle to catch our ferry.
The traffic was terrible as it was on Friday. I am beginning to believe that this is the norm in Tacoma and Seattle. But we got back to our other motel. We caught a town car to the piers. The Ferry was small and we had to go across Puget Sound and across the Juan de Fuco Strait. It was fine until we got to the Strait and then it was really rough. A lot of people were sick. I got a little queasy but managed not to get sick.
Victoria from the Ferry Victoria is an very unique city. We have a great hotel on the waterfront. The room is right on the harbor and the view is awesome. We got a ride to a nice Chinese restaurant and then walked back to the hotel. The city is busy and very European. I am enjoying it a lot.
View from our room Legislative Building at Night Tomorrow we are going to tour the city and shop. It should be a fun day. AOL is charging us by the minute because we are in a “foreign” country…so we will not be online until Thursday when we are back in Seattle.
July 28 We had a good nites sleep but were awakened very early by seaplanes taking off right in front of our hotel window. So we were up pretty early. No one was upset, it is just to pretty here to get upset about the normal goings on.
After breakfast in the dining room, we caught a Greyline bus and took a tour of the city. This city is very quaint. No tall buildings because of the earthquake danger. They have about 300 earthquakes a year. So most buildings that are made of wood are only allowed to be 4 stories high. If they are steal structures then they can be higher. The city is the capital of British Columbia. It is an interesting mix of British, European and American. Quite unique and we enjoyed learning about the city. The city went from a few hundred people to over 17,000 people at the start of the goldrush. After we took the city tour we took a bus out to the Bouchart gardens.
Acres and acres of formal flowers and plants. Started over a hundred years ago by a woman whose husband was prominent in the settlement of the area. Really very beautiful and the mind boggles how they plant it all and take care of it all.
Sunken Garden Following the colorful path Jay and Gail in the Gardens After the tour, we ended up in the shopping district. Had some food and shopped until around 7. Back to the hotel and got to watch an episode of Enterprise on City TV. Yeh, a Scott fix!!
Tomorrow some more touring and then back to Seattle. Hard to believe that tomorrow is Thursday already.
July 29 We were up early again this morning with seaplanes taking off out side our hotel windown. We had a nice breakfast, checked out of our hotel, locked up our luggage and went out to do more sightseeing.
First stop was Craigdarroch Castle. It was built by a rich man who made his fortune during the goldrush days and came from Scotland. It took him 4 years to build the house and he died before it was completed. Impressive house in all the did with it but not somewhere I would want to live.
Craigdarroch Castle Then we walked the 2 or so miles down to the center of town. We walked around and did some shopping and just looking. Then we had lunch, walked back to the hotel to get our luggage.
View of Victoria from Dunsmuir Castle The trip back to Seattle was a lot calmer than coming over but it took a long time to get thru customs. However they did let us all back into the country.
Leaving Victoria We grabbed a taxi to get back to where we had left the truck and immediately got stuck in a traffic jam in the middle of Seattle. So we had a very late arrival here.
Tomorrow we finish up touring Seattle and then head homeward on Saturday.
July 30 Our last day of vacation!! We decided go back down to Seattle Center. We didn't take the elevator to the top of the Space Needle so we did that. I thought I would be frightened but found out that after going up in a hot air balloon, nothing like that is scary!!
Jay and Gail at the top of the Space Needle After that we signed up to ride the Ducks. It was a lot of fun. Jay and I have ridden them in the dells but Marie and Dick never have. It took us all over Seattle and then to Lake Washington where we went into the water. What a fun trip. We saw the houses on the water and even got a long distance glimpse of the houseboat in Sleepless in Seattle. A seaplane came very close to us. That was exciting.
Our Duck Seaplane on Lake Washington Then we took a cab to Pike's Place Market. We got all the stuff that we went down for and had a good time just looking around again.We found the very first Starbucks ever. Now there are more than people can count in the nation!!
First Starbucks We didn't take the car downtown because it is so hard to get around and to find parking. I am still amazed at the traffic in this city. We ended up walking toward the Space Needle and without a lot of problems found the area again. Only took us a half an hour. Then it was back on the road again to our motel in Tukwilla.
A little relaxing in the lounge and then off to supper. Tomorrow we leave for home. Probably get as far as Billings
July 31 Got up at 6 and were on the road by 6:30 heading east for home. That is the least amount of traffic I have seen in the Seattle area.
The mountains were beautiful heading east out of Seattle. The treed Cascades gave way to the barren ones and then we were in Idaho. The mountains were once again covered with trees. Being a Saturday it was bumper to bumper traffic through the whole part of the state that we were in. Plus a lot of road construction to slow us down.
Cascade Mountains just outside Seattle Coming into the Rockies in Montana we hit a lot of rain showers but the scenery once again was spectacular. We didn't get to Billings until almost 9 so it was a long day. Hopefully tomorrow will be shorter and we will be home in the afternoon sometime.
Rocky Mountains in Montana
August 1 We slept very hard last nite but were up at 6 and on the road by 7. We were both anxious to get home. On our way out of Billings there was a hot air balloon convention or something but they treated us to takeoffs so that was fun to watch as we were leaving town.
Hot Air Balloons above Billings We made good time and even with the time change were home by 4:30. It was great to be home. We are getting lots of attention from kitties who are happy to see us. Wonder how long that will last.
Thank you for riding along with us. We had a great time and we hope you enjoyed it too.
