Getting to Arizona, Utah and Nevada last year already brought us closer to the West Coast, a.k.a. the place where the water flows on the wrong side of the landmass (large body of water West of the US, better known as ‘Pacific Ocean’…odd). As we didn’t get close to it that time, we figured it prudent to tackle that item this time..and had a rather intense trip. Getting into Seattle, Washington, we crossed the Cascade Mountains twice, went along the Pacific Coast down to Redwood National Park in Northern Californa, then via Portland, Oregon back along the Pacific Coast Highway into Washington, taking a long look at the Olympia National Park, then back to Seattle again.
Those fabled mountains, i.e. St. Helens, Hood and Rainier? Mostly eluded us. And it was frigging cold despite it being end of June/early July. Sweater and at times Windbreaker weather. Unfair!!!
Our first venture into Seattle. As always, when we come to a new city and the service is offered there, we take a hop-on, hop-off tour.
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From Seattle, we take a trip across the Cascade Mountains East towards Lake Chelan for the night.
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Back towards Seattle, rather Tacoma. In Leavenworth, guess what, we spotted a Chihuly sculpture. But there's more to come still.
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And here we are at the Tacoma Museum of Glass. The amount of Chihuly sculptures and installations here is so intense, that I didn't get to take any pictures of them, I was too busy looking at them...
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So...yeah...Mt Rainier... rumor has it it's supposed to be there, we only found fog though.
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Nope, didn't see Mt St. Helens, either. Again, lots of fog though....
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Pacific Coast Highway, Part One
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Them Redwoods, them's damn tall if'n you ask me...
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Pacific Coast Highway, Part Two
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Whale watching, with a sideorder of California Sea Lions
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I have to admit, I went a tad hog-wild here...with California Ground Squirrels..
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Woooo, finally, our first Mt Something. In this case, Mt Hood. And a lot of waterfalls, rather scenic...along with a smattering of real classics...
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A rather flowery day...but some amazing shots in the Japanese Garden...
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Pacific Coast Highway, Part Three
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So, this kinda cleared my clock...for some reason, Rain Forest always was synonymous with Jungle for me... NO VAMPIRES OR WEREWOLVES FOUND HERE, GO AWAY, TWILIGHT FANS :P
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...why take the long route if you can hop on a ferry boat with your car...
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And, as per our tradition, last day equals Zoo day!
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