Saturday, Day of Rest!

I didn't write much about Portland. We mostly saw the Columbia River Gorge. We stayed at a lovely Holiday Inn Express in Northwest in a trendy neighborhood. I have already forgotten the name of the area! Other than dine out and walk some we missed most of Portland! Speaking of dining out. Thursday night after viewing waterfalls all day Eddie and KB were craving sushi. Lindsey and I don't eat sushi so we split up. They went to a Sushi Go-Round spot and Lindsey and I ate in a yummy Thai restaurant.

We arrived in Seaside. Oregon after an easy drive from Portland. On the way we stopped and filled our water at a natural spring!

Our plan was to have a relaxing day or two on the beach. We've had the relaxing part just not on the beach. Weather has been rainy and unseasonably cool. Kayla is having a slight Crohn's flare up and we have been laying low.

Our plan last night was fireworks on the beach. It doesn't get dark here until 10pm. We had dinner out at a little spot on the riverfront, came back to our hotel, rested a bit and added layers and walked to the beach. KB didn't last. She wasn't feeling well so she and I walked back to the hotel and climbed in bed and watched amazing fireworks from Vancouver on TV.

This shot is outside the resturant on the riverfront in Seaside.

The beach scene is so different from the east coast. There are tons of people, all with their own fireworks, all having dug fire pits in the sand and hanging out around their fires. It was pretty wild.

Today we laid low, Kay is feeling better, slept and lounged and watched Spiderman on TV while it rained. Truly we all needed a rest day. Yesterday was a tough day with Rachael's tragic news and then Kayla not feeling well. This afternoon we schmied in the beach shops, walked on the beach a bit (a very little bit!), grocery shopped to refill our cooler and are just now figuring out our plans for our drive to California tomorrow.

Playing on the beach in the rain!

And goofing around in the beachshops!!! Look at these hat models!

Portland & the Columbia River Gorge

We left Rainier Wednesday evening after our snowy hike. We were tired, a leetle bit wet from slipping and sliding in the snow and generally happy. Portland was a 3 hour drive. The girls slept, Eddie navigated and I drove. We checked into the Holiday Inn Express and went for a swim and a soak in the hot tub. It was perfect. After showering we were able to walk to dinner and eat outside at a pub. Delicious dinner which was welcome after an expensive, yucky dinner in Rainier. Everyone was exhausted., Eddie and I sat in the lower lobby of the hotel doing laundry and attempting to blog on a really slow connection!

Thursday morning Kayla and I walked to a local grocery store to restock our cooler and then we headed out to the Columbia River Gorge. Instead of traveling on the main highway we drove the old Columbia River Scenic Highway which provided numerous opportunities for viewing the river gorge. Our first stop was a 14 mile drive through old growth forest to Larch mountain. There is a viewing platform that required a 1/3 mile hike, with some area still snow covered, that allows a view of 5 mountains, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood, Mt. Ranier, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Something Else(I'll need to look at our photos). Very impressive site even though it was too hazy or smoky from the fires to see all of the mountains. A lovely group of older folks were relaxing, reminiscing(sp) and telling stories of favorite trips in their youth. Both girls commented that the men reminded them of Papa!!! This picture has Mt Hood in the background.

We returned to the scenic highway for a picnic lunch outside at the Vista House, a neat building from the early 1900's designed for viewing the gorge.


The remainder of our day was spent viewing some of the many waterfalls along the way. Some can be viewed from the road and others require short to moderate hikes. This shot is of the first one we stopped to see. Pretty impressive sheer drop. Next came bridal veil falls. It was just beautiful. The star of the show, Multnomah Falls, was replete with gift shop, tour buses and ice cream stands, thoroughly opposite of the spiritual, meditative feel of the rest of the waterfalls that had no facilities.

Happy 4th of July

Continuing on our journey through Olympic National Park on Tuesday we visited the rain forest, the last ecosystem in the park. This time we did a short mile or so walk. At first I thought it was kind of creepy! It was dark in the forest, the trees were HUGE and hairy.
Then Kayla said oh they just remind me of Dr. Seuss trees and it wasn't creepy to me anymore! I could picture them in Horton Hears a Hoot, all pink and green!
Check out the size of these ferns. They were Eddie's favorite part.
When we left Olympic National Park we had what turned into a looong ride to Mt. Rainier. I forget how far it was but it's thru the winding mountain roads for most of the way. In Rainier we stayed in a B&B. The couple that is the innkeeper of the The Mountain Meadow Inn seemed a bit weird to all of us but the inn was a magical place. The grounds were gorgeous with flowers and walking paths that led to a stream in the woods. The linens were amazingly soft and smelled delicious and our breakfast of egg souffle, fresh fruit, coffee cake and drinks was delicious. I felt like when we left there we should have all been very relaxed.

Though I'm not sure that was the Case. Kayla was one cranky girl, could have been the cake at breakfast and neither girl wanted to hike. Eddie the mountain goat was raring to go and my knees were killing me! A rough start on Rainer.
We decided to start with a simple trail called Shadow of the Trees at the base of Rainier. It was though an old forested area. Let's just say the girls went back to the restroom and Eddie and I meandered through on our own. We met back at the car where we did the drive and see the vistas thing. Most of the mountain is still under 9 feet of snow. That meant that some of it wasn't available for hiking anyway.. We made a stop to hike to a waterfall. But the path was very steep and slippery and there was a guy down who was getting medical attention to one of his legs after falling. I'm chicken and chose to skip that waterfall. The girls went with me and Eddie, aka Ansel, was our photographer. We had a picnic lunch at the top of the trail to the falls and this cute guy visited us. Most of the time we saw these birds they were too fast to photograph. I think Lindsey captured him just perfectly! After lunch everyone was in better spirits and we continues to the base of Rainier where we did a mile loop to some beautiful overlooks of the mountain. It was through the snow, slipping and sliding and giggling the whole way!!!

Monday in Olympic National Park

Monday began bright and early with a ferry cruise to Bainbridge Island. We were headed to Olympic National Park.

The drive Northwest reminded me a little bit of Northern Maine. The park was nothing less than spectaculr. Stunning vistas around every corner.

We did a rather strenuous hike up the mountain to a place called Hurricane Ridge. Overlooking the Olmpic Mountains on one side and the Strait of Juan de Fuca which was British Columbia. I thanked my personal trainer with every step. Six months ago there was no way I would have been able to keep up with my family on this hike.




Spring was in full bloom at Hurricane Ridge. We spent some time photographing wildflowers.



This is before the hike, at the bottom of the ridge.
On the way up!
And at the top! Every direction was beautiful! Just gorgeous!!!





There are 3 ecosystems at Olympic National Park. The first is the mountain top, then there is a rainforest, the only one in North America. We had planned to head there next but a ranger suggested we go to Sol Duc. This spot was heavily wooded. We went on a shorter, much easier hike to the Narada Falls. Along the way we took some silly pictures!

And when we arived at the falls, we were in for a wonderful treat. It was breathtaking. The sun was hitting it at just the right angle to create rainbows in the mist. No matter which angle you looked at the falls there was a rainbow or two. Later on after touring Mt. Ranier we talked about our favorite spot in the parks and 3 of us said it had to be the falls. It was a hard choice though as this park was specatacular.

Another long drive after a full day of hiking Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountains and Narrada Falls(the one with the rainbow) at Sol Duc. We stopped at the Sol Duc Hot Springs to inquire about a soak but Gail was put off by the Sulphur smell which is common to real Hot Springs. They actually have to cool the water from 126 deg down to 105 for bathing. So the only waters that we did partake of were in their restrooms:>)

Continuing on our journey to the next Olympia Park ecosystem we found our way to Kalaloch on the "rugged" Pacific coast. That's how all of the brochures describe it. Kalalock means "many clams". Arrived around 8:00pm and were totally enamored with our tidy little cabin overlooking the Pacific. We had a nice picnic dinner of roast chicken, soup and some other goodies that hit all the right spots on a misty, cool evening. Kayla was looking forward to having a nice evening for her sunset photos(sunset around 9:30pm this far north) but it was totally overcast and misting.

Gail and I awoke around 6:00am to catch the low tide at the tide pools a few miles down the beach. Breathtaking beach and lots of starfish, anemones, limpets, mussels, Gobys and various other squirmy things under the rocks.

We had a fancy($$$) breakfast at the lodge, great food but lousy service. After packing up and checking out we are heading to the Quinault Rain Forest, the last of the 3 ecosystems in the Olympic Park.

Lots of walking on Sunday in Seattle

Sunday staryed with an early morning trip up the elevator of the Space Needle. We took lotsa pics of the views. I forgot to mention that when we were in Seattle they were having unseasonably warm weather - it was 91!!!

On our way back to the waterfront we caught a few minutes of the Gay Pride parade. It was entertaining and there was lots of fun parade particpants to check out. This group of fruit was particularly colorful.
We had a picnic on the pier and chilled out for a while in Starbucks, The heat was getting to KB who wasn't feeling well. The air conditioning in Stabucks seemed to help. Eventually we boarded a boat for a lake and locks cruise of the area. I LOVED it. It was gorgeous and so relaxing. Lots of kewl stuff to see. There were sea planes taking off and landing on the lake. It was fun to watch. Imagine a crowded lake with pleasure boaters, this big boat we were on, kayaks and even a crew boat and sea planes trying to find a spot in the midst of it. Seattle is home to floating houses. In fact the home where Sleepless in Seattle was filmed is one of them. It's for sale at the moment for 2 million!Further down the cruise we saw this huge fishing boat. There were lots of them around. This one is from the TV show America's deadliest catch.This shot is while we were in the locks. The locks go from the fresh water lake to the salt water sound. It was probably a couple of feet dirrenernce in the water height. And going through the locks.

Lots of boat traffic!

After the boat cruise we walked a few blocks to the Wild Ginger restaurant. It was a recommendation from a friend at home and it was delicious. We had lots of fun eating satays and exotic flavor combination dsihes.

Sunday night we ended our day with a monorail ride back to Seattle center where our hotel was. The monorail is kind of funny. It was built for the 62 World's Fair and it only goes back and forth one mile! Just so happened it was the mile we needed Sunday night!