Blogs from Washington, United States, North America - page 207

Jerry Seinfeld is the Devil. His show ruined my life. I can hardly go a single day without something happenening that causes me to make a lame Seinfeld reference. This day was no exception. The Shangri-La hotel, nice as it is, is situated next to a 24-hour gas station. The shades on the windows of the Shangri-La might as well not be there. The light poured through the window, keeping me up most of the night. So, of course, it didn't take me long (it was probably before we left the Shangri-La, but after we had both showered in our flip-flops) to tell Rachel that I felt like Kramer in the Kenny Rogers Roasters episonde, expect without the delicious chicken to make it all worthwhile. I mean, I didn't even think about it. It's not like ... read more

We gave our farewells and many thanks to the Turney Family. Using the hire car we headed on Interstates 5 and 101 for Ilwaco near Columbia River estuary. I was still getting used to left-hand drive and right-hand roads again at a huge junction near the centre of Tacoma, when all these people start blasting their horns at me. Thinking I was somehow in the wrong, I gesticulate to show my embarrassment at such poor driving. Anyway, I was assured later the horn blasting was probably because we had Californian licence plates! They're not too pleased with Californians up here because they're migrating up in droves, buying all the houses and blocking up the roads! West of Olympia it started pouring buckets and we hit a traffic logjam. Evidently, a tanker had skidded and spilled tons ... read more

Tuesday and Wednesday, June 5&6 The drive from Vancouver to Seattle was superb. We drove along Highway 5, a curvy and sometimes 90 degree square around the corners of farmer's fields. It was picturesque with red roofed barns and weathered tumble down sheds. It was soothing; displaying various sheds of green from fresh yellow green dandelion to spring green deciduous leaves to turquoise new spruce growth and to dark almost black green of aged pines. Every turn in the road presented a new collage of farm field fence and far off horizon. Will had a workout today what with all the 90 degree turns 60% grades and long tight stretches of road. The state of Washington makes me wax poetic. I love it. Arriving at the city outskirts of Seattle brought an abrupt end to ... read more

Today we collected Heather from University. She navigated Dennis and us to the car park under Nordstroms where Doreen shopped for replacement clothes etc. We visited the Pike Street Market, a vibrant and great place to mooch around if you haven't been there. It reminds me of the Grainger Market in Newcastle on Tyne but in one long line: King Salmon, gigantic Crab and Halibut in their hundreds, along with fruit, veg, arty stuff and entertaining buskers. Walked down to the jetty for lunch and back, caught the Monorail to the Space Needle, up to the top and back down again, then Monorail into the shopping centre where we gorged on chocolate dunked orange slices and strawberries. Returned to Tacoma for a meal out, collecting more replacement clothes en route. Friendly natives and pleasant City. All ... read more

Refreshed from a relaxing day of whale watching and driving, instead of hiking, to the top of Mt. Constitution, we were up for the 8:00 a.m. serving of breakfast at the Kangaroo House and then back out to Mt. Constitution for some hiking. We started at the southwest end of the park and hiked around Cascade Lake. That was a bit more challenging than it looked because of a detour around the Lagoon. Apparently a bridge had been washed out, and that added a mile to our hike. Plus we got lost and had to backtrack a time or two to be sure we were going in the right direction. After successfully navigating the detour we arrived at the southeast corner of the lake and hiked up to Sunrise Rock, a 300 foot elevation change over ... read more