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Published: August 7th 2007
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A Room With a View
This view from our room at the National Park Inn prompted me and Rachel to an early start on our hike. At 5:45 a.m. Rachel woke up and rolled over to look out the window and check on the weather. Confronted with a majestic view of Mt. Rainier she couldn’t wait to get out on the trails. And neither could I. (Yes, I said majestic. I don’t care if it does sound cheesy, because it WAS majestic. Check the pictures and then question my choice of words.) We had pre-purchased a packed trail lunch from the Inn (a great idea, as it had a sandwich, an apple, sunflower seeds, a granola bar, and a small chocolate bar, and we didn’t have to fuss with it) but it wouldn’t be ready for us to pick up until 8:00. We decided to head out anyway with a couple of bananas and some leftover provisions from the day before. We were only going to do a 5 mile loop trail and figured we could just get our lunch when we got back.
We hiked the Rampart Ridge Trail, a very steep trail for the first 2 miles, through the woods and up to a viewpoint at 4,035 feet of elevation. From there we followed the ridge for about a mile, then looped back to
the Inn. It was a beautiful hike, and we started so early that we only saw 2 other people the entire hike, both of whom were Park Service employees. The other benefit of starting early was the weather. It was nice and cool for the entire hike and we beat the rain (it started to rain pretty much when we drove out of the park).
We thought about hanging around for a bit and doing another hike in the afternoon, but it was beginning to look like rain so we decided to say goodbye to Mt. Rainier and go spend a night on Orcas Island in the San Juan Island chain. We didn’t have reservations anywhere (the only reservations we had for the whole trip were the first two nights in Seattle) and didn’t want to get all the way to Orcas Island only to find out we couldn’t stay there and needed to ferry back to the mainland, so Rachel set out to find us a place while I drove. The first place she called, the Kangaroo Inn Bed and Breakfast, had a room available and gave us a “last minute discount.”
The ferry schedule gave us
some time before we needed to get to Anacortes and catch the ferry to Orcas Island, so we stopped of at Snoqualmie Falls to eat our National Park Inn lunches. The literature we had on the falls claimed that they were higher than Niagara Falls. I’m sure that must be right, but it sure didn’t seem that way to us. We did the half mile hike down to the river bottom to see the falls, and watched several people jump over the “Do Not Leave the Walkway” sign and ramble around the dry parts of the river bed. Neither of us was that brave, so we returned to the top and left for Anacortes.
But instead of making a straight line towards Anacortes, we decided to backtrack along the route we, um, detoured down when looking for the falls to downtown Snoqualmie and the Northwest Railway Museum. The museum is a railroad depot house that dates from 1890 and has many old train cars of various types on the unused tracks outside of it. The museum also has all the Thomas the Tank Engine gear any child could possibly want and made for a nice, if quick, stop. Plus,
it was free, a luxury we get used to in DC but not one you find for most museums.
Despite earlier threatening skies, it only rained on us while we were driving from place to place. Once we arrived at a destination, it would clear up long enough for us to enjoy it. We were lucky all day.
On the drive to the ferry we saw the first of many bright yellow signs advertising "Taco Time." Michael quickly declared that "Taco Time is my favorite time" (a slogan that he repeated throughout the trip and for which, he insisted, the fast-food chain should pay him serious money). In addition to providing a few laughs, the Taco Time signs began a craving for Taco Time tacos that we did not satisfy until days later.
We arrived in Anacortes about an hour before the ferry for Orcas Island was to leave, which had been recommended because the ferries are often full, and had no trouble catching it. Once on Orcas Island finding our B & B was a cinch. On the recommendation of the proprietor we had a nice, if too expensive, dinner at the local New Mexican restaurant
and crashed after a long day.
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