Advertisement
Published: July 29th 2017
Edit Blog Post
20170728_100913
the new Tacoma Narrows bridge Mileage – 278.9
This morning we had to buy breakfast at the Courtyard by Marriott. Seems on our road trips, we need to stay at the lower levels of the hotel chains. Oh well… last night’s noise was the car alarm that kept going off. Even on the 8
th floor, I could hear it. I wonder what it sounded like on the lower floors. Our goal for the day was Mt Rainier. On the way, as we were heading into Tacoma, Susan says, we need to see the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. For those of you who don’t know, google Tacoma Narrows Bridge, 1940s and watch the video. So we get there and drive across the new bridge. Wow, this is a MUCH wider span than any of us realized. We really wanted a side view of the bridge so we drove off into the side streets. It was all gated communities or really tall hedges. So we headed back over the bridge, but there was a toll going back across. The toll road had 2 entrances, one with a speed pass type entry and the other cash, but the cash one made us drive like 4-5 miles out of the
way to get to the cash booth. We all said it was worth it though. Back on the other side of the bridge, we continued our quest for a good view. We drove all thru neighborhoods, up hills, around corners… FINALLY we found some decent views and we snapped a few more pictures. I’m sure if anyone was following us, they would think we were crazy.
We finally got back on the road to Mt Rainier. We took back roads there and stopped to let Pam put her feet in the opal green lake. When we entered the park where Susan swears she remembered the roads being dirt when she came several years back.. Pam and I think she was dreaming as all the roads were paved now. We did hit some road construction inside the park and it really caused us to stop, and I mean stop, there was no go. We sat there for a long while. Finally we got to go again. We skipped several pull offs since we were first in line and we thought we could get a parking place at the top, in Paradise. Nope, being first didn’t help. So we went to
DSCF6006
Mt Rainier the pull out before the top and parked and ate lunch at a picnic area that had a view of the mountain. We were still in Paradise, just not at the very top. The views of the mountain were great and we really enjoyed our lunch.
After lunch we headed back down the mountain a bit in the direction that we had come so that we could see the Narada Falls. We had to hike down a bit to get a good view of the falls, but it was worth it as the falls were really nice. As a bonus, there was a double rainbow at the bottom.
We got back on the road and headed back up and took the other side down the mountain. Susan had not been down this side on her previous trip and we figured – a) it was a different view and b) it would skip the road constructions as we headed down. We stopped at the reflection lakes but there was wind and no reflection. The view was still good. We then took a selfie with Parker and Ellie too.
On the way down we tried to remember old camp
DSCF6007
waterfall songs and sing what we could. It was funny, Susan and I would know some, Pam and I would know others, each of us knew ones the others had never heard and a few we all knew. This kept us entertained.
We headed into Chehalis, Washington where our hotel is, a Holiday Inn Express, to check in and change. We get there and I check us in. Susan and I head to the room. I walk in and know immediately that the smell will kill us, so I head down and ask for a new room. We get one across the hall and it smells much fresher. The hotel did give me 1000 points for the inconvenience. Every point counts in this game.
We changed and freshened up and headed into Olympia. Our reservations gave us time to stop by the capital beforehand to snap a picture. We would have gotten one except there was not a good view of the complete building. It seems they build other buildings right up to the capital. We made the best shot possible. Then we headed to the restaurant. It was on the water, but since we ate inside, we only
had a view of the water. Dinner was good, and afterwards we headed back to the hotel for the evening. Several more people asked us if we were sisters and/or twins today. We wonder if it is because Susan was wearing her hair down.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.179s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 9; qc: 46; dbt: 0.0752s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Barbara Fox
non-member comment
Yup. Y'all look alike!
I've been marveling at how similar the three sister look. Seems I'm not the only one. Pix are great, especially some of the "duds". They're hysterical. Great trip ?.