Western Montana and Idaho
Thursday we left Glacier National Park. The differences between the western side of Glacier National Park and the eastern side are striking. On the eastern side are prairies right up to the edge of the mountains. On the west are lakes and forests. I thought I was coming up to Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire as we traveled past parts of Flathead Lake. Lolo National Forest in Western Montana and the panhandle of Idaho were very beautiful. Red pine and Spruce covered mountains. Silver mining country. Historic Wallace Idaho allows you to tour a working silver mine. Although we weren't able to visit this time, the Coeur D'Alene district in Idaho has a rich history of early mining for gold and silver, as well as it's attractive and pristine lake, a very popular vacation destination.
Flathead Lake in Western Montana
Washington
Washington was truly the most diverse of all the states we have visited. Forests changing to high deserts, changing to gorges, changing to mountains, changing to ocean, and then, to top it all off, Mt. Rainier.
On the road from Spokane to Seattle
SpokaneFriday, after catching up on reading and laundry at the Residence Inn in Spokane Valley, we met our friend Darlene for a tour of downtown Spokane and the historic Davenport Hotel, renovated in 2002 where we had dinner. Pictures on its walls showcased earlier visitors Amelia Earheart, Eisenhower, and others. Spokane is a nice sized and beautiful city with a safe feel, an inviting atmosphere, and friendly people. The home of Bing Crosby! Built in the early 1900's, the most historic buildings are a combination of turn of the century and art deco architecture. Thank you Darlene for showing us places we never would have found on our own!
Cave B Winery
Between Spokane and Seattle is Cave B Inn & Winery on the Columbia River Gorge. After a wonderful wine tasting we strolled the grounds and admired the vineyard and the gorge. The person who founded this winery was a Neurosurgeon from Seattle. I was impressed. Really impressed.
Let's hike this trail!!!....oh, ah, maybe not!
Wild horses overlook
Happy Birthday Jenn!
We stopped to hike the Twin Falls trail in the Cascades thanks to the advice of Jenn's friends Carla and Roger. It was just the right type of trail for us, and the afternoon light filtering through the trees was like entering a fairy land. Perhaps you'll see more of the hike on a later post.
Saturday and Sunday we had a wonderful stay with Jenn and Bryan celebrating her thirtieth birthday at the Purple Cafe in Bellevue. Tapas!! It was a really fun evening. I'll let my fellow blogger fill you in.
Mt. Rainer
On Monday we traveled to Portland, Oregon via Mt. Rainier .
This national park was almost an afterthought as we had a lot of time to fill as the trip from Kent to Portland is not that long. I suggested we 'swing by' Rainer on the way. Wow...did we make the correct decision! Rainier rivaled Glacier in its beauty, and coupled with an absolutely perfect day we were left spellbound. We travelled the classic road from Nisqually to Paradise Inn then on to Ohanapecosh. The trails you see below are just above Paradise.
Narada Falls
Paradise Inn from above
That small dot mid picture is a bear taken from the Alpine Vista trail! Believe it or not, I was totally able to handle this extremely close encounter!
Part of the Skyline trail
Walking up the Alpine Vista Trail
The view looking back up the Skyline trail after clouds started rolling in. Notice the attractive camera hand model in the lower right.
Paradise Inn Lodge 5000+ feet. Just stopped for a visit.
On the way down we visited Box Canyon:
That is churning water at the bottom of a very deep chasm. It really is.
Portland
At 3:00 p.m. we headed to Portland, OR and visited the world famous Powells bookstore. This bookstore, which takes up an entire block actually has a map on how to navigate through it. Unfortuantely, we were so exhausted from our hikes up Rainier that day we did not experience any of Portland's wonderful night life. Well, I take that back. My sound sleep after all that hiking was actually a very wonderful night life!!
The Oregon Coast
Tuesday we made our way from Portland to the Oregon Coast. Just like Maine, the Pacific Coast met us with fog. All day. I began to wonder if we are fated to have fog on the coasts this trip. We did get to see a few friends basking on the rocks, and actually saw a whale while we were eating at Tidal Raves in Depoe Bay, which I totally recommend.
Seals at Yaquina Head Lighthouse
The white on this rock, covered with birds is NOT snow or ocean foam.
Cobblestones
After our tour of Yaquina Head Lighthouse, we stayed for the evening in Yachats, OR.
Tomorrow, onto Crater Lake!
--Mike
I love reading your blog. You have put it together so nicely. Looks beautiful everywhere you decide to stop. We were in Oregon when Niall attended the Bicycle Institute in Ashland. We began our Oregon trip in Portland--we forfeited the famous Powell's Bookstore for the Japanese Garden on the hill. After driving to Ashland to visit our son, we picked up the coast around Florence where the seal sea caves are and drove down as far south on coast to just after Bandon. You make me want to click my heels to join you! Crater Lake is out of this world! You really move along with what you are seeing! We drove without reservations and meandered by day, stopping late afternoon wherever it was most interesting & beautiful. OR is a great state to see. Be safe. Looking forward to next post!
ReplyDelete@Judith. We travelled to Florence on our way to Crater Lake. We will be blogging about seals near Seal Caves soon as we randomly stopped at an overlook and heard this barking noise below. Way cool! We actually did not stop at the Seal Caves themselves as we really wanted to get to Crater Lake. Japanese Garden we also missed--sounds like something for a future visit! --Mike
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