11 June – 17 June
Saturday:
We hadn’t really planned on exploring the Olympic peninsula, but as we’re here it’d seem rude not to. The skies are heavy and overcast today so there doesn’t seem much point in heading up the much-lauded Hurricane Ridge. I don’t think we’d get to see any more than the inside of a cloud. Instead we set out to follow the west coast. The road takes us through thick forest on the banks of Lake Crescent, with deer grazing on the roadside.
We turn down towards the coast. We’re in Twilight country now and there’s no way we could forget it – we can even buy Jacob Java if we wanted too.
Neither of us are Twilight fans, but the scenery is beautiful. We stop off at La Push to check out the third beach. It’s all in shades of grey, with massive piles of driftwood. I say driftwood; these are actually whole massive trees that have been washed up. Weird pillars of rock stand out at sea.
A short walk through the forest takes us to second beach, which is very similar to the third beach if not even more beautiful. Back in the car we drive through Forks (the setting for the Twilight series), meeting up with the coast again in the Kalaloch region where we stop to admire Ruby beach. The sun has come out for a bit but we’re still not going anywhere near the water. It’s chilly.
Our next detour takes us into the rainforest on the shoreline of Quinault Lake. A nature trail takes us through towering trees dripping with moss. Everything is in shades of green.
Another short walk takes us to a giant cedar. The tree is dead, but still impressive. It’s hollow inside too, so we get to walk inside and check out the view from inside a tree.
We’ve got to get moving: it’s after 5 and we need to find somewhere to stay tonight. A bit down the road a desperate looking motorist flags us down. He says he’s feeling unwell and would like us to call him an ambulance, so Nick gets to dial 911. We wait with him for a while, but his neighbour happens past and tells us he’ll wait until the ambulance arrives. We pass the ambulances a few minutes down the road. Hopefully he’ll be all right.
It’s after 7 by the time we eventually pull into a motel. Worn out we head to Denny’s for some quick food.
Janet adds: our dirty little secret – we’re both starting to like Denny’s.
Sunday:
A quick blast down the interstate gets us to the turn off for Mt St Helens. From miles away this volcano dominates the horizon. It’s a mountain that has quite literally blown it’s top.
On 18 May 1980 an earthquake caused the whole side of the mountain to come crashing down in a massive landslide. This in turn triggered an eruption in the active volcano. 57 people were killed and the mountain itself lost 400 meters off the top to be left instead with a mile wide crater. The scars on the landscape are still clearly visible.
Our drive takes us to within 5 miles of the crater. It’s beautiful and quite humbling. The nearby visitor’s centre has various displays and survivor stories. Once we’re done we travel a bit down the valley to walk through the hummocks. These cones of rock and earth are the remains of the top of the mountain, deposited here in the eruption. It’s quite a neat, serene landscape.
It’s time to get back on the interstate and continue down to Portland. We’re staying in a motel on the outskirts of town and from here it looks very industrial and not very promising. By the time we get checked in we’re too tired to go out exploring. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. It has nothing to do with the fact that the NBA playoffs are on the telly. Our adopted team the Dallas Mavericks win the playoffs for the first time.
Monday:
We’ve come here to check out the nearby Mt Hood, so we head off in that direction. As we get near it is clear that we’re not going to get even a glimpse of the mountain: the clouds are low and heavy. Still, a trip to the ranger station gives us a few options of things to do. We decide on a 7-mile round trip walk that winds through gloomy but pretty forest. The walk takes us past a beautiful tall waterfall swollen with spring melts.
The way back is through an area where the pixies and elves live (or so the ranger told me). It certainly looks the part - with moss covered ground and babbling streams, but the pixies and elves are hiding today.
Back at the car it seems that the day has disappeared on us and it’s time to get back to our motel. We’re still tired, so we don’t go out exploring tonight either. This gives us the chance to watch game 6 of the Stanley Cup – it ends up 3 games apiece, so game 7 will be the decider.
Janet adds: when and how did we become American sports fanatics?
Tuesday:
We’ve spent 2 nights in Portland and haven’t seen anything of the city yet, so we set out to rectify that this morning. Once you get past the surrounding industry, the city’s green, leafy streets lined with old brick buildings are quite charming. The Pioneer Courthouse Square has a colourful exhibition on at the moment: a map of the world made out of flowers and plants.
We make our way over to Powell’s City of Books – arguably Portland’s most impressive landmark. According to their website it’s the largest used and new bookshop in the world. It fills two buildings and there are colour-coded maps at the entrance so you don’t get last. I start browsing the fiction section and don’t even get halfway through the alphabet before it’s time to leave. I’ve also accumulated an enormous stack of books I can’t possibly take with me. I pick one out to keep but the rest have to go back.
The sun has decided to show its face, so we decide it’s worth giving Mt Hood another try. There’s a scenic drive that will take us all the way round it. At first it stays shrouded in cloud, but finally we round a corner and there it is. It’s a very impressive mountain, dominating the horizon.
We drive up to Timberline lodge on the lower slopes. This was used for the external shots in the film The Shining. We’d heard that Mt Hood was a year round skiing destination, but it’s still a bit of a shock to see people skiing in mid-June.
Dropping back down the mountain we drive through the valley until our road joins the broad, mighty Columbia River.
There are plenty of places to stop and take in the view, but we limit ourselves to just a couple, one being the beautiful Multnomah Falls.
We’ve run out of day and so we stay once again on the outskirts of Portland.
Wednesday:
It’s time to start heading north again. We’re headed for Seattle, but on the way we detour into Mt Rainier National Park. It is once again overcast and rainy, so we’ve got no chance of seeing the mountain. Still, there are plenty of other things to see. First stop is Nerada Falls, where a 5-minute slide down the icy banks takes us to a good viewing point.
Next up we drive to Paradise. I couldn’t tell you if it is aptly named or not because it’s covered by a lot of snow. And when I say ‘a lot’, I mean about 20 feet or so.
There is a car flipped over in the road nearby. It doesn’t seem like anyone is hurt, but it’s a strong reminder to take things slow.
We drop down out of the snow again and the road takes us through tunnels and past dropping waterfalls.
Our final stop is to walk through the Grove of Patriarchs: a stand of 1000-year old trees on an island in the middle of the Ohanapecosh River. A bouncy suspension bridge takes us across to stand in awe at the feet of these giants.
Another couple of hours up the road and we’re on the outskirts of Seattle where we decide to stop for the night. It’s the final game of the Stanley Cup and we watch Vancouver lose horribly
Thursday:
Before we go into Seattle we’ve got one more detour to make: Snoqualmie. Or, as some of you may remember it, Twin Peaks. It’s a geeky thrill to stand in front of the falls looking up at the Great Northern Hotel (really the Salish Lodge).
It’s an even geekier thrill to stop by the RR diner for some cherry pie and a ‘damn fine cup of coffee’. (Actually Nick had a burger and coke and I had tea with my cherry pie, but hey).
It’s early afternoon as we drive into Fremont in northern Seattle. We’ve decided to have a bit of a look around here before checking into our motel. There are some lovely vintage shops to poke through and some rather interesting public art, including a statue of Lenin rescued from Slovakia and a huge troll lurking under a bridge.
Our motel is a short drive away in central Seattle and once we’re checked in we take a walk into town. The city is starting to light up against the darkening sky.
We’re not doing any sightseeing tonight but we do stop by the Pike Pub and Brewery for a microbrew before finding a good spot for dinner.
Janet adds: Couldn’t live around here. The temperatures are set to crack the mid 60s today and everyone is really excited. C’mon, it’s mid-June!
Friday:
I think we walk Seattle flat today. We start off at the Seattle Centre, home of the iconic needle (which we don’t go up). Then we wander along the waterfront. The sun has come out today and Puget Sound is sparkling. Our walk takes us to Pike Market, which is colourful and interesting but about as busy as Covent Garden a few days before Christmas.
There are people queuing out the door to get into the first ever Starbucks. We give it a skip and opt for some grilled cheese sandwiches, which we eat down on the grass.
The rest of the afternoon is spent strolling the streets and looking round the shops. There are some pretty cool buildings about, the most interesting of which is probably the library. We go in to ride the neon escalators and get some great views of the city. Our legs are wearing out so we go back to our motel for a rest. In the evening we drive out to one of the suburbs to get some food and then set about the difficult task of trying to make all of our accumulated stuff fit in our suitcases. The last leg of our trip starts tomorrow with a flight to Chicago.
Janet adds: Either it gets really cold in Seattle or they have really wimpy trees, but I noticed that many of them (the trees that is) were wearing jumpers…
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