our trip to the great american northwest was fabulous. it really was a more beautiful place than i’d ever imagined, between the tidal pools, rock formations, snowcapped mountains, rainforest, lavender farms, waterways and inlets (and not to mention the wildlife) it is an idyllic place to visit. below are some of our shots from the trip and the
full set of pics (including LOTS of orcas) can be seen here.here is the view from anacortes, where we caught our first ferry of the trip to take us over to san juan
with san juan island being in the rain shadow (of the olympic mountains, i suppose) the climate is rather dry….perfect for lavender farming.
view of some sea lions in front of mt baker
this guy got a full breach, so that was pretty cool.
we ran across a couple of bald eagles while out on the boat. it made me want to
sing like john ashcroft. ok, not really, but it was pretty cool.
we made it over to the lime kiln lighthouse at sunset after our day out on the boat. one of us almost didn’t make, but when she (or he) saw the sunset, they were glad they did.
a pic of lillis on the ferry on the way over to orcas island from san juan, with mt baker in the background.
we hadn’t been aware, but there was actually a pretty cool tidal area just outside of our hotel in cascade harbor. oh yeah, on san juan island we stayed at a place 10 minutes outside of friday harbor called Olympic Lights Bed and Breakfast. It was a turn of the century (the last century, not this one) Victorian farm house sitting on what was more or less a plateau looking out over the water and the mountains. it was fabulous and they served us an oustanding breakfast…..peaceful little place
so, anyway, i had never seen a purple starfish before, but the northwest has them in spades.
here’s a view that same morning from around the side of the harbor. we had bright blue skies for the better part of our trip. this water would have been imminently skiable were it not 45 degrees.
hiking up to the top of mount constitution (something we did at a ridiculously fast pace) you pass by twin lakes. this is one of them. the other one didn’t look like this, though, so they must be fraternal twins.
this waterfall was just around the bend from our hotel in cascade harbor.
lil and i pose for a portrait in front of one of many beautiful sunsets we saw.
as we headed out across the olympic peninsula (on our way to our lodging at lake quinault) the weather got a little more volatile.
but it was bright and sunny when lil insisted that we stop in forks to get her picture taken with bella’s truck.
on our way to the lodge i convinced lillis for us to stop off at ruby beach (in the off chance we could see some sun setting). it turns out, we could. the beach was surreal in the waning sunlight.
we stopped on the bridge just a few moments after the sunset to get this shot. lillis was starting to get a little impatient as this would be the first of two nights where we literally made it to the only restaurant in town less than 5 minutes before they closed. for this night, it was the roosevelt room at the lake quinault lodge. it was FABULOUS food, and i’m glad we didn’t miss it.
most of the olympic peninsula is rain forest. temperate rain forests are great for growing molds, spores and funghi….oh, and lots of moss, too.
from lake quinault we went out, toured some of the peninsula and then settled in to the quillieute resort in la push. i may not have spelled that right – quillieute, not push. on the way we stopped by rialto beach (where we would head the next morning to see a sunset with the “haystacks” in the mist and vast tidal pools.
we got up exceedingly early to catch the low tide. i think we were out the door by 6am so that we could hike up the 2 miles to the best spot for the tidal pools (hole in the wall beach). tides in some of these areas vary by more than 10 feet, so at low tide, a lot of land (and marine life) is exposed.
this is lake crescent where we stopped to take some pictures on our way out of the peninsula.
lillis was pretty hyper. scratch that lillis was VERY hyper after the woman at the hungry bear cafe refilled her coffee one too many times.
VERY hyper.
here a gentle cuddly bear walks in front of our car as we prepared to hike hurricane ridge. i got out of the car to get a good shot of the bear. lillis had a fit about bear safety.
this black tail deer wasn’t afraid of any bears…..well, maybe bears, but certainly not people.
so, this is seattle. no big deal, EXCEPT it is seattle with sunshine. we felt pretty lucky to see that. of course, it was seattle with sunshine and ominous dark clouds behind it, but we were ok with that.
pike’s place market. really neat. it’s cool to visit places that have the kind of vibe that place does. no “chains”. artisans making bread, coffee, cheese. just good stuff. i wish we had an equivalent in atlanta.
all in all, a really splendid trip.
