Okay, the title of this post makes things sound way more exciting than they really are. However, we did see the three volcanos in the area on a HUGE drive through the countryside here in Washington.
First, we had to turn in our rental battleship Expedition in Seattle. We were originally going to explore Seattle, but decided to hit the road instead. We headed east along I-90, the Mountains to Sound Greenway, into the beautiful Cascade Mountain Range. Our first stop was a short 5-10 minute drive off the interstate to Snoqualmie Falls.
It is a neat little park that we'll have to come back to in 2013 after they have completed maintenance on the trail that allows one to walk from the rim to the bottom of the falls. Should be fun! Part of the park at the rim included old portions of the (still active) hydro-electric plant. Below are Ian and Leah in one of the old hydro-turbines.
We left the falls and headed into Snoqualmie for a nice lunch, and then explored the town a bit. Ian was in heaven as they had a working old time train with plenty of older engines and passenger cars to explore. After that we loaded up and made our way over the Snoqualmie Pass. There is a ski resort there, and it still had plenty of snow. While it wasn't open, it definitely still had more snow in early June than I ever saw the entire winter at Clearfork Ski Area in Ohio. The kids had a great time playing in the snow, which pretty much consisted of falling down and/or throwing snow at me.
Our drive, which was only supposed to be 3-4 hours turned into an all day affair. Part of the problem was that the shorter route home was still closed. The Chinook Pass was either still snowed in or had experienced some extensive road/bridge damage during the massive spring melt. It was a pretty drive - exactly the sort of thing I need to go back and explore some more in the next couple of years - but definitely long. There were several view points along the way - several for Mt. Rainier (one of the volcanos - Mt. Adams is one of the others, as is Mt. St. Helens). Below is a photo of Ian and Leah at one of the viewpoints for Mt. Rainier. The photo doesn't do justice for just how high Rainier stands above everything else around it.
This is a final photo, below, of Mt. Rainier from that same viewpoint, just a different place to stand and compose the photo.
We didn't get home until closer to 10 pm last night, so we all slept in a good bit this morning. We are still stuck at the Rainier Inn for another week. It feels good to be on the downslope to all of this hotel living. It has been almost a month that we've been without a house to call home.
I hope everyone has a nice day today. The weather here is phenomenal, so we'll do some local exploring today, but it should be a good one. Ciao!
Marc
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