Shoving the tiredness aside, we headed for Everett, and the Boeing factory, for a 90 minute tour. This place is huge. I mean HUGE. The single factory building where they manufacture all their aircraft is so big it could house the whole of the LA Disneyland complex plus all it's carparks under it's one roof. This was a great tour, and a must for anyone the least bit interested in aviation. There were some incredible stats thrown our way, but the one that stuck in my head was that every 4 seconds, somewhere around the world, a Boeing aircraft lands or takes off!
Leaving the Boeing factory, we headed south for the car ferry across the Strait from Tacoma to Vashon Island and P and H's friend Lisa's beautiful seaside island home where we were to spend the next 3 nights.
After a welcome long night's sleep, Lisa dropped Susie and I at the Pike Place Markets for a few hours of wandering and some yummy clam chowder. When she picked us up about 3 we were laden with fresh salmon, green prawns, and oysters for a beachside bbq that night at Lisa's.
What a great evening - first a walk along the beach to the lighthouse, then back for a feast, some good wine and good company by the fire.
Next day 7 of us, we four, Lisa and her daughter Chiara and her mate Ava, all piled into Lisa's Chevy Tahoe and drove out for a circumnavigation of Mt Rainier, at 14,410 feet the third highest mountain in the US, and very impressive standing on it's own. We had a couple of hours walk up to Comet Falls, lunch at Paradise Lodge, an encounter with a bear, and beautiful light as we waited for the ferry back to Lisa's, getting back late in the evening after a full day.
Leaving Lisa and her partner Andre next day, we drove north to Anacortes for an hour's car ferry ride to San Juan Island and the town of Friday Harbour. This island is about as far north as you can go on the west coast and still be in the USA. Just west across the Haro Strait is Vancouver Island, Canada. Settling into our comfy B&B, we scoffed some of our host's home made brownies (yum!) and contemplated the next day's activity - kayaking amongst the orcas!
Our paddle started in overcast but calm conditions, with the rain holding off. Our guide, Elizabeth, took us along the coast, checking out giant kelp (we tasted a bite - okay if you've got nothing else!) and giving us a local history lesson along the way, until we got into Orca territory. After a bit of waiting, there they were, far off but getting closer. We were passed by a couple of pods, not OMG close, but close enough to get a decent look. A pretty good outing. And yes, dear readers, that is an orca dorsal fin in that blurry shot. Sorry, that's the best we could do!
That night we went to a local upmarket-ish restaurant for dinner as it was P and H's 33rd wedding anniversary. Checking out the menu, I was drawn to a NZ lamb rack and noticed a guy at the next table was having it. I walked over and asked him what it was like, he said great, we had a short chat and a laugh, and I sat down and duly ordered the lamb. We all had a very good meal, but the best bit was when the bill arrived. The guy I'd spoken to had paid for my lamb!
Walking back to our digs we came upon a local bar with a decent live rock band going off. In we went for some margaritas and dancing. A good day!
The next day saw us making a brief foray into Canada. We caught another car ferry to Sidney, on Vancouver Island, wandered around the excellent Butchart Gardens for a couple of hours, then drove to another ferry from Victoria at the bottom of the island, across the strait to Port Angeles, back in the USA, and after a short drive arrived at our very rustic but comfortable little shack.
This was the gateway to the Olympic NP, a seriously beautiful part of the world, crowned by Mt Olympus at about 8,500 ft.
Next morning we drove up into the mountains to Hurricane Ridge. Luckily the winds which gave name to this place were absent, and we had a wonderful walk up to Sunrise Hill and then Hurricane Hill. Beautiful mountains, with the occasional deer posing for the cameras. Oh, and did I mention, marijuana is legal in Washington?
The road trip then continued to Neah Bay in the Makah Indian Reservation, at the very NW tip of the Olympic Peninsula. On the way we stopped at Crescent Lake, fitting in a 6 km round trip walk to Marymere Falls, followed by another wander through ever stunning rainforest to Sol Duc Falls. Then onward to Neah Bay and our accommodation for the next couple of nights. But first, a trip out to Cape Flattery, the most Nth Westerly point of the Olympic Peninsula. Cliffs and rock stacks, and Tatoosh Island offshore sporting a lighthouse. Very photogenic.
Continuing the rainforest experience, we had an 8 mile return walk next day to, and along, Shi Shi Beach to it's southern end and the Point of Arches. More rock stacks, and lots of washed up timber on the beach. Not satisfied with our walk, Susie talked me into walking another mile after we got back to our B&B to find the local salmon smoker guy. We found him, and the fish was pretty good.
The Hoh Rainforest, back in the Olympic NP, was our next destination, and another long walk in probably the most stunning of all the forests we walked in. First a circuit walk of about a mile called the Hall of Mosses, then a 6 mile out and back up the river, turning around at another nice waterfall. These rainforests are so GREEN! Massive trees everywhere, mostly Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock, with some Western Red Cedar, Douglas Fir and Maple thrown in, and everything draped in thick moss. Fabulous.
That evening we arrived at our digs for the next 2 nights - a small but great little cabin on the banks of the Bogachiel River.
Another Washington Coast beach experience was next. This was a trip to Ruby Beach, and then other beaches named Beaches 1 - 4, with a stop at a giant Cedar thrown in. The beaches were a kaleidoscope of spectacular rock stacks and storm dumped timber - most of it having been washed out of local rivers when in flood. Some of it very big. Howdy trumped all our photos with a great shot of 2 Bald Eagles watching over the beach.
That night we had a nice fire outside our cabin, just sittin' and watchin' the river and the bush TV.
Finishing off our Washington experience was a drive down the coast to Long Beach, which sits just on the north side of the Columbia Rvr, forming the border between WA and Oregon to the south.
On the way we had a stop at Quinault Lake, where H and P had their honeymoon. We had a coffee in the Lodge by the lake where they stayed 33 years ago, and Pam told us about the comment she wrote in the Guest Book way back then. "Honeymoon... What lake?" Also checked out the "World's Biggest" Sitka Spruce. With a 19 foot circumference, and 190 feet tall, it was a monster. Another rainforest walk and we tooled on down to Long Beach, checked in to our house, and went to a free folk and bluegrass concert while eating pizzas.
Up late next morning, we decided to give Susie a double lighthouse fix, and checked out both the Cape Disappointment and Nth Head lighthouses on the north entrance to the Columbia River. This river bar is considered the most dangerous in the USA, one of the worst in the world, and is called the Graveyard of the Pacific. Over 2,000 ships have been lost in the vicinity of this bar. There is an elite Coast Guard Rescue unit based at the port inside the bar, which rescues on average 600 people per year. Some of the stories about rescues effected by this unit are epic. We followed up our lighthouse jaunt with a lunch of fish tacos at Ole Bob's on the marina at the fishing port of Ilwaco.
Finally we checked out the Cranberry Museum and the Kite Museum (very windy here), both surprisingly interesting, and in the afternoon Susie and I hired bikes and went for a pedal of 14 km on a winding trail mostly through grassland behind the beach dunes while Pam and Howdy elected for a walk.
We finished the afternoon off with margaritas in the beautiful old Shelburne Hotel before dinner, and that was it for our tour of a very small part of Washington State.
Next day, we crossed the Columbia River into Oregon, and the next part of our road trip...
