Seattle and Mount Rainier

Drive by of the Seattle Space Needle

Across Puget Sound towards downtown Seattle

Downtown Seattle

Floating homes in Puget Sound

Enter

Mount Rainier. We are at 5400ft level and this mountain

goes on up to 14,410ft. There was a lot of the mountain

we couldn't see because of the cloud cover.

This is taken from Paradise base station looking up towards

the summit which is enclosed by clouds.

Flag at half staff honoring the loss of a young park ranger

who fell to his death this past week while rescuing climbers

on the mountain.

Some beautiful but rugged country.

Transformation of a tree by the harsh weather it has endured.

Looking across the valley

Snow fields. They got 600 - 700 inches of snow in

Paradise this past winter.

Winter scene even though it is late June.

This area was used to train the Mountain Brigade

back in WWII

Every direction you turn.

This innocent looking guy is really a bandit.

He and his partner would buzz cars and people

looking for food.

Was hoping the clouds would break for a look on

up the mountain but no luck.

Scoured by ice, wind and water.

A look down the valley

This is the beginning of a river that flows to the Pacific.

You can tell at times it has roared.

Down river

Old railroad dining car for lunch/dinner.

Moved a couple of hours north of Portland to Olympia, Washington on Thursday. Most of our time spent here has been rainy and cool. Arrival day we drove into Olympia, the state capital. We stopped at a local quilt shop and then on to dinner at Tugboat Annie's at the southern tip of Puget Sound. We drove 60 miles north to Seattle on Friday. Again it rained and the traffic was terrible but at the end of the day we were glad we went. Saturday it poured the rain almost all day so we hibernated. Sunday we drove over to Mount Rainier National Park. Explored the park for hours stopping at many turns to take photos. Had lunch/dinner (it was about 2:30 in the afternoon) in an old dining car in the little town of Elbe. They had a wonderful chicken fried steak that Charlotte and I shared thank goodness because it was a huge serving. We're off to Moses Lake, WA today for a week in the desert-like region of Washington state.

Columbia River Gorge

Charlotte thought she'd died and gone to heaven.....

Huge fabric store in Portland

See, she thinks she's in heaven. Can't stop smiling!!!!

View of the Columbia River Gorge

Just beautiful

Looking over into Washington state.

The view just kept catching my eye.

Tourist. Couldn't speak English though. Not unusual these days I guess.

Very scenic

Old rest area and viewing area

View from the Vista House looking west to the Pacific

View from the Vista House looking east.

The Vista House

Bridal Veil Falls

One of those pesky happy campers....

Kind of surreal picture of Multnomah Falls. I walked across

this bridge and half way up to the top of the falls before running

out of gas.

This picture is from just above the bridge.

And this picture is from my last stop half way up.

The route to all this beauty.

Greeter's at a little pub we had lunch in while exploring.

A little stiff but had lots of personality.....

We located ourselves in a nice little campground about 15 miles east of Portland in a little town called Troutdale. It fittingly identifies itself as the gateway to the Columbia River Gorge. We didn't plan on doing anything on Monday so we just took it easy "not that we aren't always taking it easy" and went to dinner that night at Tad's Chicken n' Dumplins. Nestled on the banks of the Sandy River, Tad's has been serving since the 1920's. Very enjoyable and their specialty is chicken n' dumplins. If you are every in this area you got to try this. The dumplins were as big as a softball and you are served two with gravy and lots of chicken. Made two meals for me. Tuesday was a little rainy and cold so we opted to hang out some more and then took a little trip into a fabric store. As you can see from the photo it was "huge Florida".....(Little side humor for our Florida friends).  Wednesday we explored the Columbia River valley. "Gorge"ous views. Many, many falls to view and explore then wrapped up our visit with lunch at a small pub in Hood River. Chalk up another beautiful day in the USA.

Oregon Coast to Central Oregon

Sun setting on the Klamath River

Cragy Oregon Coast

West Coast Flora

Sea lions basking in the fog

Charlotte keeping an eye on the sea lions

Interesting coastal pine

Small herd of elk along the highway heading east out of Reedsport, OR.

Some rafters in our back yard on the McKenzie River

Our home away from home on the McKenzie

Down the fairway at Tokatee Golf Club

This is the marquee hole at Tokatee with the back side of the Sister's mountain range in the distance.

Another view of the snow capped mountain range from the golf course.

Heading towards Sister's Oregon thru the mountain pass.

She has arrived!!!!

Another vice of mine.

One of Charlotte's favorite destinations.

Three Sisters Mountain Range

We spent our last day on the Oregon coast taking a side trip to a little state park that offered a view of sea lions basking on the rocks below. They had arrived to the area to give birth to there pups. Very neat. The next morning we drove north to Reedsport, OR and followed the Umpqua River valley eastward toward the central section of Oregon. On the way we got to see a herd of elk grazing in a field along side the road. Again, very neat. We had a three night lay over in a little campground on the McKenzie River with a fast flowing mountain stream literally at our back door. The sound of the roaring water lulled us to sleep every night. I got to play golf while we were there and as you can see by the pictures if was a very scenic course. Had a great time. Arrived in Sister's, Oregon Thursday morning and was able to get a campsite in the City of Sisters RV park. It was a perfect location allowing us to walk to almost everything. We strolled the town that afternoon and attended a Wine and Beer Fest they were having the next afternoon. Drove into Bend, OR on Sunday enjoying the scenery as we went. Looked like a quaint little town with a quite active downtown area. We didn't hang around, heading back and taking it easy the rest of the day. We drove out of the mountains today into the Columbia River valley 15 miles east of Portland.  We'll be staying here until Thursday morning.