We had arrived in Washington State a couple of weeks ago and have fallen in love with this beautiful area. With lovely Puget Sound on one side and glorious snow capped mountains on the other there is a bit of everything here. Our first stop was in Anacortes on the coast not far from Vancouver. We were hoping to catch a ferry out to the San Juan islands that lie in the Strait of Georgia between Washington and Vancouver Island. On the day we drove down to catch the ferry there was sea fog everywhere. We wouldn't have seen a dickie bird if we had gone over so we flagged it away and drove around the area instead. It is on a very long peninsular (really an island but there is a bridge) connecting it to the largest island in the mainland USA called Whidbey Island. Over the narrow gap called Deception Pass, between the mainland and the island is a lovely old steel bridge. Down below the banks are lined with fishermen all eager for their harvest of salmon. And the Washington coast is all about salmon. Every creek, inlet is a breeding ground for the fish and there seems an inexhaustible supply.
After Anacortes we drove to Seattle to a quiet campground by a pleasant lake. The pickup truck was booked in for a regular service on one day and we also had an appointment to meet up with Sam and his flatmate Joey at a local restaurant called The Herb Farm. The theme of the meal was Basil and every dish had it in one form or another. Before the meal we were led around the garden and given many different types of basil to try. A remarkable meal was to follow.
One day we went out to Everett and the massive Boeing assembly plant (no photos allowed). The assembly building is the largest building on earth able to hold 76 football stadiums. We saw 747s, 777s and Dreamliners being assembled. It was really fascinating. Unfortunately the service work on the truck took longer than expected due to a lack of parts and we had to leave it in over night meaning we couldn't visit Seattle the next day (but we caught up later). So we headed on to Aberdeen on the coast and then to Port Townsend at the western entrance to Puget Sound. A lovely old victorian town loving restored. We stayed in Fort Worden State park where huge gun batteries once guarded the approaches to Puget Sound.
One day while we were there we caught the ferry from Bainbridge Island an hours drive away across the sound to Seattle. Pike Market had the most beautiful fish on display that we had ever seen in the US.
And the view from the ferry as we left was fantastic also. The weather has been kind to us in Seattle and we saw very little rain in over two weeks.
We are now a few miles from Paradise! The Cascade mountains with their tall active volcanoes are a most beautiful sight in Washington. The most recent eruption just down the road was at Mt St Helens, but all of them have been active recently- ie the last couple of hundred years. Standing tall they can be seen for miles dominating the countryside. We are camped near the hamlet of Paradise on the slopes of Mt Rainier which at 14,500 ft is only a few feet shorter than Mt Whitney the tallest mountain in the lower 48 states. But it is a lot more accessible and a lot more impressive with more glaciers than any other non Alaska mountain. At Paradise, so called because the view reminded the namer of Paradise (she was obviously well travelled!) we hiked for miles up lovely alpine meadows covered with summer flowers, with the looming mass of Mt Rainier always present. We climbed up to about 7000 ft and overlooked one of the glaciers coming off the side of the mountain - Nisqually. It is a really special place and even with all of the tourists there, there was enough space to get away from it all.
Tomorrow we say goodbye to Washington State and cross the border into Oregon.
