Rita, Wes and Toby came to visit last week. They have been anticipating this trip for almost a year - dreaming about all there is to do in the Pacific Northwest. Their vacation required stamina, determination, and not a whole lot of down time. I was happy to join them for a whirlwind tour of Mt Rainer, Mt St Helens, and the lovely city of Portland.
Rainer can be seen from Bush Point beach, where I live, creating a sense of close proximity. But when all the hours of travel are summed up, it takes about four hours to get to Rainer National Park from Whidbey Island. We had a beautifully hot summer day to tour the park. A perfect day for travel, best noted by the hordes of visitors who were driving the same roads we were and stopping at the same pullouts we intended to stop at.
After flying through Rainer National Park we headed across the back roads of Washington State to get a view of Mt St Helens. After a few hours drive we were tragically disappointed to find that two years ago a flood had washed out the road to Spirit Lake (where we were headed). So we had to settle with a view of the mountain, but no real view of the total devestation created by the volcanic eruption of 1980. Blast!!
Portland was a great place to end up, though. And we had fun touring the street market, the parks, the river, the country's largest used bookstore and the eateries. I can't wait for my next trip to Portland.
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