Seattle; 5/2015

Rather than taking I-5 straight in to Seattle from Portland, we cut onto 12E then 7N for the scenic route through small historic towns like Mineral and Elbe. If not for the low clouds, we would have been able to see Mt Rainer from here. Originally, we wanted to take 123N between Mt. Rainer and Mt. St. Helens, then we learned it would have added four hours to our journey, and they were lost in the clouds anyway. The clouds hung low most of the time we were in Washington, too low to see either of these peaks, but at least it didn’t rain that much.

Hostel next to the Pike Market.

We highly recommend the Green Tortoise Hostel if you’re traveling on a budget. It has clean, large bathrooms; friendly helpful staff; excellent location; lots of activities (e.g. free movie nights); three free meals a week; discount tickets (which we got for the EMP);and you can cook your own pancakes and eggs in the morning for free. It is on Pike and 1st Ave, kitty-corner from the famous Pike Market, across from the Waterfront attractions that are built along the shores of Puget Sound, and not far from a ferry port.

Mike (from the Xcalak, MX house) lives in the area and we let him know we had arrived, making plans to meet for breakfast in the morning. It was very cold and windy and, after dropping our backpack, we walked to the West Lake Plaza to take what had been the World’s Fair Monorail to the Space Needle. Next to The Needle was the Dale Chihuly blown-glass exhibit: Garden and Glass.

Chihuly exhibit.

We never heard of him before and when we saw the gigantic colorful outdoor pieces we decided to check it out. There were ten gallery presentations including a Glasshouse with a 40′ suspended sculpture, and a Garden of monumental sculptures amidst trees, plants and flowers. His art is elaborate, creative, whimsical, colorful, vibrant and, in a word, amazing.

It was dark by the time we went up in the Space Needle — the Seattle lights and shoreline Ferris Wheel glowing in the clear, crisp night sky. Before entering the elevator they take your picture. At the top there are large monitors where you enter the code they give you, choose one photo from several with different backdrops, and email it to yourself and post it to your social media if you want. We were bundled up for the weather, especially at the top of The Needle and were happy to have the monorail. West Lake Plaza and Seattle Center are the only two monorail stops — two minutes end to end.

Produce in Pike Market.

Breakfast was at Lowell’s, a long-standing institution in Pike Market — fresh and delicious. While Mike finalized the purchase of his car, we bought discount tickets at the hostel to an Underground Tour, rushing there only to find out our tickets were for a different company (the Beneath Seattle Tour), and they weren’t open yet. Instead, we walked around Pioneer Square, read about the area history and architecture, speed for hot chocolate, taking our time walking back to the hostel (where they were quick to refund our money).

Mike driving us around the peninsulas.

Dungeness State Park

Mike was a terrific for guide! We saw the Troll Bridge in the Fremont District (hippies coined it “the center of the universe”) and picked up some Top Pot Donuts to enjoy on the ferry ride to Bainbridge.

Troll Bridge.

The day started out pretty chilly, growing more moderate by early afternoon. By the end of the day we rode from Bainbridge to Kitsap Peninsula and then around at least half of the Olympic Peninsula. Even with the mostly cloudy day the scenery was spectacular. There was a property with elaborate carvings of monsters and trolls as fence posts, patio supports, and decorative scrolling on window frames and more.

Whimsical posts.

At Dungeness State Park we walked a forested trail to the beach and along meadows back to the car. We enjoyed an early dinner at the Crab House in Port Angeles. We even saw the controversial Royal Dutch Shell’s drill rig parked (or hidden?) in an inlet before it left Seattle on its way to explore for oil in the Arctic Ocean. Lastly, we did a drive-by of Mike’s new home, which he won’t actually take possession of for a while yet. Thank you for a wonderful day, Mike; it was great spending time with you again!

EMP building and the Space Needle.

The next morning, after enjoying our pancakes and eggs, we returned to Seattle Center to see the International Fountain (dancing waters) and the Experience Music Project (EMP). The EMP was really interesting and, surprisingly, included a Sci-Fi and Horror exhibits. There were several hands-on musical instruments and labs for learning how to play and to record yourself or your group. Several student groups were there, making it hard to get time with the hands-on activities, though what we managed to use was fun.

Guitars used by Duane Allman, Eric Clapton and Woodie Guthrie.

On our way to see Randy and Debbie in Idaho Falls, we had hoped to get up to Glacier National Park. That was before we realized how far it was. Because we were due in South Dakota in ten days, and since Steve really wanted to spend some more time in Yellowstone (we had been there with Randy several years ago), we headed east. We also learned that Randy had the next day off (Friday) so it was perfect that we were headed his way and would have the long weekend together. Yeah!

Driving through Snoqualmie Pass, we were surrounded with snow-topped rugged mountains, with intermittent rain and low-hanging clouds. East of Spokane, we stopped for the night at a Guest House Inn (very nice and great rate) in Kellogg. It looked like a skiing village, though our hostess said they’re actually busiest May-Oct with biking, hiking, fishing, etc. Traveling Rt 90E and following the Clark Fork River, we watched a snowstorm over the Bitterroot Mountains and all along the Continental Divide. May 7th and the high was only 42º. Maybe not surprising, but cold weather felt shocking after the hot desert.