Location: Seattle, WA
Last year we had to miss much of the Pacific Northwest due to engine problems. We got to revisit the area this summer with more time to sight-see. Thank goodness we did, as our impression of the Oregon coast had been cold, drizzle and fog. This year we got to see it in it's glory. Spectacular!
In Darlingtonia, Oregon we discovered the pitcher plant, a carnivorous insect eating plant only found in this area. Unfortunately we didn't see any insects being swallowed, but the plants are very odd looking.
We found an interesting set of rules at the Al Griffin campground in Bay City, Oregon.
The Columbia River entrance is famous for causing shipwrecks. Since 1792 approximately 2,000 large ships have sunk in and around the Columbia Bar. One from 1906, the “Peter Iredale”, can still be seen on the beach.
Driving through Astoria we happened across a converted gill net boat on a trailer which housed a fish and chip takeaway. There was a line of people half way down the block so we thought it would have to be good. The “Bowpicker” sells only beer battered Albacore tuna and chips, we were not disappointed!
The Lewis and Clark expedition, which was commissioned to explore and map the western United States (1804-6), spent the winter of 1805 in this area. Out of the 3 months they spent here only 12 days had no rain. Nice to know that we aren't the only ones who have come across bad weather in this neck of the woods!
From Astoria we crossed the long bridge over the Columbia River into Washington state. We had done some exploring here last year and wanted to fill in some of the gaps. First stop, the north shore of the Columbia inlet. We lucked upon a tour of 2 tall ships, “Lady Washington” and “Hawaiian Chief”, that just happened to be visiting for the weekend. Also this weekend was luckily free entrance to all the state parks, only happens once a year. Score! So of course we had to take advantage of that and went to 3 parks in one day and were treated to many views and a lot of historical information about the area.
We don't normally stop in big cities but we had friends and family to visit in Seattle so thought it appropriate to do some sightseeing. What a great place.
Next we caught the ferry over to Lopez Island, part of the San Juan archipelago, off the coast of Washington state. It was like being in Maine, beautiful islands, seals, lots of sailboats. We even got to go out sailing with Mark's cousins for an afternoon, we sure wished we could have been here on our Rachel :(
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| Collecting mussels for dinner |
