Seattle to South Lake Tahoe

Glacier to Seattle (July 26)

Once we left Glacier, we headed through Montana and Idaho towards Seattle, Washington.  We spent one night on the road in Ritzville, Montana at a pleasant, but unremarkable Best Western. The next day, we rolled into Seattle for two nights.

Seattle (July 27 and 28)

We had two busy days in Seattle.  We first visited the city center and had our first look at the Space Needle.

Although no longer the tallest building in Seattle, it is still iconic.

Near by is the EMP Museum, dedicated to Science Fiction, Music and Popular Culture. Designed by Frank Gehry and paid for by Paul Allen, it's also iconic.

The EMP Museum, Seattle

We took the monorail into the center of Seattle, where we caught a glimpse of the waterfront area.

Seattle waterfront

The next day, we headed out for a tour of the Boeing Plant just outside Seattle (Everett) where they make some of their aircraft. They don't allow photographs inside the plant, so there aren't any pictures of the actual construction process. This is the largest building in the world.

Hard to tell how big this is but the cars parked in front give some sense of scale

Finished aircraft (a 747 and a couple of 787's) awaiting delivery

We did get to see a "Dreamlifter" taking off. The Dreamlifter is a heavily modified ( and very ugly ) 747 used for hauling aircraft componenst (like complete wings) from one location to another.

There is a display area inside the Visitors Center, but it's not terribly well done.

Most of the items are manufacturers sales items which seem to have been left over from previous events

Then on to downtown Seattle again - this time to take a ferry to see the waterfront from the Puget Sound and just to get out on the water.

Not our ferry, but one just like it !

The Seattle Skyline from the ferry

And of course, the iconic Space Needle once again

In the distance, seemingly floating in the air, Mount Rainier

After the ferry ride, we took The Underground Tour.

Bill Speidel was a journalist who in the 1960's wanted Seattle to preserve it's history and used the Underground Tour as a way of showing locals what they might lose.

"The Underground" is actually a series of passages and cellars which were originally at ground level. After a severe fire and floods at the turn of the 20th century, the city raised ground level by 15', leaving these spaces "underground"

An original "Crapper Toilet". These were supposed to cure Seattle's chronic sewage problem, but failed because the sewage system was totally inadequate and the sewage would flow backwards at high tide.

On the right,the original ground level walls of the building above.On the left, the walls built by the city when they raised the roads. The space in between was originally used as a sidewalk, but after it was covered over, it became storage.

You might think these spaces would be smelly and damp, but they are actually well ventilated and quite comfortable. 

On our last day in Seattle, before leaving we DID take the elevator to the top of the Space Needle,  just so we could say we had done it.

The view from the top of the Space Needle

Seattle

Puget Sound

We didn't spend long at the top of the Space Needle, but at the base was a permanent exhibition of the work of Dale Chilhuly (who comes from Tacoma) which was spectacular.

Indoors:

In front of a massive sculpture by Dale Chilhuly

Two boats filled with glass objects

His classic bowls, which look more like flowers

A glass "garden" indoors

A columnic sculpture, influenced by the sea and the creatures which live in it.

(And a detail from the above work)

And Outdoors:

In front of:

and inside his "greenhouse" 

Somtimes hard to tell the real flowers from the glass ones!

And with those glowing images still stuck behind our eyes, we left Seattle and headed for Portland.

Portland (July 29 - August 1)

In Portland, we stayed with an old friend from Orlando, Deborah and her husband John. They live in a renovated craftsman cottage in the north of Portland.

They have converted the basement into a self contained suite with it's own private entrance and a brand new bathroom. It's very cool and you can book it through airbnb. If you or friends are planning to stay in Portland, this is the place to be and your hosts will charm you with their kindness and attention to your every need. Here's the link:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2939466?s=6m2a

So we stayed for three nights in "The Knotty Grotto". The first day, we met an old friend, Laurie, who happened to be staying in Portland and had lunch at "Pine Street Biscuits". Southern Cooking in the Northwest. After lunch, we headed out to see the Columbia Gorge.

The Columbia Gorge

As you drive along The Gorge, there are a series of waterfalls, all very high - some  more spectacular than others.

We actually climbed up to the bridge to get a better view

The view DOWN from the bridge

The second day, we went into Portland (by bus, no less) and after spending time in Powell Books, the biggest book store in the world, went to lunch with Kyle, Deborah's eldest daughter.

We then spent a couple of hours walking around Portland, getting to  know our way around,  before heading home.

Downtown Portland

Next day, we said our farewells early and left Deborah to get ready for her next Airbnb guest, who was arriving the same day.

Portland to Coos Bay (August 2 & 3)

Once we left Portland, we actually crossed back into Washington and then headed North to start driving the Oregon Coast from the extreme North. As it turned out, our first stop was at Fort Clatsop where Lewis and Clark spent the second winter of their historic exploration of the American West. It's now a National Park site and the fort has been reconstructed.

The gate of Fort Clatsop, which was guarded at all times, to protect against Indian attacks

One of two buildings. 41 men, one woman and her child and a dog lived here for four winter months. It raiined on every day but 12

A cabin interior

A ranger demonstrates the type of guns the party carried with them

Another ranger demonstrates how a black powder rifle would be fired

The next day, we continued on down the coast, which consisted of a series of large, wide beaches, rocky headlands and in places, large bridges across the various rivers and streams coming down to the Pacific.

Mist hanging over the ocean and the low hills

Haystack Rock

The rocky Oregon coast

Unnamed rocks

One of many elegant bridges along the road

Our last stop was at the Oregon National Dunes Recreation area,  a long area of very high sand dunes which seperate the sea from the inland areas.

Climbing up the dunes was quite hard work as the sand was very soft

But there was a sense of satisfaction when you made it to the top

Driftwood was everywhere

Coos Bay to Reno (August 4-5)

We drove down the Oregon Coast from Coos Bay to Crescent City, stopping at interesting places as we went.

The Coquille River lighthouse near Bandon

Apparently drivers in Oregon are either very careless or very trusting with the car keys. (Seen in the parking lot of an overview. The car was empty)

A nice day at the beach, although too cold for anything except sighseeing and walking.

Next day, we continued down the California Coast, passing through the Redwoods Forest National Park. The majesty and beauty of these trees is very hard to capture on film, because they are so large.

Our car and Kristine in the bottom corner give some of scale for these huge trees.

These were not the largest trees we saw, but again this gives some sort of scale.

This tree had been hollowed out by fire

Here, Kris stands in front of the knarled roots of an old, but still living tree.

In most cases, the trees were so tall you couldn't see the tops

But their sheer majesty and dignity (strange word in this context) were just overpowering

Many of the larger trees are as old as 2,000 years

After leaving Redwood National Park, we drove East to Redding for the night. Not much to see in Redding but we did find a large Walmart, so we did get our shopping done.

The next day was overcast and cloudy and later in the day, it rained, but we detoured to Lassen Volcanic National Park on our way to Reno.

The park was created after a volcano erupted in 1914 and 1915 and the main features are all volcanic, but due to the poor weather, we couldn't really see them. However, it was atmospheric.

Clouds, mist and rain over Lassen National Park

One of many lakes in the Park

And a glimpse of the active thermal features here. Not on the same scale as Yellowstone, but interesting because they are all so new. 

Most started after the eruption of 1914/15

After leaving Lassen NP, we drove to Reno, where we spent the night. Unfortunately, we had a little problem with the camera (no memory card) and we don't have any pictures of Reno.

South Lake Tahoe (August 6 & 7)

After Reno, we drove to South Lake Tahoe. We took the long way round, so we saw most of the lake.

Inspiration Point, Lake Tahoe

Inspiration Point, Lake Tahoe

That evening, we attended an outdoor performance of "As You Like It" by Shakespeare at a theatre near Incline Village

The Shakespeare Festival Theatre

Bodie (August 7)

The next day, we drove to Bodie, which is a genuine Ghost Town, now preserved by the State of California. It was a gold rush town and while the gold lasted, it was a boom town. It's located high up in the Sierras (over 8,000ft) so it gets very cold in the winter.

Although many of the buildings burned down in the last century, there are still many important structures remaining.

The Church

Just needs a little dusting !

The Gas Station

The Bank building is gone, but the safe room is still there

And the safe is still inside

The General Store - looks as though they may have a customer

And some of the town residences are still standing, with the interiors left just as they were

The last working mine is still visible on the hillside, although it's closed to visitors.

Near the parking lot are various items of mine equipment, which have a stark and poignant beauty.

And in the distance, always the mountains as the road from Bodie winds it's way down to the valley below.