Click on a photo to enlarge it.
After whizzing over to Germany and England, and all the great time we spent with our friends on Vancouver Island, we got back on the road on
Thursday 22nd September for the start of our third year.
On Friday, we got insulted by a very rude man at the ferry terminal in Victoria! Maybe he didn't like motorhomes getting on "his" ferry, or
maybe he thought we were Americans. But we managed to get on the ferry for the 1.5 hour trip back to the US and got 3 month visas. We headed
south in search of a Wal-mart for the night but we obviousl missed it and ended up driving all the way down to Bremerton just across the water
from Seattle.
On Saturday, we realised that we could get a ferry over to Seattle which would save us battling through the city with Winnie. The ferry was 1
hour with great views of the city's skyscrapers. We climbed up hundreds of steps to get to the famous Pike Street market - a very colourful
place. Hundreds of beautiful bouquets of flowers, hanging chillies and smelly fish!
Then we walked back down to the waterfront and shared fish and chips for lunch - or rather Kirsten had most of it, because by the time she had
already eaten her 1.5 pieces of cod. Helen had only eaten half a piece. Then as she bit into her other piece, she found out (to her dismay and
Kirsten's delight) that it was salmon, not cod, so Kirsten ended up eating that as well!!
After lunch, we walked to the Space Needle which is like a very tall TV tower with a restaurant that has 360° views at the top. The $13 price to go
up didn't seem worth it as we'd already had great views from the ferry. So we walked downtown amongst all the neck-wrenching skyscrapers and
managed to get stuck right in the middle of an anti-Bush demonstration! Then the police wouldn't let us out. They'd obviously had orders to
barricade everyone in and push all the demonstrators into the smallest place possible using bicycles! They certainly were not very friendly!
Finally we managed to get out and continue our walk downtown. On the
return ferry, we got stunning views of Mount Rainier. It must have been covered in cloud on the way over because we couldn't possibly have missed
something so majestic!
Back in Bremerton, we headed south and east towards Mount Rainier with the volcano in front of us all the way! Agreat day with perfect weather -
in fact you are lucky if it doesn't rain which it does most of the year here!
On Sunday we drove into Mount Rainier National Park and went up the steep road to sunrise visitor centre and went on a short guided walk with a
ranger. Mount Rainier is the highest mountain in Washington at 14410 ft (4392m) and is the most dangerous volcano in the US because it is so close
to major cities and towns, and has the highest number of glaciers on a mountain.
We went on a 4 mile walk to Frozen Lake. At the start, we just passed a woman hiking down who looked like an experienced walker with all the right
equipment including a hiking stick. Just as she got passed us, she tripped and literally fell flat on her face. She looked like she was prostrating
herself before God! Poor woman, it must have been quite a shock. Forunately she didn't hurt herself but would probably have a few bruises the next
day. I don't think either of us have ever seen someone fall and literally splay themselves on the floor that way!!
On Monday, we drove along the main road through the park and did some short walks on the way through tall cedar and douglas firs and along a slot
canyon with water rushing through it. We went up to the visitor centre on the other side of the volcano and watched a good film about it. Then we
did a 2 mile walk to see Nisqually Glacier and great views. Then we took advantage of the 25 cent showers at the centre and drove out of the park
and stopped at a National Forest campground just outside.
On Tuesday, we went for a walk around the campground and found that we had parked in the best spot last night even though it was already dark when
we arrived. There was only one other caravan there and we took advantage of the sun and the peace and quiet for a relaxing 2 days.
On Thursday, it was raining on and off and was very cloudy so we decided to stay at the camp for another day. On Friday, the weather hadn't got any
better so we decided to find a campground for the night and spent a lot of time trying to dry our alcove as it had been leaking again.
On Saturday, the weather seemed to be clearing up a bit after raining all night, so we drove south to Mount St Helens and went up to the east side
amongst the lovely autumn colours, to Windy Ridge. Yes, it was extremely windy and just as we'd made ourselves a cup of tea it started snowing!!!
We were suddenly sitting in the middle of a blizzard and the snow was starting to stick!
We drove back down the road and then had to stop for 45 minutes as our brakes were smoking again! Then we found a spot on the side of the road in
National Forest for the night. On Sunday, it rained all day which meant we couldn't see any of the Colombia River Gorge that we were driving along. We
found a Wal-mart in Vancouver, Washington for the night and Helen got slaughtered at dominoes!!
