Chris visits the Pacific Northwest, July 2004



Sunday: Explored Seattle, avoiding Seattle Center
because of Bite of Seattle crowds. Hit Archie McPhee's; the Ballard locks and the fish ladder, full of salmon heading upstream; explored the upper portion of Pike Place Market; took the waterfront streetcar down to the International District and then walked back to the car, past the King Street train station (at this point a bunch of people around us ripped off their clothes, took some photos, then bundled up and rushed off [no link available]); through Pioneer Square, going by the Smith Tower and the sinking ship parking garage; and back up the waterfront. Then we went to the University of Washington Waterfront Activities Center, rented a canoe and paddled around under highway 520.

Salmon heading up the fish ladder
at the Ballard locks

Performers at Pike Place Market

Canoeing by the arboretum



Monday: Day trip to Dry Falls in central Washington. Took I-90 past the Columbia River Gorge, then up to the Grand Coulee and Dry Falls. Visited Summer Falls, missing it at first because the sign was well off the main road; the park was not terribly compelling, I thought. No-one else there (probably in part because of the poor signage). Then back to Seattle via highway 2, stopping in Leavenworth for dinner, where we overheard some people talking about vacationing in Scotland near where we used to live.

By the interpretive center,
Columbia River Gorge by I-90

Columbia River Gorge by I-90

Wall of book store in Ephrata,
central Washington

Sun Lakes

Dry Falls

Chris on Dry Falls view point

On the way back from Dry Falls

Graffiti on the way back from Dry Falls



Tuesday: Drove down to Olympia, then up along the coast of the Olympic Peninsula, making brief stops at a couple of beaches, as well as at a forest service office to pick up a camping permit. Then on to Lake Ozette, from where we hiked just over three easy miles out to the the beach at Cape Alava to camp for the night, arriving at the cape just after sunset.

Second Beach, Olympic Peninsula

Ruby Beach, Olympic Peninsula

Arriving at Cape Alava,
Olympic Peninsula



Wednesday: a bunch of deer calmly grazed around us in our campsite in the morning. Struck camp, hiked three miles down the rocky coast to Sand Point, then three easy miles back inland to the car. On to Port Angeles (ate at Pancho Villa's, a new, empty restaurant - big portions but really good so ate most of it), where we caught the ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Smallest car ferry I've been on, and felt like Magic Fingers the whole way, plus a lot of tilting back and forth. Running late, we didn't visit anything, just drove towards Nanaimo. Stopped for the night before we got there.

Tskawahyah Island at the cape,
at low tide in the morning

From the mainland to the island
at low tide in the morning

The view to the north

Deer grazed through the
campsites in the morning

Chris watches the deer

Hiking along rough beach
to Sand Point

Lots of crabs in the tidal
pools, not thrilled to see us

Deer on the beach

Approaching Sand Point

Bald eagle perched on rock

At Sand Point

Beach at South Point

On Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada



Thursday: drove on to the Nanaimo area, failed to go Bungy-jumping because the place wasn't open yet, and they were charging more than their advertisement said. (Well, it's not like I was going to jump, but Chris wanted to.) Just missed one ferry, caught the next from Departure Bay to Horseshoe Bay in west Vancouver on the mainland. Biggest car ferry I've been on - we boarded on the upper deck. Went to the Capilano suspension bridge. (Rather expensive for a bridge. Yeah, it's a cool bridge, but c'mon. All the other stuff there seems an effort to justify the cost of admission. Feel bad about dragging Chris in there.) Then up Grouse Mountain on the sky lift. (Also rather expensive given that we weren't up there long, but that was more our fault as we just didn't really have time and motivation to do any hiking, so we just took in the view and bailed. Would have been more worth it had it been snow season.) Then a short hike out to Point Atkinson Lighthouse and a nice view of the Vancouver skyline, before driving back to Seattle. (Border guard was quite irritated that I left my passport in the trunk.)

The ferry we just missed

On the ferry to north Vancouver city

At the base of Grouse Mtn,
Vancouver

Vancouver from the sky lift up Grouse Mtn

Vancouver from Grouse Mtn

Point Atkinson Lighthouse



Friday: more exploration of Seattle. Lunch at Dixie's BBQ. Went up the Space Needle and got beignet while we were at the Seattle Center. Watched part of the practice session for the Chelsea-Celtic match the next day. Caught the sunset from west Seattle, then night views of the Seattle skyline from Kerry Park on Queen Anne hill.

Cargo ship in Elliot Bay, Seattle

At the top of the Space Needle

Seattle from the Space Needle

The Space Needle

Practice session before
Chelsea-Celtic game

Ferry at sunset, from
Alki Beach, west Seattle

Sunset over the Olympic Mountains,
from Beach Drive SW, west Seattle

The Space Needle
from Queen Anne hill

Seattle and the Space Needle
from Queen Anne hill



Saturday: went to the Chelsea vs. Celtic soccer match at Seahawks Stadium. Chelsea took it 4-2. Celtic especially looked pretty lethargic on defense, which was probably in part due to temperatures in the mid-90s. Then spent the rest of the day recuperating from the week and the heat.

Chelsea vs Celtic

Celtic finally scores