Day 11 - Tacoma WA to Pendleton OR



Day 11 - 27 June 2006 - Tuesday

--- Starting in Tacoma, Washington ---

We slept in a bit to try to avoid rush hour, then we braved the scary traffic to see Seattle.

Of course you can't go there without seeing the Space Needle:
Space Needle

We stopped into the Pike Place market. Kristina's sisters both took pictures of this stand, so I'll include a picture of it:
Pike Place Market

You could look out across Puget Sound and see the Olympic Mountains, where we were yesterday.

We tried to go to the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Site but it was no longer there! It turns out it had moved down the street and the grand re-opening was two days after we were there.

Here is a view of the Seattle skyline, including the baseball stadium (with a retractable roof!):
Seattle

We drove to the beginning of I-90, and across the part of it that's a floating pontoon bridge.

Done with Seattle, we started driving toward our next destination, Mount Ranier, which you can see from Seattle on a clear day. It turns out that one of Kristina's sister's college friends lived right near where we were, in Puyallup. They were very kind, and let us visit for a while (and fed us too!).

We then continued on, but then had a bit of an adventure because Kristina's mom forgot her purse, so there was some back and forth with cellphones and racing around until we got it back. But after that, it was onward to Mount Rainier National Park. Here is what it looks like, with some foreground snow to make it look like winter:
Mount Rainier

We drove in from the south-west, and first stopped at Christine Falls:
Christine Falls

Our destination in the park was Paradise. Believe it or not Paradise was under construction, including some paving for a new visitor center. They were replacing the old visitor center, which they admitted was:
Innovative but Impractical

We then went hiking on the Nisqually Vista Trail. The trails were all still completely covered in deep snow:
Snowy Trail

It turned out that trail above was the wrong one, so we backtracked and found the proper trail.

The trail gave us a great view of Mt. Rainier and the Nisqually Glacier. Here you can see the glacier coming down the mountain, and the meltwater at its base (very cool!):
Nisqually Glacier

Here you can see other waterfalls coming down the mountain from snow melt:
Snow melt waterfalls

We had a lot of fun on these trails (and snowball fights!), but all too soon we had to leave Paradise. Continuing on, we saw Narada Falls:
Narada Falls

And here's a look back at the mountain:
Mount Rainier

We stopped at Box Canyon. Here there were glacial striations on the rocks, and a really narrow canyon:
Box Canyon

And then we left the park. Luckily the part of the road that was closed was north of the exit, so we could leave the convenient exit.

We continued out, and over the White Pass. Near there we passed a forest fire:
Forest Fire

We continued on the very mountainous US 12 until we got to Yakima. We stopped at Yakima at Mel's Diner for supper.

We kept driving, now we were in a more desert-like climate, but we were along a river so things were heavily irrigated. A lot of the famous Washington Apples come from this region. We passed through Prosser, Washington, and soon we were back in Oregon for the last time.

--- Entering Oregon ---

We crossed the Columbia river, and stopped in Pendleton Oregon at the Motel 6. Luckily we found a room there, despite a big car-related event going on.

--- Ending in Pendleton, Oregon ---


Continue on to Day 12