The day brought many interesting sights. Our first notable sight was of a truck hauling Idaho potatoes (in Washington). We had seen none of these in Idaho, so had to have a picture:
We soon arrived at the eastern ridge overlooking the mighty Columbia River. The view was breathtaking:
The general terrain was high rolling hills. No sagebrush like in Wyoming or Nebraska, but still dry grass:
And we were in Washington state, famous for...apples! We did see acres and acres of apple orchards:
We passed many flatbed trucks loaded with crates of apples headed to market. Here is one "up close and personal:"
A little later, we passed this animal "grazing" on the side of the road. It was curious in several ways. First, it was on the shoulder of a busy highway all alone, second, it looked like no other goat or sheep we had ever seen, third, it was "grazing" on gravel, and fourth, we took two pictures of it -- in both he is in the same position. Is this a joke played by locals??? Anyway, here he is. We think we didn't notice it move:
NOTE: Since posting this picture, we discovered an animal called a "Stone Sheep" that looks just like the one above. You can see it at this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stone_Sheep_British_Columbia.jpg.
Well, we progressed closer to Mount Rainier and up and up the Mather Memorial Parkway, where this view was captured. Perfect example of glacial shaping of the landscape:
We soon entered the actual Mount Rainier National Park, evidenced by this rustic entry:
And here she was in the late afternoon sun -- Mount Rainier:
Well, we drove on and back out of the Park to Parkwood, WA and our rustic motel. It was nice, but basic. We were beginning to think the populace hired the elk to come pose for the tourists in the afternoon, grazing uninterestedly. Here they are behind our motel:
We poured a happy hour, microwaved a nice meal, and off to bed. It was a memorable day. Tomorrow, we go to Bellingham -- starting point of the boat trip!
