Sept 23, 2009 -- Packwood, WA to Bellingham, WA

We arose excitedly today because we were going to visit Mount Rainier National Park and see the mountain up close.  This is a small park by "National Park" standards, but very pretty nonetheless.  We re-entered the park and began our tour on the "Grove of the Patriarchs Nature Trail."  The trees were the story here, as evidenced by this big fellow Ruth is gauging:

The "trail" included a swinging bridge, which Bill braved without dropping to his knees (Bill doesn't like this sort of "fun"):

One of the more fascinating features of some of the fallen old trees is the burls you see.  This one was a photo op:

We enjoyed the trail, but needed to move on.  Back in the car, we wound around the winding roads until we turned a curve and came upon this breathtaking view of THE MOUNTAIN:

As we drove ahead, one turnout offered a view of a chasm where a creek flowed below a bridge across it that was over 180 feet down.  This picture doesn't do it justice.  Think of the sound:

And around the next few bends:

A mile or two farther, and we came upon the reflecting lakes.  Sadly, the wind was just enough to rough up the water's surface and reduce the clear reflection:

Another bend and, ho-hum, another gorgeous sight!  This has to be the classic picture of the mountain.  It looks like a paint-by-the-numbers painting, but we were there:

While this looks like a closeup of the mountain, it is really a picture of a special fir tree, the Pacific Silver Fir.  Notice how the cones grow straight up off the branches.  Very unique:

As all good things must end, we had to end our tour of the Mount Rainier National Park and head to Bellingham.  As we drove from Seattle north toward Bellingham, we had a nice view of Mount Baker, the prettiest mountain in the Cascade Range in Washington, in our opinion.  Look way in the distance:

We got to Bellingham and checked in to our motel.  Much to our delight, there was a Thai restaurant next door that specialized in gluten free offerings (many of you know of Bill's gluten intolerance), so we had a very delightful dinner to celebrate our arrival at our "land" part of our trip.

Tomorrow, we board our charter boat, "Grand Adventure!"  Very appropriate!

Sept 22, 2009 -- Spokane, WA to Packwood, WA

Our plan today was to drive westward to the little town of Packwood, WA just south of the Mount Rainier National Park.

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!

Sept 21, 2009 -- Bozeman, MT to Spokane, WA

This morning at our request, our Bozeman host, Quay Butler, gave us a tour of some property his family owns.  It was perfectly lovely piece of Western Montana with this view:

And here is a picture of Quay in his Montana Cadillac:

We thanked Quay for our stay and tour, and departed westward.  During the day's drive, we passed through many fields of newly mowed hay all rolled and stacked for the winter:

The drive through the western part of Montana was particularly scenic.  We crossed the meandering Clark Fork River a dozen times, and finally got a decent picture of it (Never saw a Lewis Fork River):

We crossed into Idaho, but only traveled about 60 miles through it. It happened quickly, so we had to wait until tomorrow to get a good picture of a potato truck.


Our next stop was Spokane, WA for the night.  It had been a fun day with near-perfect weather.  In fact, our weather had been perfect since leaving Paducah, KY on day two.

Sept 20, 2009 -- Jackson, WY to Bozeman, MT

We had a long way to go today, and much to see.  We started north out of Jackson and passed the National Museum of Wildlife Art just at the entrance to Grand Teton National Park.  We didn't visit the museum, but were impressed with these bronze castings of a group of elk near the entrance:

A couple of times we had gotten a hint of fall color, so today one of our missions was to get a good picture of it.  This one was nice because the mountains were in the background:

It was an extremely windy day, as evidenced on Jackson Lake.  Note the swirling ripples on the water:

We drove out of Grand Teton National Park, and in 7.5 miles were in the Yellowstone National Park.  One of the first sites to greet us was another herd of buffalo:

This big fellow was on duty as "buffalo of the day" for the tourists with cameras:

Yellowstone is noted for its geothermal activity.  Boiling pots dot the landscape and are impressive.  Be thankful you can't smell this sampling of three of them:

One of the most impressive sights in Yellowstone is "Lower Falls."  A short walk from the car, and one is greeted with this view:

And, not to be outdone, here is "Upper Falls:"

A fun thing that always amazes us Southerners is the presence of snow plow guidepoles.  They are put up in the fall, hopefully before the first snow of the season, to guide the snow plows.  In some places, they look 15 feet tall:

In certain areas of the park, we were impressed with the pattern of erosion and the deep canyons formed by various rivers and streams.  Here is an example:

One of the largest of the caldera in the park is "The Terraces."  Here is a view from the main road.  It looks like an overflowing pot of cream soup:

And at the nearby Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, the elk come down every afternoon like clockwork and graze on the hotel lawn.  They get a modest paycheck for entertaining the tourists this way:

We left the park reluctantly, but had to make it to Bozeman, MT, to visit the son of some very good friends.  The "North Entrance" stood vigil over the southern Montana hills:

Just after leaving the park, we drove by this small mountain.  We could not figure out what the reddish scar was from.  Just strange geology, we decided:

As we neared Bozeman, the clouds and the mountains became close friends.  This is the kind of dramatic view that is so impressive to us:

We made it to Bozeman a little late, but enjoyed a steak at Outback and a nice visit with Quay Butler our host for the night.

Sept 19, 2009 -- Visiting Grand Teton National Park

This was the day we spent exploring Grand Teton National Park near Jackson, WY.  Like most of the National Parks, this one has a lot to see and do.  We started out in the Town of Jackson and had to visit the park that features the arches of elk antlers.  Elk shed their magnificent antlers every year and grow new ones the next spring.  This is one of the arches:

Next, we went to the official Visitors Center and saw all the displays.  One that impressed us was this family of elk.  Yes, they are stuffed:

Then on to the park itself.  This is us and in the background are the famous "Trois Teton:"

We drove through the park and came upon this herd of buffalo ("Bison Bison" is the technical name of these beasts):

This one let us get close enough, but not too close for safety:

Then on to the mountains.  They are very impressive:

We wanted to do some hiking and one of the rangers told us to go to Jenny Lake and take the shuttle boat across to "Hidden Falls."  We decided to do that.  Here is the very busy shuttle boat.  Note the clear water in the lake:

It was a delightful hike up to Hidden Falls, and the falls did not disappoint:

Proof we were there:

On the way back down to the boat, we spotted a family of elk grazing in the thick brush.  Look closely, the picture is dark (sorry):

One of the things that make the Grand Tetons so impressive is the valley just to the east of the mountains.  The flat valley, contrasted with the craggy mountains is what makes a true, "Wow!"

It was getting late in the afternoon, but we just had to go by "Jackson Hole," the popular ski resort.  It was quiet with no snow on the mountain:

Tomorrow, we will drive directly through the park again and then through Yellowstone National Park.