Goodbye Washington State

We had a couple of things left to do in Washington.  Wednesday Ed and I played golf.  I don’t usually play and I am really not any good but if I can find a short 9 hold course then I will play.  The course in Monroe was a beautiful course.  We had decided to walk it.  The first 6 holes weren’t to bad but the last 3 were killers.!  Long and up and down a couple of hills.  This guy started everyone off at the 1st hole!

              

It was a beautiful day.  Thursday morning, we were up early and ready to hit the road.  We had one last stop in Washington State and that was in Spokane.

We stayed at the casino, played a little, lost a little and had lunch yesterday with a friend that I worked with at the YMCA.  She moved from southern CA to Spokane about 2 years ago.  She is in the process of adopting a little boy who has been with her about a year in foster care.  He is an adorable 2 year old. 

This morning again we left very early to move out of Washington State.  We drove through Idaho and then left interstate 90 in St Regis Montana to move toward Kalispell Montana.  We are currently at the Elks lodge.  We plan to be here 3 nights.  Tomorrow will be our day to go to Glacier National Park. 

Few pictures of the drive. As you can see we hit some rain, but the drive was still very pretty.

             

We followed this river for the first 35 miles. 

The terrain then changed to more farm land until we turned onto 93 and hit Flathead Lake.

        

Looking forward to Glacier tomorrow.

Seattle

We started out early today.  We stopped for breakfast and then we were on our way to Seattle.  I wanted to go to the top of the Space Needle.  The Space Needle was built for the Worlds Fair in 1962.  At 605 ft tall, its the tallest structure west of the Mississippi.  Some views from the top.  I wish it had been a little clearer.



 
 

   
  
We walked around the base of the Space Needle.  There is a science center and a lot of shops.  We stopped to listen to this band. They we really good.  Never sang a word but every song was recognizable. 
           
                                      
I also wanted to go to Pike’s Market.  It’s a huge farmers market.  We decided to leave the car parked and walk to mile to the market.  It was a beautiful day and the walk didn’t seem to bad. 

                   
It was sooo crowded.  Think the RV tent in Quartzsite on it most crowded day.  This was mostly fresh fish, produce and flowers.  If we hadn’t walked we might have bought some, but we did,  so we passed on this. 


They did take our picture before we went up on the elevator.  Once up top they had kiosks where you could choose a background and have it emailed to yourself.  Our very expensive picture!

Snoqualmie Falls

Snoqualmie Falls is a 268 ft waterfall on the Snoqualmie River.   It is one of Washington's most popular scenic attractions but we really didn’t think it would be so crowded.  Most of the river is diverted into the power plants, but at times the river is high enough to flow across the entire precipice, which creates an almost blinding spray. High water occurs following a period of heavy rains or snow followed by warm rainy weather. This can occur during the rainy season which lasts from November through March. During high water, the falls take on a curtain form. 

                                                                                  

There are two hydroelectric power plants at Snoqualmie Falls, both currently operated by Puget Sound Energy. Power plant 1 was built in 1898 and operates at the base of the falls embedded in the rock 270 feet below the surface. It was the world's first completely underground power plant.  Power plant 2 was built in 1910 and further expanded in 1957, and is located a short distance downstream of the falls. Approximately 1% of Puget Sound Energy sales comes from the plant. These two power plants provide 44,000 kilowatts of electricity, which is enough to service 16,000 average homes. 

We had a wonderful time.  It was a very scenic drive.

Mt. Rainier and the Lemay Car Museum

Sunday afternoon Ed’s daughter Shelia came and picked us up and drove us up to Mt. Rainier.  It was a beautiful afternoon after a cloudy morning.  It seems the mornings are always cloudy but most afternoons it warms up nicely. 

           
 
We drove up to Paradise.  It’s about as far as you can go from the south entrance.  There was still a lot of snow so the meadow didn’t have any wildflowers. 
           
 
Yesterday we went to the Lemay Car Museum. 
Lots of old cars. And some different ones.

   
  
Our time here is winding down.  Tonight we are having a bbq at Shelia’s. 

Graduation

We are here in the Tacoma Washington area to attend the graduation of Ed’s grandson Michael.  We arrived in the area Thursday.  We are staying at the Elks Club in Puyallup.  Its a nice grassy area with 30 amp electrical service.  They have a dump station with good potable water.  For $15.00 a night its a great bargain  for the area. 
Daughter Shelia and Michael came over for dinner on Thursday.  Friday we went over to Shelia’s and the 3 of us went out to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner and Karaoke.
The graduation ceremony was Saturday.
             
After the graduation, we went to dinner at a local Japanese restaurant.  Michael’s favorite place and what he wanted. 
      
A very good day and we are proud of Michael for graduating with honors.