We Cannot Tell a Lie-Washington is Beautiful

Sep 2

Sep 2 We Cannot Tell a Lie-Washington is Beautiful

The two weeks we spent in Washington State held a variety of sights and experiences. All of our days are wonderful and full of discovery, and even in the unpleasant experiences, we learn. We will not soon forget our trip to the state named so in honor of our country’s first president.

Beginning with our first stay on Walters' Fruit Ranch in Green Bluff, I was enamored by the small-town and early American feel of the rolling green hills, rustic barns, and farmland. Green Bluff is just north of Spokane and is the home of a string of family farms, offering a charming way to experience whatever it is they grow and sell. These farms are open for touring, fruit picking, wine tasting, pie purchasing, and other activities you would expect in a land of farms and orchards. I was in my element! Craig, maybe not as much. Even still, we enjoyed the warm evening taking pictures of many farm-life sights that we rarely, if ever, get to see at home.

Next, we went to Leavenworth. We soon learned this town was a large-scale, Helen, Georgia—a German-themed village with a lot of sauerkraut and gift shops. We were happy to discover there were plenty of places to hike and stay busy before traveling to Mt. Rainier National Park.

As you'll see in our pictures, Mt. Rainer, (which happens to be an active volcano) and the surrounding areas are incredibly majestic. On my birthday, we hiked a single 6-mile hike and saw lush greenery, snow, wildflowers, goats, wrestling marmots, and glaciers. Unfortunately, we also saw an EMT and two park rangers helping someone down the mountain after I badly sprained my ankle while running through the snow. Even still, what a great day!

Next on the agenda was Seattle, where we excitedly picked up our son, Kevin, and daughter-in-law, Rachel. On their first full day with us, we went to see the city. As most know, Seattle is experiencing a lot of demonstrations and destruction. Nevertheless, having never seen Seattle and not knowing if we would return, we ventured out. We saw the famous Pike Place Fish Market, the Space Needle, and a few other landmarks. At about 4 pm, we'd just sat down with our food and drinks when we heard what sounded like bangs of some kind. We heard a few more before we realized we didn't know what they were, and that they were getting louder. I asked a server walking by if they were gunshots. He stared for a moment, and as another bang fired, he said he wasn't sure. From there, everything happened fast, but we could see people on the sidewalks were starting to pick up their pace and move away from the bangs, which were about a block away or less. As they got louder, the servers told us to hurry and get out; they were closing; quickly, they shuffled us out a back door to the parking lot to our vehicle. As we ran to our car, we saw about 30 police in full protective gear riding bicycles towards the noise. We were able to drive out of the area as the streets became more congested with people. Within 15 minutes, we were away (in the Queen Anne district) from the chaos and saw live media coverage of hundreds of demonstrators pouring out of buildings everywhere. We learned the Starbucks was set on fire with people upstairs in the apartments above. We learned later the noises we heard were flash-bangs of some sort, apparently to signal the protestors that it was time to come and fill the streets. It certainly was an event that had our hearts racing.

Safe and sound about 80 miles northwest of Seattle, Port Angeles was a great place to return to the sights and sounds of nature. We enjoyed campfires, grilling, the lavender farms, and the treasures of Olympic National Park. The photo above is The George Washington Inn in Port Angeles. Built in honor of George Washington, it is a very impressive reproduction, inside and out, of Washington's home in Mount Vernon, Virginia, looking over the Potomac River. This inn’s panoramic view includes the Olympic Mountains, The Pacific Ocean, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, (the body of water between the US and Canada), Canada, and the on-site lavender farm. We took in the views, ate lemon-lavender ice cream, and purchased lavender jelly and wildflower seeds from their gift shop.

A few days later, we saw the rocky west coast beaches for the first time! So much to see and enjoy and so good to be family. Kevin and Rachel stayed with us eight days and went home just as we were leaving Washington. Next we look forward to a visit from our son, Curtis, who will come to visit just as we settle into Oregon. As always, we learned many things along the way and are excited to share a few more tidbits with you in the pictures and video below.

Love and blessings to you all, Thanks for traveling along with us!

At Walters’ Fruit Ranch, we learned all sheep have distinctly different voices.

At Walters’, this children’s “sandbox” is filled with various homegrown dried peas. To me, it doesn’t get much more farm-life charming than this.

We went to explore some other farms and growers near Walters. As fate would have it—right next door, Big Barn, home of “bodacious berries,” grew their own hops and had their own brewery. I think Craig is starting to like farm life.

We had never seen hops growing before coming to Red Barn.

Another beautiful sunset. We never get tired of them. We hope you feel the same way. 😊

After all the trees were cut down, and the railroad moved out of town, the thriving logging town of Leavenwood was nearly a ghost town by the 1920s. Seeking an economic boost in the 1960s, civic leaders tried their hand at the tourist industry by turning Leavenwood into a Bavarian village. The effort was an instant success. Today the town holds major festivals in all four seasons and is known nationally and worldwide as the “Most Festive Christmas Town in America.” Did you know Helen, Georgia, became Bavarian around the same time for the exact same reason? Notice: Dead logging town seeks exciting new opportunity as a Bavarian village! 🍺

Travel Day to Mount Rainier National Park. There she is! We’re excited!

The day before hiking inside the National Park, we hiked High Rock Lookout Trail. Topping out at 5,685 feet, High Rock and the fire lookout house are dramatically higher than its surroundings. Craig loved it up there. I did not stay long.😨

Inside the National Park at Christine Falls, Craig captured a rainbow in this waterfall.

Also inside Mt. Rainier NP, we walked through Grove of the Patriarchs, home of some very big trees!

Although Mount Rainier hasn't erupted significantly in the past 500 years, it is potentially the most dangerous volcano in the Cascade Range because of its great height, frequent earthquakes, and active hydrothermal system. When Mt. Rainier erupts, it will likely cause a "cascade effect" and cause other volcanoes in the range to blow as well. This is expected to happen in 500-1000 years. The Cascade Range is a major mountain range extending from southern British Columbia to Northern California. The Range includes both non-volcanic mountains and the known volcanoes.

Washington is nicknamed the Emerald State because of it’s deep, lush greenery year-round. We were entirely surrounded by dark green foliage as we began our 6-mile hike inside Mt. Rainier National Park, but our path quickly turned to this snowy scene.

This was my view for most of our hike. Craig keeps walking while I stop and look at every plant, rock, and critter. 🦨

After over a mile in the snow, we came to this peak with blooming wildflowers and well-conditioned chipmunks, begging for snacks. We also got our best view of a glacier on Mt. Rainier, beside us.

This is one of 25 glaciers on Mt. Rainier. A glacier is a large accumulation of ice, snow, and rock that builds up over years, and even centuries, as the snow accumulates faster than it melts.

More beautiful scenery as we walk along.

This tunnel is larger and more dangerous than it looks. The dark lines in the snow indicate hollowed out tunnels where melting snow causes water and debris to rush downstream. Two people died at Mt. Rainier this week, one of which was witnessed stepping into an underground tunnel. When this happens, a person can be washed downstream and trapped by tree branches and rocks. Unfortunately, in these particular cases, formal search efforts were fruitless. More snow will need to melt to have a better idea of where to search for the deceased.

These marmots did not take notice of us at all, as they wrestled in the grass and sometimes ran out right in front of us. They growled like puppies as they played and were a lot of fun to watch. More marmot wrestling in the video. 😊

Paradise, the area on the south side of Mt. Rainier NP, gets an average of 55 feet of snow per year, making it one of the snowiest places in North America. Some areas where we hiked still had more than 5 feet of snow, which brings us to how we got down many of the hills.

Craig captured this skyline photo of Seattle at dusk.

We hadn’t seen any of our children for three months, so it sure was great to be reunited!

In 1907, American Messenger Company, now known as UPS, was started by a 19-year old, in the basement of a Seattle tavern, on a one-hundred-dollar loan. UPS has since purchased the property of their humble beginnings and built a waterfall garden, "In honor of all the men and women of United Parcel Service."

Public Market Center officially started on August 17, 1907, with around ten farmers coming to town to trade produce from their wagons. Today, Pike Place Market is one of the oldest continuously operating farmers’ markets in America, and is a Seattle icon. This neon sign and clock were a new addition in 1937.

Beautiful flowers are abundantly plentiful in this part of the country, and for great prices. Loback Meat Co. opened in 1946 and closed in 1986, but its neon sign lives on because it is now a historically protected icon.

The famous Pike Place Fish Company almost went bankrupt in 1985 when they decided to take a stand to deliver "World Famous" customer service. The new "loving" mindset and philosophy turned the company around. Now, just for fun, the happy workers toss purchased fish to the customer, just for them to throw back before wrapping. Their "Fish Philosophy" of giving each customer joy is also now "world-famous" and outlined in a published book used today in business training and schools. While we were there, they couldn't throw fish due to the large crowd that fish-throwing draws, but they were happy to chat for a while and pose for pictures. Notice even the cashier in the background jumps in for the picture.

Kevin and Rachel shopping for our dinner. We ended up with garlic asparagus that looked like solid green tulips.

Queen Anne Hill is a historic neighborhood that sits on the highest hill in the city, overlooking Seattle. That is Mt. Rainier in the skyline.

Our visit to Olympic National Park was our first time seeing the Pacific coast beaches. We were not disappointed.

Craig, Kevin, and Rachel also enjoyed hiking in Olympic National Park. I stayed home to rest the ankle that is still suffering from our visit to Mt. Rainier.

Rachel told Craig and Kevin that if they hug a tree, they’ll feel more grounded. We thought this was funny. Later I read that tree-hugging will make you feel calmer, and you should do it every day for around five minutes to get the full effect. It may be time for us to get out of the woods and start heading home. 😂🌲

Along their hike in Olympic NP, Rachel got this great shot of the mountains and a lounging deer.

Quite an impressive root system on this fallen tree in the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park. Notice the many trees growing out of the exposed roots.