THURSDAY, July 25

JUNKIN'

Bye bye Baker City and hello Pendleton, a historic small town in Oregon.  We spent a little time roaming the antique  junk shops.  The campground at Lake Easton was full,  but when we pleaded with the nice campground lady, she discovered she had just had a cancellation for a primitive site.  We took it for two nights so that we could spend Friday exploring Mt. Ranier.

Lesson learned:  Just because the sign says antique shop, it doesn't mean it is.

FRIDAY, July 26

MOUNT RANIER

What a beautiful, sunny day.  Perfect for viewing the mountain.  The majestic pines seemed to stretch from earth to sky,  hundreds of thousands of them.  Mt. Ranier itself surrounded the horizon, everywhere we looked.  Driving around the mountain was a massive undertaking and we didn't accomplish it,  but we saw such beauty from the viewing points, wild flowers everywhere and so many hikers.   For numerous reasons, we aren't able to hike very far, so we stuck to the beaten path.  Doing so meant we missed a number of waterfalls and scenic views.  But we saw so much that it really didn't matter.

Mount Ranier

Wildflowers everywhere!

Lesson learned:  Be grateful for and embrace what you can do, rather than regret what you can't

SATURDAY, July 27th

It was time to head North to Seattle.  I began searching for campgrounds within 30 or so miles of Seattle.  That was a real eye opener!  Several time I went to campground web pages and discovered that clothes are optional.  If you wished to wear clothing it would be ok, but they embraced a rather different lifestyle than we are accustomed to.   I am sure it will surprise you that we didn't check to see whether those sites had any vacancies or not.  The bottom line is that I was unable to find any campgrounds with vacancies.  We spotted a campground sign along the highway.  "Turn left".  We did.  After five miles down a crooked farmland road (tractors and all), we came to a campground with swimming pools, hot tub, shuffle boards... you name it, they had it.  And it had no vacancies.  We both looked at Cheryl (yes, we quickly learned her name) and asked if there was anything she could do.  Cheryl took pity on us and discovered there had "just" been a cancellation.

Lesson learned:  Be friendly, look tired and somewhat pitiful and people will take pity on you.

SUNDAY, July 28th

8:00 am Mass at Holy Innocents Catholic Church in Duvall,  Built on a high hill overlooking the town, what a beautiful setting.  The entire wall behind the altar is glass with a view of a mountain on the Canadian border (we were told by a proud parishiober).

We spent the rest of our day walking around Seattle.  After a beer at Fisherman's  , we "toured" Seattle by way of the Seattle Great Wheel.  Talk about a birds eye view.  Then, of course, we had to see the Pikes Fish Market and the flying fish.  From there we headed to the must see Space Needle.  The crowds and lines were insane enough that we snapped a picture and said "good enough".  Seattle was a fun day but we were happy to get back to Cheryl at the turn left campground.

Enjoying a beer

Seattle from the Great Wheel

Lesson learned:  Don't go to Seattle on a Sunday if you want to see the Space Needle

MONDAY, July 29th

Oh Canada!

We spent an hour in line at the US/Canada customs, but breezed right through once we got to the check point.

US/Canada customs

From there we caught Hwy. 99 through Vancouver headed to Whistler.  But there is always a catch, isn't there...  First of all as Hwy. 99 enters Vancouver, it plays a game of hide and seek.  There are these cute little blue signs occasionally, with arrows pointing the way to Hwy. 99.  I swear they hid them just to keep things interesting (or to frustrate us).  Since our GPS isn't working in Canada (my mistake not making sure we had a GPS), we finally resorted to yelling out the car window "Do you know the way to Hwy. 99?"  Unfortunately, on one occasion we forgot to say Hwy. 99 North and one helpful young man sent us heading back to Washiington. We finally crossed the Lions Gate Bridge headed to our destination, Whistler.  What a relief!  Vancouver was noisy, driving lanes narrow, pedestrians impatient, and drivers even more impatient.  Bye bye Vancouver, and now for some fun!  

We though this  twisted building in Vancouver was in need of a chiropractor

Lion Gate Bridge - our ticket out of Vancouver

We found a camp site at Squamish, once again a primitive site.  We are getting mighty used to flashlights, candles and lanterns.  But they had a great shower and wifi if you stood on your head and held your tongue right, so we were happy campers.

Lesson learned:  Our customs experience could have been much worse.  The father/son biking due camping next to us were tagged for a very time consuming complete search.