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Mark & Connie
Vacation 2015
in
The Great Northwest
August 21st through 30th, 2015
Travel Log Details Note that this is just a short preview of each day. The linked
pages have more details in both photos and description of our
activities. The photos posted here is nowhere near the total number of photos we took. It is challenging to pick out just a few to post.
We flew to Seattle on Friday, August 21.
We checked into the Hilton Garden Inn in Renton, Washington,
and headed to dinner (we hadn't eaten since breakfast, more
than 14 hours earlier... except for peanuts and
pretzels). We found the Red House Beer and Wine
Shoppe & Tapas Bar. The food was excellent, and
the weather was perfect for eating outside. And in
Seattle, there aren't bugs flying around. We didn't
see any mosquitoes or flies. None.
After dinner we walked around the corner and across the
railroad tracks where the Chamber of Commerce was offering
up a free bluegrass band concert. We stopped to listen to
the band and after a couple of songs, a train came rumbling
through. My grandsons and I love to watch train videos
so I videoed
the train.
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 On Saturday the 22nd, we
were up bright and early and on
our way to Olympic National Park. We drove up to
Hurricane Ridge and took a hike up a steep trail. Then
we drove to the Woh valley rain forest on the other side of
Mt. Olympus.
We ate lunch at Jack-in-the-box in downtown Port
Angeles. It was slow and the place was kind of
dirty. We ate dinner at Olive Garden in Olympia.
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 On Sunday the 23rd, we
drove up to Mt. Rainier
National Park. Mount Rainer is truly
spectacular. We were glad we went to Olympic National
Park first, because it would have been a bit of a let down
after seeing Mt. Rainier.
We got to the Paradise Visitor's center about 10:30.
It was getting pretty busy.
On the way up to Mt. Rainier, we drove through Elbe and just
then, the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railway had their steam engine
fired up and ready to start boarding. When it pulled
forward to the station, I grabbed these two videos. Video1
& video2
We at lunch at McDonalds in Puyallup, on our drive back from
Mt. Rainier. We had stopped at a little burger shop in
Elbe, but they wanted $8 for a hamburger. That's
OK for a nice sit down place, but not a roadside stand in
Elbe, WA.
We went to dinner with David Bean and his wife Susan.
They took us to Anthony's at Shilshole Bay. It was
excellent food and excellent company. We had seats
overlooking the bay and the weather was perfect. We
really enjoyed it.
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 Monday,
24th August This was our airplane day. We
toured the Boeing plant in Everett, WA, and then the air
Museum nearby where they have a bunch of WWII aircraft from
Germany, Japan, Russia, and of course the US. Then we
went to the Boeing Museum in Seattle. The original
Boeing building (big red barn) is there and it contains the
history of Boeing and the American aircraft industry.
We at lunch at Randy's.. a little diner just next to
the Boeing plant. It had hundreds of model
planes of all sizes and types on display (hanging from the
ceiling). It was just the place to eat for our
aeronautical day.
When we got back to the hotel, we thought about ordering
pizza, but never got around to it. We grabbed a free
cookie from the lobby and that was it.
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Tuesday, 25th
August We drove down to Multnomah falls in Oregon,
then went to Washington Park in Portland and walked around
the Test Rose Garden. Then we drove over to the cost
of Oregon and saw the beach and ocean. Then drove back
up to the hotel.
I grabbed some chicken fingers at the Loves truck stop (I
don't remember the name of the food vendor) and we drove
over to Dairy Queen for Connie to get a coney dog. But
they don't have coney dogs at Dairy Queen so she had to
settle for a burger and chocolate shake.
We at dinner at Olive Garden in Olympia again. We were
going right by at dinner time and knew how to get there and
what to expect. Done!
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Wednesday,
26th, August We drove up to Vancouver, took the 1 hour
harbor tour, and then walked around Stanley park and then
drove around it's perimeter. Walked at total of 4.37
miles.
We at lunch at a little diner just a few blocks off the
bay. It was run by this old oriental woman and her
maybe her granddaughter. For dinner we just hit the
Hilton honors reception and had cheese and crackers and
veggies, etc. and chocolate cake and coffee.
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 Thursday,
27th We toured VanDusen Botanical Garden on
Vancouver, and then drove down to Deception Pass State Park
near Anacortes, WA. We hiked in the park then drove on
down to Oak Harbor. After a short visit to Oak Harbor,
we checked into the Hampton Inn in Burlington, WA.
We ate lunch at Sonic burgers (Connie got the chili dog she
had been wanting). We ate dinner at the Japanese
steakhouse across from the hotel. The cook was the
most entertaining we've seen. The food was the typical
blah Japanese steakhouse food.
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 Friday, 28th
We boarded the ferry at Anacortes and rode over to San Juan
island, landing in Friday Harbor. We toured the Whale
Museum and then rode the public transportation out to Lime
Kiln State Park to watch for whales. We were very
fortunate to see a number of Orca whales swim by at about
3PM.
We were back in Friday Harbor about 4PM and had dinner at a
restaurant there. The food was good, and we could see
the bay, but it wasn't cheap.
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Saturday, 29th, We drove
to Seattle and toured the Chihuly Glass Museum and Gardens,
then walked over to the Pike Street Market and had lunch at
the Athenian restaurant. Then walked back to the Space
Needle and went up to the observation deck. Walked a
total of 4.63 miles. We were beat when we got to the
hotel and didn't bother to go out for dinner. Connie
had two fresh peaches that she bought at the market and they
were our dinner.
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Saturday the 22nd
Sunday the 23rd
Monday, 24th
Tuesday, 25th
Wednesday, 26th
Thursday, 27th
Friday 28th
Saturday 29th
Notes:
1) We saw much fewer Starbucks coffee shops than expected. I
think we've seen fewer than you would see in a large city in the
east.
2) We were surprise at the number of coffee "shacks" in small
towns. Nearly every small town has one, and most small towns
do not have an ice cream stand. We definitely felt like
foreigners.
3) The west in general has been experiencing a drought, and they
have had forest fires
going on the entire week we've been here. The grass is brown
everywhere you look. On Friday a period of rain started, so it seems
the Great Northwest weather is back. They really need the
rain!
4) These people apparently do not eat doughnuts. I have looked
each day for a doughnut shop and have yet to find one.
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