on the road

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washington
gadfly homepage on the road home notes on places capital: Olympia first contact: 5/2003

WA Trip Stats (3/05):

 

Counties visited: 6

Last visited: 5/2003

Best county: Grays Harbor Co.

Town visited most: Seattle

Places slept in: Tukwila

Most impressive town: Seattle

Least impressive town: Aberdeen

Biggest town: Seattle

Most scenic area: Olympic peninsula rain forests

Most scenic spot: Mt. Rainier's Nisqually Glacier

Three words: salt, mountains, green

State animal: sea lion

Tourist Trap: Ye Olde Curiosity Shop

Best Food: Ivar's in downtown Seattle serves the freshest, fastest fish ever. The seagulls begging for scraps agree.

Road Trips: Washington Star (5/2003)

 

Neighboring States: OR, BC, ID

 

Areas thoroughly explored: Southern Pudget Sound and the shore between Aberdeen and Quinalt.

 

Future Plans: I madly want to camp in the Olympic peninsula or near the beaches. I am interested in exploring Mt. St. Helens, the Columbia valley, and the roads leading up the Cascades into British Columbia. Seattle will probably draw me to it many times in my life. No city has ever matched my personality so well. (I love Chicago, but those Boeing guys were crazy to leave the Emerald City.)
First Contact: I had some extra time and extra money and decided one day that I wanted to see a mountain. By looking at the atlas, I noticed that Seattle was surrounded by them and a trip there would also afford me the opportunity to see the Pacific for the first time. There was also a great sale on airfare so Jessica and I flew across the country (with drunk people on board) and landed at Seatac, prepared to explore the city and the wilderness. During the spring trip, we visited all that Seattle had to offer and made a couple road trips into the Cascades and Olympics. What a strange planet Seattle is!

King Co. (2003)

Seatac. One of those airport suburbs, but instantly you recognize that this one is a bit cleaner than others like it. Tukwila. I stayed in this suburb along the banks of a river. Seattle. This is one of the best large cities in the country. Visited several sites along the waterfront and at Seattle Center. Besides the dealers (hippies with backpacks who roam the streets often on bicycles) the city was pretty clean. I love how Mt. Rainier dominates the skyline and how the Olympics highlight the land across the sound. A tour of the harbor showed a city hard at work doing business with the ports of Asia. The Pike Street Market draws a crowd like nothing else I have seen before. Saw seals in the Sound and heard a pack of them on the north side of the city. Kent. Renton. Auburn.

Pierce Co. (2003)

Tacoma. Lakewood. Buckley. Kapowsin. Eatonville. Alder. Elbe. Ashford. Mt. Rainier NP. Nisqually entrance.

Thurston Co. (2003)

Olympia.

Grays Harbor Co. (2003)

McCleary. Elma. Whites. Satsup. Montesano. Central Pk. Aberdeen. Hoquiam. Ocean City SP. Ocean City. Copalis Beach. Copalis Crossing. Pacific Beach. Aloha. Pacific Beach SP. Quinalt.

Jefferson Co. (2003)

Olympic NP. Graves Creek along Quinalt River.

Lewis Co. (2003)

Paradise.

 

waspaceneed.jpg (6153 bytes)

The famous Space Needle and home of the Weedle on the Needle in Seattle. Yes, Virginia, there is a Starbucks on top. (2003)

The shores of the Pacific Ocean in rural Grays Harbor Co. (2003)