WASHINGTON

Summer 2002


We visiting Washington state at the end of July and early August 2002.  The cool northwest weather was a nice respite from the heat wave in Colorado.   It was sunny most of the time with temps in the 60s and 70s.  We visited 3 places: Seattle, Mt. Rainier National Park, and Mt. St. Helens.  All provided cool things to see.  The photos below can be enlarged by clicking on them.

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We spent the weekend in Seattle.  Our hotel was downtown only a couple blocks from the Space Needle.  There was a lot of stuff going on because of a big celebration called "Seafair".  There was lots of activities, a huge parade, and an impressive show of naval ships streaming by on the waterfront.  Below is Sharon at the Space Needle.

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There is a big market area called Pike's Place Market.  It is in the heart of downtown and is a mix of farmers market, fish market, shops, crafts and food.   Below are the some of the vast assortment of  impressive and inexpensively priced flowers we saw there.

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We checked out the sunset from the Space Needle.  You can get a bonus point for spotting Mt. Rainier on the horizon.  It is hidden in the fog/haze. 

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We then headed up to the big guy, Mt. Rainier.  It is a massive volcano (still active) that rises to 14400 feet.  The bottom of the mountain  is at less than 3000ft so this is a very large peak in terms of elevation.  Below is from the first day of our visit.

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We spent 4 days exploring the backcountry.  On the first day of our hike we came across expansive fields of wildflowers like the one below.

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We climbed in and out of deep glacial valleys.  In each one there was raging torrent of a river from the melt water from the glaciers on the peak.  Below, Chris crosses a rather flimsy looking log bridge. 

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Here is the end of the Carbon Glacier.   It stretches several miles away from its origins on the icecapped peak in the background.  The glaciers are still very active due to the 650 inches of snow that fall on the peak each year.

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We saw lots of mammoth trees in the park.  The park protects the giants from logging so they can grow for 500 to 1000 years and reach up to 200 feet in height.

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The most scenic part of Mt. Rainier is probably the popular "Paradise" area.  There are miles of hiking trails and wildflowers galore.  

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We were humbled to see Mt. St. Helens.  You may remember it erupted in 1980.  Below is a view from the shore of Spirit Lake where several square miles of dead logs still float on the surface.  It was amazing to see devastation for as far as the eye could see.  We're happy to report that the forest is making a comeback but it will still be decades to get back to the way it was before.  For the time being, there are gobs of wildflowers blanketing the open areas to bring color to the bleak surroundings.

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