Better Late Than Never

Since it’s the end of the year, I’m finally getting around to writing about our August vacation.

The first day, August 11, we flew into Sea-Tac, picked up our rental car and headed for Sequim, Washington. The only stop we really made was on Mt. Walker. I was hoping to get a good view of Seattle across Puget Sound, but it was just too hazy.

On the second morning, we woke up and headed for Hurricane Ridge.

We did a little hiking on the trails around Hurricane Ridge, almost got run over by this deer,

and had to walk on this snow.

Then, we hiked up to Hurricane Hill. It’s about a 1.6 mile hike, and for this flat-lander, it felt like it was almost straight up. We were rewarded with more great views at the top. Mt. Baker, Port Angeles, and Canada.

That afternoon, we drove over to Lake Crescent and did a short, fairly flat hike to Marymere Falls.

On the third day, we drove from Sequim to Longview, via highway 101. Oh, the fog! We drove through Forks, which is really as dreary as Stephenie Meyers describes it. Then, we stopped at Ruby Beach.

We drove on to Aberdeen for lunch, and finally made it to Longview. There’s not much to do in Longview, so we went to the movies.

The fourth day, we headed to Astoria, Oregon and again were foiled by the fog. We climbed to the top of the Astoria Column, but didn’t get many views.

Then, we headed on to Ecola State Park. We both liked this park the last time we visited Oregon.

This time, we hiked a different trail. The reward was supposed to be a good view of Terrible Tilly, but we only got more fog. I was surprised just how big Haystack Rock is when we drove into Cannon Beach after our hike.

Then, we drove to Portland to spend the night.

Bright and early the fifth day, we drove to the top of Larch Mountain, and although we had driven out of most of the fog, it was still hazy. We had intended on doing the Larch Mountain Crater hike, but a nice Portland man at Sherrard Point suggested the Angel’s Rest hike instead, so we headed back down to the gorge to try it. Angel’s Rest didn’t disappoint. Great views of the gorge!

After we got back to the car, I convinced Bill to drive back up Larch Mountain, so that I would get another shot at the volcanos, and although it was still hazy, we were able to see them this time. Mt. Hood looks so close.

Day 6, we drove the White Pass Scenic Byway and stopped at Mount Rainier National Park. We hiked the Grove of the Patriarchs, which is short and flat, but amazing. Finally, some beautiful clear skies!

We did the short Nisqually Vista hike near Paradise. The wildflowers smelled amazing! We drove to Yakima, where the scenery is quite different than everywhere else we had been. Our hotel was right on the river, and we had a balcony.

On our final full day, we left Yakima and took the Chinook Pass Scenic Byway, stopping at Tipsoo Lake.

We did a fairly short hike at Mount Rainier – the Emmons Moraine Trail and drove up to Sunrise.

The flight back home was not fun. We were about an hour late taking off because the plane was being serviced at DFW. Then, we had to zig-zag around thunderstorms, only to find what seemed to be the biggest storm sitting over DFW. We circled Wichita Falls for 20 minutes and were finally able to land at DFW. The descent was the scariest I have ever had. I don’t think I was ever so glad to see Southlake Carroll’s football stadium.