Walking among Waterfalls

Olympic National Park is huge and has several distinct ecosystems, mountains, coasts, rain forests & lowland forests.

Today we explored the lowland forests with its many waterfalls.

This is Marymere Falls, a short hike from our cabin.  

And this is Sol Duc Falls.

We also hiked the Spruce Railroad Trail along the north shore of Lake Crescent.

The end of another fun day.

Olympic National Park

We have arrived at the Olympic National Park and the first order of business was hiking Hullicane Ridge.

We hiked to Sunrise Point and could see for miles.

We could see Mt. Olympus covered in glaciers beyond the visitor center.

We continued on highway 101 to Lake Crescent Lodge.  This is our home for the next few days.

The view from our cabin.

The sun setting on Lake Crescent.

Cowboy Dinner

The Sun Mountain Lodge in Methow Valley has a wonderful horseback ride & cowboy dinner for its guests.

This is me on Buttermilk, my mount for the evening.

Our wrangler guide, Red, did a great job keeping everyone safe and having fun as we rode through the beautiful countryside.

You can also take a covered wagon to the homestead, where dinner is served.

Dinner was delicious and included grilled tri tip steak & chicken, salad, fruit, cowboy beans, cowboy potatoes, cornbread and this yummy desert.

We were accompanied by Maggie, the barn dog who was relagated to the wagon during dinner.

Once back at the barn, she cooled off in the horse trough, her personal swimmin' hole!

Mountains & Islands

Today we drove back through the Cascade Mountains and took a ferry to San Juan Island.

Here's a clearer look at the craggy Cascades.

We squeezed our car onto a Washington State ferry and floated over to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. 

One well known resident of Friday Harbor is Popeye, a female harbor seal that has been hanging around the marina since 1995.  She got our attention by splashing us as we walked by.  The residents & tourists have been giving her scraps from the nearby fish market.

In 2005, she was named the port's official seal and a sculpture, depicting her cloudy right eye, was installed in her honor in a nearby park.

We also visited South Beach, a jumble of diftwood.

Picked wild blackberries,

And visited a lavender farm.

Grandma's Cove, San Juan Island.

Methow Valley, Washington

Hello from the Merthow Valley. It is just east of the Cascade Mountains.  Today the sun is shining!

This is a semi arid region which just experienced some devastating forest fires.  

Luckily, the area we are in was spared.  This area is known for nordic or cross country skiing.

A picnic table from the region.

These mule deer browsed very near me as I sat on a bench watching the sun rise.

So far, we've driven along the scenic Methow River,

Visited Falls Creek Falls,

And walked a plank

Hiked a trail,

Visited a fish hatchery and fed rainbow trout,

And saw a beaver who had been captured and was being relocated.

North Cascades National Park

We are in Washington and plan on getting three more national parks.

First up, is North Cascades.  

Its a beautiful park, however we drove the north cascades highway in foggy, wet weather with the mountains shrouded in fog.

We saw lots of waterfalls.

And this banana slug on a paved trail.

And were awed by the blue-green Diablo Lake.

Check back for more photos of this diverse state!

Up a Tree

Big snake climbing a tree.