Let me take you back to October 2010. Emma and I had been dating for awhile, and she had two vacation days coming up in the middle of the month. I had also been gone for a few weeks on a work trip, and we'd wanted to spend some time together. We had travelled once together to Colorado, and thought it'd be fun to do another road trip. After thinking about possibilites of where we could go, we decided on Seattle. Emma's good friend from grad school, Maria, lives in the Seattle metro area, and we both thought it would be really fun to go see her. Maria is *awesome* despite the foot-in-mouth comments I made (among others, calling her Gollum's wife was not really that funny). Emma's other grad school friend, Nicole, decided to meet us up there sans husband (which apparently was fine with him until he heard about the delicious food we had there). Because of the distances, Emma was to fly up Wednesday night after school, and I was leaving the day before to get the car up. We were to drive home together on Saturday/Sunday.
 |
| Grande Ronde River valley |
According to plan, I left earlier in the week. Part of the reason I wanted to drive up was to 'catch' some counties in Washington and Oregon that I had as of yet been unable to hit, and that was the perfect excuse to do some back-roading through the Pacific Northwest countryside. Since I'd been through Idaho, I beelined it on the freeway through Boise, and hit the Oregon border. At Baker City, I departed from the freeway, and began to angle northward. I was excited to go to the town of Enterprise, Oregon. (Since I'm from Enterprise, Utah, I have a strange fascination with other towns of the same name. I can't explain it.) It was a cute town, nestled in a valley with mountains around it. The drive from Enterprise northward towards Washington included one of the most beautiful gorges and descents to the bed of the Grande Ronde River (and back up) that I've seen. I took a loop through the dry farming region of southeast Washington through Walla Walla and spent the night in Washington's Tri-Cities area.
 |
| Lake Franklin D. Roosevelt |
 |
| Fall colors in the Cascades |
The next day I headed northward to explore the Columbia River basin. I drove up to Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake (which stretches from the Grand Coulee Dam into Canada) and enjoyed the beauty of northern Washington. The dry grasslands gave way to beautiful stands of fir and pine as I headed toward Wenatchee, nestled in the Cascade Range. I followed the Columbia River for a good distance of the trip, and saw miles and miles of fruit orchards lining the banks. Crossing the Cascades at Wenatchee on Route 2, I saw stunning fall colors and rushing mountain streams. It was pure enjoyment transversing the mountains, and although I hit traffic coming into the Seattle metro, I arrived in time to pick Emma up at the airport.
By Thursday, Nicole had arrived and we devoted the day to seeing Seattle proper. We saw the usual touristy things -- Pike's Market, the waterfront, etc. We had a really good time at Ivar's Seafood restaurant, where we devoured fish and chips and clam chowder, and played around with the seagulls. Although the day was a bit rainy, we decided to brave the weather and take the ferry out to Bainbridge Island. Along the way, we were really surprised to see dolphins and an orca in the middle of Puget Sound! Even the Seattle commuters on the ferry came out to witness the sea life, which we were later told by the captain that they are but infrequently seen. After wandering the island looking for some food that wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg, we settled for some surprisingly good pizza. Although the ride back had turned cold and dark, I loved watching the Seattle skyline grow larger as the ferry returned from Bainbridge.
 |
| Upper Falls at Twin Falls State Park |
 |
The hike along the riverbed
at Twin Falls State Park |
On Friday, Nicole, Emma, and I (Maria had to work) embarked on a journey southward along the Sound until we hit Tacoma. I've heard disparaging remarks about Tacoma, but I thought the city was beautifully located. We absolutely loved going to the glassblowing museum in town, where we saw a huge array of different pieces on display. Our favorite part of the museum by far was the live demonstration of glass blowing. We stared transfixed as the three glassblowers created colored stemware and other items, amazed that the hot glowing globs of glass could be blown and shaped into the exquisite creations they were making. We also found a really good Greek restaurant in Tacoma, where we gorged on dolmathes and gyros, and made our way toward Twin Falls State Park near North Bend, Washington, where we met up with Maria for a hike. One of us (I can't remember who) had the impression that the path was suitable for baby strollers, which we quickly debunked after climbing one hill ridge after another, but the hike was stunning as we meandered through the lush undergrowth, moss-draped trees looming over us. We reached the falls, and Emma waded into the river to get better glimpses of the waterfall, while Maria entertained us with an amazing dance she'd created. It was here that I'd labelled her "Gollum's wife".
 |
| Ross Lake |
 |
| Ross Lake |
The next day, Saturday, Emma and I started our trek home. We'd decided to visit a few places on the way back, including North Cascades National Park and the Grand Coulee Dam. We were stunned by the beauty of the North Cascades --- the drive up was through a windy canyon with breathtaking views of the churning river, and we were further delighted when we chanced upon the intense green waters of Ross Lake. The view was absolutely spectacular. We stopped at the ranger station in the park, where we found out that we didn't have enough time to really hike into the Cascades. That adventure will have to wait for another day.
 |
| Grand Coulee Dam |
 |
| Dry Falls Lake |
Unfortunately, we made it to the Grand Coulee Dam about five minutes too late to participate in the last tour of the dam for the day. However, the visitor center was still open, and we enjoyed learning about this massive structure, one of the largest dams in the world and the largest electric power producing facility in the United States. It's truly a huge slab of concrete, which created the 150 mile long Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake. After learning about the dam's history, we continued southeast, stopping briefly at Sun Lakes State Park, where we learned that the area had once been the largest waterfall the world has ever known (about ten times the size of Niagara Falls). It's now called Dry Falls; currently, it's estimated that the falls' flow was ten times the current flow of all the rivers in the world. It was definitely a fascinating stop along the way home.
 |
| Columbia River LDS Temple |
As we pulled into Tri-Cities, we were faced with the decision of getting a place to stay, or to continue along the way a bit further. We decided to keep driving until the next town, where the same scenario was replayed. By the time we got to Boise at 2am, we'd decided that it really wasn't worth it to stop and stay the night when we were so close to being home (about 4 1/2 hours). So, we continued driving through the night, arriving in Salt Lake about 6:30 in the morning, just as dawn was approaching. I even added 18 new counties to the tally, one in Oregon and 17 in Washington.
According to plan, I left earlier in the week. Part of the reason I wanted to drive up was to 'catch' some counties in Washington and Oregon that I had as of yet been unable to hit, and that was the perfect excuse to do some back-roading through the Pacific Northwest countryside. Since I'd been through Idaho, I beelined it on the freeway through Boise, and hit the Oregon border. At Baker City, I departed from the freeway, and began to angle northward. I was excited to go to the town of Enterprise, Oregon. (Since I'm from Enterprise, Utah, I have a strange fascination with other towns of the same name. I can't explain it.) It was a cute town, nestled in a valley with mountains around it. The drive from Enterprise northward towards Washington included one of the most beautiful gorges and descents to the bed of the Grande Ronde River (and back up) that I've seen. I took a loop through the dry farming region of southeast Washington through Walla Walla and spent the night in Washington's Tri-Cities area. 
As we pulled into Tri-Cities, we were faced with the decision of getting a place to stay, or to continue along the way a bit further. We decided to keep driving until the next town, where the same scenario was replayed. By the time we got to Boise at 2am, we'd decided that it really wasn't worth it to stop and stay the night when we were so close to being home (about 4 1/2 hours). So, we continued driving through the night, arriving in Salt Lake about 6:30 in the morning, just as dawn was approaching. I even added 18 new counties to the tally, one in Oregon and 17 in Washington.
No comments:
Post a Comment