Another Spectacular Washington Day!

We left for the Olympic Peninsula in Washington with the girls early this morning and didn't get home until late evening so we are very tired. Rich drove more than 225 miles today, to the top of the world and back down to civilization, so he was smart enough to crash after our late dinner.

Doesn't this appear to be the top of the world? This is at the Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center in Olympic National Park.

Before arriving there we had driven across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge to the Kitsap Peninsula. Have you ever seen the movies of the day the original bridge collapsed in 1940? Freaky scary! Here we are safely crossing the westbound (green) bridge this morning. Aren't they beautiful?

Then we crossed the Hood Canal Bridge onto the Olympic Peninsula. The Hood Canal Bridge is the third longest floating bridge in the world; it rests upon pontoons, not support columns, and has a center draw span to accommodate large ships.

Here we are on the City Pier in Port Angeles on the Olympic Peninsula. We took the girls on the pier, watched the fish in the clear green water, and had lunch outside on this gorgeous day. It seems that Washington is the place to be when the rest of the country is sweltering in the heat of summer.

The first thing we did when we got to Port Angeles though was check availability of the ferry to Victoria. Yes, Dylan, Grandpa had our passports with us; we didn't forget today! If we had made it on as a standby, we would only have had 3 to 4 hours there before we had to get back in line for the return trip on the ferry. We are just not going to get there this trip; this is apparently the only view we will have of the city of Victoria until our next trip here...

Look very closely and you'll see Victoria in the upper left corner of this photo!

Here is another photo taken at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.

This one was taken on the way back down from Hurricane Ridge. If you look closely, you will see a slender strip of light brown land extending into the water at the center of this photo. If you traveled straight ahead from there, you would reach the home of G, D, & K. Hi guys! Thanks G for recommending that we drive over to Olympic Peninsula...gorgeous!

Driving the length of the Hood Canal along the eastern side of Olympic Peninsula we stopped at Seal Rock Campground where we were treated to another view of Mount Rainier in the distance across the Canal.

That route brought us into Olympia, the capitol of Washington. The capitol building and grounds are openly accessible and beautiful. There is a lovely park and pond across from this building where we walked the girls and took a break from the road.

 And no matter where you drive throughout this entire area it seems, you will see Mount Rainier presiding over all. It is the highest mountain in the Cascade Range, is an active stratovolcano, and contains the largest glaciers in the lower 48 states. Seeing it never fails to surprise me. Since area roads wind up, down, and around hills and canyons and large bodies of water, Mount Rainier appears to be in every direction at once. Or you will see it behind a tree and then poof, it disappears. I love looking at it and imagining the powerful forces that could emanate from it...hopefully though, it never will.

 The last stop before arriving home this evening was at a Wal-Mart in Olympia...a beautiful, clean, well-stocked Wal-Mart Supercenter with all the grocery items we needed...finally. And only 40 miles from where we are staying...how convenient.

Livin' Life ~~  Lovin' Mount Rainier

  Bev