Warshington

I know I haven't been prompt getting pics up from our trip, but it's been a busy week. Like all of my weeks lately. *sigh*

Anyway, in Seattle we actually saw the sun! And went to the aquarium:







Then we spent a few days in the desert (Seriously, most of the state east of the Cascades is sagebrush and tumbleweeds, yet thanks to the Columbia River, this is where most of those Washington state apples and cherries come from.):



With the in-laws:



Visited the Grand Coulee Dam:



Took the scenic route (Snow! In July!):





And this last one has a bit of a backstory. Back in '92 when I was still a poor vet student, I took the summer off, since I knew it was probably the last chance I'd ever get to do so. I spent mid-June to mid-July traveling in Europe, which was when I made my first trip to Zürich and first had cheese fondue. That August, I set out with my family on a big cross-country road trip. My maternal grandparents, who were still able to travel back then, met up with us in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. After dropping off my little rustbucket Chevette in St. Paul, we proceeded to hit every national park between there and the Pacific Northwest.

After leaving behind Olympic National park on the Washington coast, we took a ferry across the Puget Sound and headed up into the Cascades, taking the same route as above in the opposite direction. Before we got up into the mountains, we stopped for lunch at a little roadside park - nothing, really, except a few picnic tables beside the Skagit River. The view, though, was one of my most vivid memories of that trip, and really one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. So 17 years later as David and I were driving back to Seattle, I noticed that the scenery was starting to look very familiar and without much trouble found that exact spot again.



Every bit as lovely as I remembered it.

p.s., There are more photos from the trip here.