Posts In The “North America Pacific Coast” Category
![Celebrate Merlot, Walla Walla](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230713-vintage-pour/Blog_WallaWallaMerlot_20230713_163603.web_.jpg)
We’ve always favored full-bodied reds, such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel, over lighter choices such as Merlot and Pinot Noir. But after attending a couple of Winemaker’s Dinners at the Butcher’s Table restaurant, arranged by Merlot-enthusiast Jason Sanneman, we began to appreciate that varietal more. We’d also become interested in visiting Walla Walla in eastern…
![Whistler Blackcomb](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230702-high-note-trail/Blog_Whistler_PXL_20230702_200226000.web_.jpg)
The Whistler Blackcomb ski resort, about a two-hour drive north of Vancouver, Canada, is frequently ranked as one of the best ski resorts in North America. It also is one of the largest and busiest in North America, has the greatest uplift capacity, of 65,500 skiers per hour, and annually draws more than two million…
![June in Seattle](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/trips/seattle2023/images/20230627_202931.web.jpg)
After unseasonably warm and sunny May weather in Seattle, June was much cooler. But we got plenty of sunshine and high temperatures with a trip to Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix at the beginning of the month, and inland to Hood River, Oregon near the end of June. In between, we made a weekend…
![Hood River, Oregon](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230622-hood-river-evening/Blog_Hood_River_20230622_170338.web_.jpg)
With five breweries and a population of only 8,341, Hood River, Oregon has more breweries per capita than any other city in the US, and possibly the world. All have tasting rooms and, combined with the city’s many pubs and bars, beer lovers will never go thirsty here. And the city has numerous excellent restaurants…
![Mukilteo](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230617-mukilteo-lighthouse/Blog_Mukilteo_20230617_142019.web_.jpg)
Mukilteo, a small Snohomish County city about a 45-minute drive north of Seattle, was a native-American settlement for centuries before the arrival of Europeans. Captain George Vancouver was among the first to visit, when he landed there in 1792. In the mid-1800s, the land was ceded to the Washington Territorial government and European settlement began….
![May Sunshine](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/trips/seattle2023/images/20230514_130652.web.jpg)
May brought unseasonably warm and sunny weather to the Pacific Northwest. We started the month on a cruise to Alaska, where the clear skies and moderate temperatures were notable for that time of year. We enjoyed warm weather for much of the rest of the month in Seattle, eating outside wherever possible. Following our presentation…
![Cedar Butte Trail](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230529/Blog_Cedar_Butte_Trail_20230529_115413.web_.jpg)
On most of our airplane trips, we prefer to pack light and bring carry-on luggage only. This saves us time at the airport and also avoids the risk of lost bags. For our upcoming trip to Barcelona, we had one hike planned, but not enough to warrant bringing our large hiking boots as we did…
![Major League Sports Weekend](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230528-seattle-mariners/Blog_2023SportsWeekend_20230528_151520.web_.jpg)
We’d normally take advantage of a long weekend and make a trip somewhere. But having just returned from Anacortes the previous weekend and scheduled to fly to Barcelona the following Wednesday, we decided that all three of us should take a staycation for Memorial Day Weekend. As luck would have it, three of Seattle’s five…
![Anacortes](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230520-anacortes/Blog_TrawlerfestAnacortes2023_PXL_20230520_192356138.web_.jpg)
With two large marinas, Anacortes, WA is a popular boating destination close to the beautiful San Juan Islands. The city also is the gateway to the islands for those without a boat, with nearly a million arriving by ferry in 2021. That is how we visited the islands last fall. And Anacortes has been the…
![Alaska Cruise on the Norwegian Jewel](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230507-hubbard-glacier/Blog_Hubbard_Glacier_20230507_084143.web_.jpg)
One of the reasons we booked a cruise to Alaska from Vancouver, rather than from our home of Seattle, was to travel one-way through the Inside Passage all the way up, and to visit Hubbard Glacier and Seward. Ships departing from Seattle run mostly offshore, west of Vancouver Island, and generally only visit Southeast Alaska…
![Seward Highway](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230508-conservation-center/Blog_Seward_IMG_7206.web_.jpg)
The 125-mile (201 km) Seward Highway, between Anchorage and Seward, is considered one of the most scenic routes in the state of Alaska. Named a National Forest Scenic Byway in 1989, the 2.5-hour journey from Seward passes through the Kenai Mountains and between Turnagain Arm and the Chugach Mountains, with numerous lakes and other attractions…
![Hubbard Glacier](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230507-hubbard-glacier/Blog_Hubbard_Glacier_DSCN5782.web_.jpg)
Hubbard Glacier, at the head of Yakutat Bay, is the largest tidewater glacier in North America at 76 miles (122km) long and 7 miles (11km) wide. The terminal face is 600 feet (182m) high, with 250 feet (76m) hidden below the waterline. The 350 feet (106m) visible above the waterline is actively calving, filling the…
![Glacier Bay](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230506-glacier-bay-2/Blog_Glacier_Bay_20230506_093311.web_.jpg)
Dramatic Glacier Bay National Park was the only overlap between our Norwegian Jewel cruise and our 2010 Southeast Alaska trip on Dirona. But we could return here every year and never tire of the amazing scenery. On another unusually clear day for early in the season, we cruised slowly up Glacier Bay under a bright…
![Skagway](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230505-white-pass-scenic-railway/Blog_Skagway_IMG_6929.web_.jpg)
During the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896 through 1899, roughly 100,000 prospectors poured into the Yukon in northwestern Canada, in the hopes of striking it rich. The main routes to the Yukon gold fields were from the southeast Alaska towns of Skagway or Dyea, across White Pass or Chilkoot Pass respectively. No roads or railways…
![Juneau](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/wp-content/gallery/20230504-juneau-seaplane/Blog_Juneau_PXL_20230504_213729686.web_.jpg)
Alaska’s capital, Juneau, is the only mainland US capital city with no road connections. The only way in or out is by air or sea. And despite having a population of only 32,000, it’s the second largest city in the US by area, after Sitka, also in Alaska. We arrived by boat, as do the…
![Ketchikan](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/trips/seattle2023/images/PXL_20230503_195557065.web.jpg)
On our Norwegian Encore Caribbean cruise, we didn’t take any excursions, opting instead to visit each port on foot on our own. The Jewel offered some more interesting trips, so we booked one for each port. In Ketchikan, we took an off-road UTV safari through Tongass National Forest in a Yamaha Wolverine X2. Although we…
![Inside Passage to Alaska](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/trips/seattle2023/images/20230501_180307.web.jpg)
After our second night at the Vancouver Pan Pacific hotel, we woke up to find the Norwegian Jewel, the ship we’d be taking to Alaska, docked just outside our room. We boarded later that day and spent the afternoon exploring the ship, then had a wonderful time watching from our balcony at the bow as…
![April Travels](https://mvdirona.com/cache/180x150-2/trips/seattle2023/images/20230429_150301.web.jpg)
While Seattle did see plenty of rain that month, April travels was the dominant theme rather than April showers. We started the month with a weekend trip to Sagecliff resort in eastern Washington and ended it on a weekend trip to Vancouver BC. Of the three weekends in between, we spent one snowshoeing at Mt….