Posts In The “North America Pacific Coast” Category
Santa Barbara, CA is a popular tourism destination, with the Pacific Ocean on one side and the steeply rising Santa Ynez Mountains on the other. The city has excellent restaurants and accommodations, wonderful hiking in the mountains, and water activities in the offshore Channel Islands. Those are sufficient enough attractions for us to go, but…
Franklin Falls, just west of Snoqualmie Pass, gush 70 ft (21m) over a cliff into a pool below, with a narrow hiking trail that leads almost underneath. The falls are spectacular in the spring runoff, but even more so after particularly cold winter weather, when icicles encrust the cliff face. They reminded us of frozen…
Queen Anne Hill, at 456 feet (139 m) high, is the highest named hill in Seattle and easily visible from our apartment. Three large red-and-white broadcast towers, landmarks in the city that are visible for miles, stand atop the hill and make it even more prominent. After an 1875 windstorm flattened many of the trees…
Twin Falls is a popular and easy hike about a 45-minute drive east of downtown Seattle along I-90. The 2.6-mile (4 km) round-trip route, with an elevation gain of 500 ft (152 m), follows a well-maintained path alongside the Upper Snoqualmie River. Several viewpoints to the falls are en route, and the hike ends at…
A forest fire lookout has stood on 1,700 ft (518m) Heybrook Ridge near Steven’s Pass since 1925, starting with a simple tent platform. Successively taller towers were built, culminating with the current 67-ft (20 m) lookout completed in 1964. It’s one of only 106 remaining forest fire lookouts in the state, down from a peak…
Fans of the Twin Peaks television series will recognize this picture of the Salish Lodge above Snoqualmie Falls. The towns of Snoqualmie and nearby North Bend were the primary shooting locations for the show, and the Salish Lodge appears in the opening credits as the fictional Great Northern Hotel. The town of Snoqualmie is only…
We’re rarely in town for the Seattle Boat Show, and have only attended one or two in the past decade. Recent events have held the in-water portion at Lake Union, but this year it was at our old home port of Bell Harbor Marina. This venue worked well for us because it’s only a 10-minute…
Whidbey Island is the 4th largest island in the contiguous United States at 169 square miles (437 km2), and the largest in Washington State. Along with Camano Island, it forms Island County at the northern boundary of Puget Sound. Whidbey has many waterfront parks, numerous interesting towns, and also is home to Naval Air Station…
Olympic National Park, at the northwest corner of Washington State, was high on our list of places to visit now that we had the extended range of a vehicle. Growing up in Victoria, Canada, James has hiked and camped there many times, but Jennifer had yet to go. In the winter, the popular hiking destination…
Dungeness Spit, on the Olympic Peninsula at the northeastern corner of Washington State, is one of the longest natural sand spits in the world at 6.8 miles (10.9 km) long. On the tip is a light station that has been in continuous operation as an aid to navigation since it was first lit in 1857,…
When we’d previously lived in Seattle, much of our spare time was spent traveling through the Puget Sound and British Columbia. This was mostly done by boat however, with relatively little exploration on land. Since returning to live in Seattle, the many local attractions had kept us busy without feeling a need to leave the…
The US Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport contains over 39,000 artifacts related to undersea weapons, submarine technology, diving and salvage artifacts, and undersea vehicle technology. In addition to extensive indoor displays, the museum’s several large outdoor exhibits include the sail of the USS Sturgeon, the lead ship in the Sturgeon-class of 37 fast-attack submarines used…
Snoqualmie Pass carries Interstate 90 throught the Cascade Mountains between Seattle and Spokane. At 3,015 feet (919 m), it is the lowest of Washington State’s three major year-round east-west mountain passes, but the closest to Seattle at a mere 52 miles (80 km) to the east. This makes the Summit at Snoqualmie resort an easy…
Our most recent tender to Dirona was an AB 12VST capable of about 32 kts (37 mph, 60 kph) and a range nearing 50 nautical miles. Our new ‘tender to condo’ is a Honda Passport Elite that is even better across most dimensions. We’d so far not needed a car since returning to Seattle, as…
Northgate Mall, opened in 1950, was one of the first modern shopping malls built in the US following World War II. The mall is currently going through its second major renovation, this time evolving into a mixed-use facility that includes the training center for the Seattle Kraken NHL team. Not much was open in the…
As fall ended in Seattle, we continued to take advantage of our downtown home, attending sporting events and enjoying restaurant meals. And the purchase of a patio heater allowed us to also keep spending time outside on our balconies, despite the weather. We also had our first traditional Thanksgiving dinner since leaving the US in…
The Washington State Ferry fleet is the largest in the United States with 21 vessels that annually carry over 23 million passengers. The ferry system also is the second largest in the world for vehicles, transporting an annual average of 10.3 million as part of the state highway network. Ten routes operate out of 20…
The WildLanterns winter light display at Woodlands Park Zoo just north of Seattle is simply amazing. We’d seen several pictures and were expecting an entertaining show, but the experience far exceeded that in scale, quality and interest. The show is spread throughout the zoo’s 70 developed acres (28 hectares) and visitors take in the exhibits…