Buchart Gardens

Our Washington Trip continued:

Here are some pictures of our trip to Buchart Gardens. It was so beautiful! Enjoy the pictures!

Ferry to Vancouver Island

Washington trip continued....

The next day we got up very early to get to the ferry in Anacordes by 7:00 am. We drove for a couple of hours through beautiful pine covered hills. It was a clear cool day.

We got to the ferry dock and showed our reservations to the man at the gate. There was a long line of cars waiting for the ferry.

As we waited in our car, we saw a several dozen people walking or riding bikes onto the ferry. Many people ride the ferry every day to work.

Finally the big gates were opened and cars started to drive into the ferry. It took a while for them to all get on. Were were near the end of the line so we were one of the last cars to drive into the lower level.

They secured the big doors, and we were off! It was very cold and windy.








We got out of the car and looked out as the ferry pulled away from the dock past some gulls standing on the piles.

After a while we went through a door to an interior stairway. We were glad to get our of the wind. The ferry had a snack bar and other shops. There were booths all around the windows and rows of seats in the middle in the front.

We got some hot chocolate and watched as the ferry threaded through the many lush pine-tree-covered islands on it's way from Ancacordes to Sidney on Vancouver Island.




Some of the islands had nice homes on them, almost hidden by the trees.




There were sailboats and yachts and other ferries.





One island was different, in that it was mostly brown and barren. We were told that it was an African game reserve! We saw some gazelles.

I went outside on a balcony and was almost blown away it was so windy. Cold too!

Then I went down to the car level and walked out to the very front. It was very open and the water was close, so it was fun.

I saw people above me looking down at me, and pretty soon a few more people came down to see the view. It was really cold, so I finally went inside again.







After a couple of hours were landed at Vancouver Island.

More later!

Mount Rainier

Our Washington Vacation continued....

My favorite day of our vacation was at Mt. Rainier. Any of you who know me very well will understand why - I love mountains! I love to hike and see beautiful scenery, waterfalls, lakes, rivers, and wildflowers. I love the cool fresh air at high altitude.

As we drove up the mountain, it was really lush. Mt. Rainier get almost daily rain and was really beautiful and green. The trees met overhead and made a tree tunnel!

We stopped several times to take pictures of waterfalls. Here we are are sitting on a bridge over the middle of a waterfall. The next picture shows the waterfall under the bridge.















We got up to the top of the road and hiked a loop trail. It was so beautiful!!!






It was raining just a light misty, intermittent rain that cooled the air. We were glad for the cloud cover because most of the trail was in the open and would have been sunny and hot without the clouds and misty rain.

A lot of the mountain is covered with glaciers, and we hiked on glaciers a lot of the time. In fact, we had intended to take a longer trail, but decided on the lower one because the upper trail was so snow covered and wet and slippery from the rain - I didn't want to fall.














Every view was so gorgeous.

There were wildflowers of every color covering the ground. One time we turned a corner, and Greg just handed me the camera because he knew I would want a picture of all the flowers!

The bright pink flowers are Kings Crown. We also saw Queen's Crown. They are both a variety of paintbrush flower.




































We saw a marmot who kindly posed for our camera.

We had a wonderful day!

Seattle

Our Washington Trip continued:

After we saw the lock between Lake Washington and the ocean, we saw the Space Needle.



















We also visited Pikes Market. You can buy all kinds of produce, food, fish, and flowers plus many other things.

At a famous market, you can see the employees throwing big fish to the customers!

Here is a UTube video link of the flying fish.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1snLxJUGDqY




There were many flower shops with huge bouquets of flowers for very low prices.





















Then we walked around a really beautiful garden in the middle of the city.

































































Later we ate fish and chips, then wandered along the beach. There were lots of people playing on the narrow beach, but no one in the water. I asked Greg's uncle why, and he said the water was very, very cold - too cold for swimming. We took some pictures of the sunset.

Locks in Seattle

Continuing on about our Washington trip...

After Glen's wedding, after visiting the dam and fish ladder near Wenatchee, we said goodbye to the rest of the family and Greg and I continued on for a fun and beautiful vacation. Click to supersize these pictures. They are of BIG things, and you get a lot better feel for how it looks when you see the full sized pictures.

Here we are at the lock between a huge lake and the ocean in Seattle. The doors at the lake end of the lock are opening. They have a white railing along the top, because when they are closed they are a bridge to the other side.

The lock doors on the ocean side are closed.

When the doors are open all the way, boats enter the locke and are tied to the side.
!




























Many boats entered and were either tied to the side of the lock, or docked next to the big boats and were tied to them.

The doors on the lake side are closed now, and the water is lowering. The ropes that attach the boats to the sides have to be long and loose to allow the boats to sink as the water lowers.



.
When the water has lowered to the level of the ocean, the ocean side doors open and the boats go out. As soon as they all leave, a line of boats who were waiting on the ocean side begin to come in. The whole process takes about 30 to 40 minutes.

It was very interesting to watch!