July 6 - The American Alps

Or as they're named on the map, the Northern Cascades.  Wow, what views.  These mountains are craggy and dark, giving them almost a blue color.  And waterfalls everywhere.  First though, here's a bit of the ride on the motorcycle for you.  (Sorry for the sometimes crummy sound from the wind)

Here's one of the great views, from the Diablo Lake Overview.

 One picture just doesn't do it justice though, so here's a panorama shot from the overview.

There were waterfalls everywhere.  Whenever we rode by one, the temps dropped about 20 degrees because the water running off the snow-covered mountains is so cold.  One of the other "sensations" you get from a motorcycle ride.  The other is the intense smell from all the Douglas Firs...nothing but fresh air!

Here's a shot of Gorge Creek Falls, one of the best ones.

When we got to the highest pass on Highway 20, the views were even more unbelievable.  Here's another panorama of the view from the Washington Pass Overlook.

And we zoomed in close to one area where the snow was hanging over the edge of the mountain.

Once we arrived at a little town, if you can call a store with a gas station a town (Mazana it was called), the temperature was 90 degrees!  So time to lose the coats for the 120 mile ride back to Burlington, WA.  And a great ride it was, getting to see it all over again instead of having to look in the rear view mirror.

We'll miss our free parking spot here at the Camping World in Burlington, WA, but we're heading into Canada and Whistler on July 7. Hopefully we'll find enough places along the way with Wifi so we can keep the blog up to date.

July 4 - Mt. Rainier

What better way to spend the day riding up Washington's highest peak.  So on Monday we headed up to Mt. Rainier on the bike. It was cold but super sunny again which the natives told us was very rare this year. One couple said that it snowed there only last Thursday! By the time we got to the Paradise Visitors Center at the top, the snow was 11 feet high but the temps were in the 60s.

The nice lady that parked her Sportster next to us took our pic.

Here's a view inside the Paradise Lodge, with a dining and hotel area.  National Park lodges are always cool places.

Lots of hikers were headed up to the top, which is no less than a 10 hour trek, only to hike or ski down the next day. They looked like ants from where we stood.  Click on the picture and you can see the blue color of all the glaciers on the mountain, each with a different name.

We took a marked hike on top of 11 feet of snow on the Nisqually Vista Trail. The views were unbelievable! The water was running down rocks about everywhere.

 

All the way up and down the mountain there were waterfalls everywhere you looked.  Here's our first try at putting a video on the blog.  This waterfall is worth watching.

July 3 - Pacific Ocean

Sunday was a cloudy misty day so we opted to drive to the Pacific Ocean - literally!  There were lots of places at Long Beach (WA) and Ocean Park where you could drive onto the beach and then you can drive the entire 26 miles of it.

Once we got there, the sun came out but the temps were still cool.

Stopped along the way at Oysterville where Greg ate an oyster on the shell.  When in Oysterville, eat oysters!

July 2 - Mt. St. Helens

Saturday we left the Columbia River Gorge and headed for Mt. St. Helens.  That afternoon, we did a 52 mile ride to the Visitors Center.  Lucky for us we had a clear sky and could see forever. There were waterfalls and great viewing spots along the way.  Here's a view of the Toutle River that was filled with sediment when it erupted in 1980.

. 

At the visitors center, we watched a movie about the eruption. When it was done, the curtain opened up to a beautiful view of the mountain. It was like being at the Grand Canyon - pictures don't do it justice.

And trees and stumps everywhere.  All the trees lay facing away from the blast.

What a great day to see Mt. St. Helens!!

June 27 thru July 1

OK, we finally got internet, so need to do some catching up. We have traveled some pretty unique country since we left ND. They have a lot of flooding going on there. I-94 was better suited for boats than cars in a couple of places.





























Also made a quick stop at the Painted Canyon at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. It would be great to spend more time, but we've got places to be!














Montana is huge and full of cattle - and of course some big beautiful mountains!















Washington started out hilly and then turned into what looked like desert on the southeast side. It was crazy windy when we drove through, unfortunate for us as it was a headwind, but fortunate for the famous Columbia River windsurfers. This area is considered the best sail boarding area around.














By the time we got to the Columbia River Gorge area, the hills and mountains were back! Here's the view from Vista House at Crown Point.







We've stayed the last two nights in a State Park on the river. Yesterday we traveled to some beautiful water falls. The most famous of them all is Multnomah Falls.



There are about 7 waterfalls along the Historic Columbia River Drive. Here's one of the others, Latourell Falls. Some nice folks offered to take our pic.


Today we rode the motorcycle on a scenic route around Mt. Hood. Perfect Day for it!


We took the ski lift a mile up and the view was awesome. Not a cloud in the ski. We didn't know that they ski this mountain year round and it's the only one where they do in the lower 48 states!




We rode the "Magic Mile" chair lift from the Timberline Lodge at 6,000 feet, to 7000 feet. The views were great. Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sisters are in this pic.


One the way back, we took a road up to Mt. Larch. The path we took to look out had lots of snow on it, but it also had Trilliums growing right next to it! From there we could see 5 mountains with lots of snow on them, Hood, Rainier, St. Helens, Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Adams. This is another picture of Mt. Hood, with some cool clouds around it.


Headed north on July 2 for a bike trip to Mt. St. Helens and maybe Mt. Rainier if the weather holds out.

Finally On Our Way

The first day went smooth.  After a quick stop in Mt. Pleasant, we headed north and over the bridge.  20 mph for RVs due to high winds, but it wasn't too bad.

We stopped for dinner at our favorite rest stop along US 2.  A very nice stop with great views of Lake Michigan.

We were hoping to make it to the western UP, but decided the Munising Tourist Park Campground would make a good first stop.  We got set up in time to see the sunset too!

Tomorrow it's on through Duluth and hopefully North Dakota, where we know folks are dealing with some rough flooding conditions.

A little over a week to go, so time for a plan.  This is the general route we plan to follow, with lots of side trips and stops along the way in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and the Yukon, then Edmonton, Banff, and Glacier on the return trip.  Think it can all be done in 2 1/2 months?