(NOTE: I did enjoy myself at moments, of course, here is just one of those moments with my niece in the pool..)I returned from the extremely exhausting trip to Pitt, Pa where it was nice to see my extended family but not nice due to the reasons we were there.
The evening I returned I met Laura (cuz of FF) and we trekked out to Vashon Island, WA. One of the many cute and quaint islands off shore of Seattle we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the hostel there. It was ranch style and offered a plethora of choices for sleeping. One could choose to sleep in an old-fashioned covered wagon, a teepee, tent, or in a barn. We chose the covered wagons-- I was quite excited about those, due to all the history and all. Laura and FF felt it was extremely cold, however, I am always warmer and therefore was quite comfy myself.
At the Hostel, they decorated all the bathrooms and showers by painting the flags of all the major foreign countries... I thought it was soo cool. (this was my fave bathroom bc of the british and Australian ones!)
On Sunday the 8th we went into town on a ferry (then bus) and I couldnt help but think of Grey's Anatomy whenever I rode that ferry (for those Grey's lovers-- you know, the tri-episode of where the ferry ran into the pier and it was a massive operation for the 3rd year Seattle Grace med interns) Well... we went to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and Museum-- which was joined with the "Experience the Music" exhibit (essentially 3 floors of nothing but music, tributes to music and musicians, and hands-on fun galore!)... We enjoyed ourselves so much at this dual museum experience that it had been 5 hours before we were leaving and the only reason we did that was b.c. they were closing!! (b.c. we couldnt take pics inside, all i could get was one of the outside)
We did not partake in the Needle- which is so infamous to Seattle for it's WorldFair fame-- simply b.c. of the outrageous price to do so... but we got a snapshot so we could prove that we walked around the bottom of it!
On the 9th we drove to Mt. Rainier which is 14,410 ft. tall and the tallest in the Cascade range mountains. The Mount was nice-- we went up to Sunrise Visitor Center and went on a little nature-interpretive hike with Ranger Bev. She was 10X better than our CCCTimberline lodge ranger-- Bev actually had laminated pictures of the animals and trees she spoke of (probably b.c. she is a 5th grade teacher year round!)-- but still, we were impressed.
That evening, I was driving- naturally on a two-way mountain highway... now, just a little background in case you don't know-- I am DEATHLY afraid of these mountain roads... I have adapted quite well since I am the only name on the rental car and thus have to learn to deal with them AND the big cities... they have actually grown on me. Esp. when they have separations and GUARDRAILS!! (oh, that's my big thing... if there are guardrails, im good!)so as a result of me driving on these roads all the time now, I drive extremely cautiously and obey the speed limit [if not below it] at ALL times...
Ok, so I'm driving on this road and after turning a 30mph close corner I see this white truck that is swerving into my lane just a little! Naturally, I'm not happy OR comfortable, and I get closer to the rail, yes there's a rail... and I continue on.
About 10 seconds later, as I am looking in my rear view mirror to see if it was just a fluke with the white truck man-- I see and hear him crash head on into the guardrail!!! Naturally I was freaking out at this moment, esp as I pull over at the next gas station and there are already hordes of emergency vehicles heading out to save this white-truck-dude.
We just missed experiencing my worst fear-- being hit by a car head on, flung into a guardrail on a mountain road, and flung off...
I pray to God every morning that I set out now to watch over us like he did on the night of the 9th and Man-- was it a close one!!
We believe he was drunk, due to the swerving, and do not know what happened to him-- although they shut down the road in both directions and created a detour quite speedily.
Now that I have told you of our near death experience-- back to the mountains...
Actually-- all the mountains in the Cascade range are volcanoes and none of them have erupted in recent human history with the exception to Mt. St. Helens!! She erupted on May 18, 1980 killing 57 people and destroying @234 sq. mi. of forest!! We spent the day of the 10th driving up Mt. St. Helens and enjoying the informative interpretive centers with all the videos and hands-on experiences. We got to go all the way to the Johnston Lodge Observatory where we could see the crater which remained as a result of the 1980 eruption. She began erupting once again in '04 and has pretty much been spewing out hot ash ever since. Nothing has been as bad at the one in '80 though. What an impact.
That night we stopped at Betty's for some grub and were trying to decide where we would stay that evening. There were two really nice guys that told of us of a free camping spot near a man-made lake. There was a wake skating and wake boarding competition going on there this weekend and a lotta ppl were already there setting up. Scott (the man who provided the boats for this competition) let us follow him there and showed us where to set up our tent.. We met a lotta ToeJam competitors and watched some of the guys practicing their skills. We all sat by the fire and went swimming in the clay-bottomed man-made lake. It was quite fun for being a spur of the moment type thing.
Today we hopped on the road then on the ferry towards Victoria, BC. We made it here all in one piece to the Hostel in downtown Victoria. Tomorrow is the Titanic exhibit!! wahoo!!
No comments:
Post a Comment