The Final Curtain is Nigh

Our trip across Idaho was most uneventful. We headed south west from Spokane to a little town called Yukima. It is something of a fruit bowl for much of USA and also lay claim to growing the best hops in USA. We checked out a small hop museum which was just that. From there we headed back into the mountains, this time the Cascade Range, not as iconic or as well visited as the Rockies but still quite impressive. We had booked a chalet type accommodation in the centre of the park and from there travelled on to Sunrise which is a high altitude hiking, skiing, snow shoe walking destination in Mt Ranier National Park. It was almost snowing so we limited ourselves to some short walks and got to see most of Mt Ranier, she kept her veil on unfortunately.

Out of there and our next destination was Mt Olympic National Park. We booked 4 nights in Dungeness near Sequim with no agenda. We had a nice homely AirB&B and spent a day hiking on the Obstruction Point walk. One interesting thing with the Parks here is that they quite often have good vehicle access to high points in the park. I’m sure that obesity would be less of a problem if everyone had to walk from the park boundary. We drove high in the mountains and then walked about 15kms, much of it in smoky air as fires continue to burn, many left to themselves if no buildings are threatened. There are hundreds of fires in North West America during summer and most are started by lightning. Unlike NZ, they have dry electric storms whereas ours are usually accompanied by rain.

We also spent a day biking 30km on a rail trail between Port Angeles and Sequim. (The number of accessible large juicy blackberries next to this trail brought back family memories of picking with my Mum Kathleen around Fernside so we couldn't resist picking some. We had beautiful blackberry yoghurt desserts for a couple of nights.)

Dungeness Spit 10.5km long

Mt. Olympic is north west of Seattle and we needed to head back to Interstate 5 to go back to Canada. We took a couple of days and a couple of ferries across a little island to get there. We visited the John Wayne marina while out that way but no sign of the Duke …or his horse.

We also spent a short while clambering about Fort Worden, near Port Townsend. The Americans started building this multi gunned, bunkered, fortified complex in 1898, to protect themselves from enemy forces. They kept adding to it and eventually stopped manning it and departed about 1955. They tend to give me the impression that they believe that the Worlds populace all strive to live in the US, and become a US citizen. I’m happy to tell them that we’re hoping to get electric lights next year. The more that live here the better off we all will be. 

While on Whidbey Island, Sally, my sister, had put us in touch with 2 friends that she had travelled overland from Asia to England with back in 1978. Ted and Robin were marvellous and treated us to a night in their seaside house in Puget Sound. We drank wine and watched cruise ships sail up the Sound, blotting out the sun as they went past.

Away from there, we visited some small villages, one having a 3 day music festival (not quite Woodstock though) but both quite quaint. We experienced the Boeing Factory Tour on our way past. I was surprised to learn - 35,000 people work 3 shifts, they only make planes to prepaid request, make 54 per month of one model (767 I think) and they have 8 years of orders in front of them. Only 20% of the Worlds population have flown on a jet airplane and as third world countries develop, the demand for aircraft will grow. It was an interesting tour on a massive scale. Disneyland and its car park would fit in the factory!

So we are now at the end. We have been 9 weeks since we drove in to Jasper National Park in British Columbia and 8 weeks since we waved Meghan and Blair goodbye at the Calgary airport. We have had a fantastic time, seen loads of animals, possibly “bunches” up this way, (even managed to photograph a few) met and stayed with wonderful relatives and friends along the way and have and will keep many great memories. Despite the politics here the US has been terrific, great people, good people…I think we only discovered one who admitted voting for Trump!

We are back to Vancouver tomorrow for 12 days then we will be heading home with a few days off in Hawaii. We think we need time to recover! Might get another note away from there.