Visiting other states makes me wonder what the hell I am doing here.
We visited a number of national parks in the area, Cascades, Olympic, Mount Ranier, and Crater Lake. We also visited the cities of Seattle and Portland. Pictures are below. Here are some interesting notes.
VRBO Ghost.
OMG. We had 3 couples, 4 bedrooms VRBO house. Every single one of us experienced a double KNOCK KNOCK on our bedroom door and nobody was there. On the last day I was in the kitchen and my door slammed hard enough for people to come out of their rooms wondering who the hell slammed the door! That was very strange!!! When the knock happened to me I said “Come in!” then immediately realized what was happening. There was no one there. Yeow!
Seattle Underground Tour
We went on this tour 30 years ago and it is still great! Interesting history of Seattle. If you are in the area take 90 minutes to learn about Seattle and why there is an underground. It is a very interesting tour and very affordable.
Seattle Needle
Of course we made the trip up the Needle. It was a clear day and we had some beautiful views! We were told the chowder at Ivar’s was the absolute best in the world. They were right! A bit expensive but the chowder was really good!
Whale Watching
We booked a whale watching tour and saw a couple of Orcas. The boat ride was just beautiful. Sunny day. Cool. Just perfect. We took a ferry to Bainbridge. That was interesting because there were two military ships being paraded through the area by tugboats spouting water. The sailors were all lined up on the ships.
Portland
My main reason to go to Portland was to visit my good friends son who manages a comedy show venue. My friend and I have known each other for over 50 years. We surprised the hell out of him and watched a real good comedy show. The venue hosts some top entertainers including James Austin Johnson who plays trump on SNL. If in Portland go see a show and ask for James! Portland Helium Comedy Club.
Status of the Parks
The only thing I can say I noticed was the maintenance of the bathrooms. Many were not working. Many were not clean to the point people walked into the woods instead of using the facilities. Other than that I didn’t see any impact to the cuts in funding.
And here are some of my best pics:
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This Spring my family and I visited Eugene, Oregon and went to the coast (Florence) for a day, it is spectacular! One thing that is always startling when I go to the Cascades and the Pacific Coast area is the size of the trees – they are huge. On the ocean there it was very windy and cold so you have to be ready for it.