BigWeather's Blog

We ended up getting up, eating, and out around 10 or 10:30 am and headed south into Portland, Oregon via an impressive steel girder bridge.  At first traffic on I-5 wasn’t so bad but eventually it ground to a halt just as we turned on to I-405 as it turned out that I-5 was closed from that point on and detoured everyone else onto I-405 as well.

We exited on route 26 intending to go to Washington Park and the International Test Rose Garden.  This actually went well until I accidentally led us out of the park and, in an almost comical string of bad navigation decisions, on all of the roads on the ridge housing the park.  Did see a Viper, though, so it wasn’t a total loss.  Finally got back into the park from the north, right where the rose garden is, and found a parking spot.

What a beautiful place the rose garden was!  Even the restrooms were nifty.  We bought a couple of magnets and proceeded to walk around the grounds.  The weather was perfect — partly cloudy, breezy, and in the upper-60s to low-70s.  Perfect.  We admired bed after bed of roses as well as the statues and fountains scattered about.

The garden is on multiple terraces spilling down the ridge to the west of Portland (“Rose City”, appropriately enough), affording wonderful views of the city as well as Mount Hood beyond.  There were different areas, an area dedicated to queens of some rose event they had, an area listing all of the “Royal Rosarians” that serve as official greeters to Portland and apparently dress in all white with a hat, and a Shakespeare Garden, though I had no idea what it had to do with The Bard.  There were several groups having couples pictures taken throughout the garden, including some in traditional cultural garb.  One lady was clutching a handful of roses — not sure that is allowed…

We managed to see them all, or at least I think we did, over the course of an hour or hour and a half.  Michelle liked the orange and yellow ones, I favored purple as did Genetta, and Addison was excitedly talking about how we needed a rose garden at home and wanting to draw plans for it.

Left the rose garden and tried to find route 30 to Astoria.  We ended up confused in Portland’s Alphabet District where the streets proceed alphabetically.  We passed Flanders without me realizing anything, but then Lovejoy passed and I remembered — the guy who created the Simpsons, Matt Groening, used the street names for some of his characters on the show.  So by the time we passed Quimby I was ready and snapped a pic.

So it was a happy accident that we were lost and fumbling about trying to get to route 30 as I had totally forgotten about the Simpsons’ ties to Portland.  Portland is a neat city but the roads are a bit confusing, lots of one ways and such and the area near the ridge just complicates things.

We finally got on to route 30 and hugged the south bank of the Columbia River roughly to Astoria, a bit over an hour away.  We tried to go to a couple of restaurants only to find them closed down — seems the economy has hit pretty hard here as well, likely.  We ended up at a Burgerville in Saint Helens.  Wasn’t bad for fast food and they had a decent mocha shake so that was awesome.  Along the drive I could swear we saw Mount Saint Helen, Mount Adams, and Mount Hood (though faint).

Once in Astoria we quickly checked into our hotel (which was trivial to find — right under the huge Astoria-Megler Bridge) and immediately headed out across the bridge and back into Washington state.  We headed to Cape Disappointment’s Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.  Unfortunately the day pass dispenser was busted so we just ran in, found out that they couldn’t sell day passes there and it wasn’t worth checking out the center as it closed in fifteen minutes.  So we just took some pictures of the lighthouse at Cape Disappointment and continued driving along the loop road.

We got out at Beards Hollow to enjoy the view.  Turns out that a large mass of rock with trees on it, standing above the other trees below, used to be a rock in the ocean, with the water coming in a good one-quarter mile beyond it!  The whole hollow silted up as a result of the jetties that protect the Columbia shipping channel being installed.

Returned back over the bridge (which was sadly under construction, making it not look quite as impressive) and into Astoria, this time going up the central ridge in town (a very steep grade, good practice for San Francisco next week I guess) to the Astoria Column.  The column was built in 1926 and had many of the cities major events depicted on it.  The 125 foot tower (a tiring journey up a 164-step spiral staircase within) offered a wonderful, if a bit chilly due to the breeze, 360 degree view of Astoria’s surroundings: the Columbia River with Cape Disappointment and Washington to the north, down the river to the east, Youngs Bay and Saddle Mountain to the south, and the Oregon beaches, including Fort Clatsop (where Lewis & Clark wintered), to the west.  The column was partially financed by Vincent Astor, great-grandson of John Jacob Astor, who funded the Astor Expedition of 1810 – 1812 that founded Fort Astoria (and hence, the town) in 1811.

There were some kids throwing super bouncy balls off the top, their initial bounces went at least 20 to 30 feet high.  Not sure it was the smartest thing in the world for them to be doing but the parents didn’t seem to mind (and we actually watched the father climb and descend that tower three times retrieving and delivering balls — that’s dedication.

Michelle and Genetta (who was not feeling well) didn’t make the trip up the tower, but Addison did join me which was awesome.  Having our fill we descended then headed into town to look for food.  The first restaurant we looked at, Baked Alaska, looked really fancy and only had two non-seafood dishes so got knocked out.  Same with the Silver Salmon up on Commercial Street.

Adjacent to that, and recommended, was Urban Cafe.  It was a bit on the pricey side but very good.  I had beef stroganoff, Addison some ribs that fell off the bone instantly, Genetta a chicken sandwich, and Michelle some chipolte prawns that were a tad spicy.  Genetta had an excellent green apple pie with caramel for dessert while I took home a lemon pie with raspberry sauce.  While looking for the restaurants we managed to see some pilot boats and a historic theater.

Headed back to the hotel where I blogged while they watched the Olympics.  Again.

Woke up, grabbed breakfast from the free buffet, and spent some time updating yesterday’s blog with pictures (so, if you haven’t seen them yet, do so!).  We headed out about 10:30 or so, down I-5 towards Castle Rock.  In Castle Rock we grabbed some Subway to eat later (as it was only 11 o’clock) as the choice of restaurants on the road to Mount Saint Helens is nigh non-existent.  The family almost forgot my sub and it was only the heroic efforts of the Subway staff that got it into my eager hands.

We headed east on route 504 about five miles before arriving at the Mount Saint Helens visitor center.  We watched a fascinating fifteen minute or so movie about the eruption on May 18, 1980 as well as the aftermath.  As this post progresses more and more details will be given, and I point anybody to Wikipedia for all the nitty gritty.  Basically, though, in the two months prior to the eruption frequent earthquakes (numbering 10,000 before the eruption) occurred and a bulge on the north side of the mountain formed, growing by as much as five feet a day.  On the day of the eruption a 5.1 magnitude quake occurred just below the bulge, leading the entire north face of the mountain to collapse into the river valley below in the largest landslide in recorded history.  The magma that had been building that bulge, now relieved of all of the rock keeping it from exploding, shot out laterally in a very violent explosion that soon overtook the landslide at 300+ miles per hour and well over 300F.  Later in the day the eruption finished with a more traditional vertical eruption that also sent out a series of pyroclastic flows that covered the peak.  The peak went from being the sixth highest point in Washington at about 9600 feet to the eighty-seventh, having lost just over 1300 feet.  Remarkably just 57 people perished, largely due to the efforts of the USGS to convince local authorities to close the mountain and keep it closed despite public pressure to re-open it.

Also in the visitor center were descriptions of volcanoes on other bodies in our solar system.  Turns out Venus has the most, and Mars’ are massive as its crust does not move so, unlike Earth’s geologically short-lived ones, volcanoes can grow massive as they sit over the hotspot forever.  A nice timeline of the eruption period and its aftermath, including the eruptions in 1982 and the 2004 – 2008 period of activity, was also there, complete with contemporary newspapers.  Not only was Mount Saint Helens prominently featured but so was the Iran hostage crisis and that Bank of America and other banks had raised the prime interest rate to twenty percent!  Now, our economy isn’t doing great, but at least we haven’t seen that (yet).  I remember that period, and the strain that put on the finances of my parents.  Twenty percent!

Also shown was that Mount Saint Helens’ ash discharge was actually pretty tiny compared to other historical volcanoes — including Mount Mazama, the very volcano that formed Crater Lake (which we’ll be visiting next week) 4,500 years ago.  Mount Saint Helens’ impact was more immediate due to the unusual lateral eruption and the preceding landslide.

We headed back to the car (after seeing a two foot snake slithering across the entrance to the center) and ate our Subway, then continued along route 504 towards Johnston Observatory.  Along the way we stopped at several viewpoints and enjoyed amazing views of the mountain as well as the Toutle River valley.  Even now the Toutle River is one of the most heavily sedimented rivers in the world as it drains Mount Saint Helens’ blast zone.  We also saw stands of Noble Fir that were packed together and so uniform that it looked very, very odd.

The weather was still quite overcast as it had been all morning, but bits of blue were starting to appear.  Finally (after a climb to over 3,000 feet then a descent then another rise to just over 4,000 feet) arrived at the Johnston Observatory about five miles north of the volcano.  It was named after David A. Johnston, a geologist who died at his post on the ridge and had been instrumental in convincing that the area be closed and remain closed.  He saved countless lives (in the thousands) as a result.  In addition the fact that it occurred early on a Sunday saved many lives as well — loggers only got Sunday off so 300 of them were at home rather than working.  Property owner pressure had led to a convoy of fifty cars to enter the area the day before and another was scheduled for 10 o’clock on Sunday but the explosion happened before that rather than catching a couple of hundred property owners off guard.

At the observatory we watched two movies, on with a biological focus (kinda boring) and one with a geological focus (boom!  yay!).  At the end of each the screen lifted up and then the curtain behind it, revealing a full glass wall with the volcano’s crater looming across the entire expanse.  Very, very cool.

Checked out the exhibits a bit, learning that Johnston’s last words were “Vancouver!  Vancouver!  This is it!” (Vancouver being the location of the USGS office) and that the tremendous speeds of the landslide and blast (well over 300 mph).  We stepped out onto the patio and, while taking some pictures, got sucked into a fantastic presentation by a ranger.

He described the blast in great detail, including information such as an area the size of Chicago was leveled in three minutes.  The blast knocked down tons of trees (and you can tell how the blast traveled as the trees point to the direction of the blast) and then the arrival of the landslide scoured the blasted areas to bedrock and carried the trees downstream or into the lakes.  Even today you can see the extents of the landslide as there are trees down all over the tops of the ridges but then they aren’t found at the bottom where the slide scoured the earth.  Trees and debris hit Spirit Lake, causing the waves that shot water up to 800 feet along the lake’s sides, dragging down a load of logs into the lake.  As a result the lake grew tremendously in size (as it was dammed) and dams along Coldwater and Castle Creeks led to two new lakes (that still exist today).

Mud and debris flowed down the rivers flowing out of the area, sweeping away over three hundred homes and many bridges.  The Columbia river went from a channel depth of 40 feet to just over 16 feet.  Immediately in the landslide area there was between 150 and 600 feet of debris on top of the original land as well as large clumps of the mountain called hummocks.  Later in the day of the eruption pyroclastic flows sterilized the upper reaches of the mountain (still, to this day).  Mudflows as a result of an eruption in 1982 helped dig up to 200 foot deep chasms in the landslide debris through which rivers run even today.

Even with all of this destruction, however, there was life.  Along the north face of Johnston Ridge some trees that were buried under a snow bank survived.  Some burrowing animals survived and in the process of their re-building dragged seeds to the service where they could take hold.  Plants started to grow and elks helped greatly by entering the park and pooping, their poop containing and fertilizing many seeds.

Finally the guide told us the fascinating tale of a salamander that had juveniles that survived as they still had their gills and lived while the adults that had gotten lungs and had to go to the surface had died.  Even after the eruption many of the salamanders would hit adulthood only to die when they surfaced from the lake they inhabited but had no shelter from predators, among other things.  What happened was remarkable — prior to the eruption there was a small (< 10%) percentage of the population that would not ever grow lungs (aka, become adults) but were able to reproduce.  They had an inherent advantage because they didn’t have to leave the underwater realm.  After the volcano they continued to thrive and reproduce, such that over 90% of the population of these salamanders never grow up but can still reproduce.  Nature is amazing.

The talk finished we headed up a small walkway with wonderful views.  The clouds were really starting to retreat though the crater never became cloud-free.  We returned to our car and went back to I-5 via route 504 and drove to Vancouver, WA about forty minutes away.  Along the way we paralleled the Columbia River a bit which was cool — my first sighting of Oregon!

In Vancouver we checked in to our hotel and went to the Outback in the local mall.  It was decent Outback food, something Addison had been really wanting since the trip began.  Oddly the Outback was actually part of the mall (something we’d never seen) and was about 25% more than back in North Carolina.  And no sweet tea, of course!  Grrrrr!

After Outback we went into the mall and saw some really cute kitties in a pet store (I had no idea that those type of stores were still around).  Went to a place called Tilt that claimed to have arcade and pinball games but instead was really, really lame — other than skeetball it was just claw games, DDR type stuff, racing cabinets, the like.  Ugh.  Finished up by getting a little icecream from Baskin & Robbin’s 31.

Returned to the hotel and went swimming / hot tubbing with Addison while Michelle and Genetta watched the opening ceremonies.  Returned back to the room and started blogging.

We woke up a bit early to get a nice start on the packed day seeing Olympic National Park.  Tossed open the curtains and… fog.  Lots and lots of fog.  So we took our time eating breakfast, packing up, and I spent some time picking out and adding pictures to the prior day’s blog about Mount Rainier National Park.

Headed out a bit after breakfast and visited the Hurricane Ridge visitor center in Port Angeles.  Not a whole lot there, really, other than a cool stuffed Roosevelt Elk.  And, of course, our customary magnet.  The trip up to Hurricane Ridge was eighteen miles or so and had its steep moments as well as a fair number of curves and switchbacks.  Along the way a few good views back at the Strait of Juan de Fuca as well as up at the snow-capped Olympic mountains were to be had, as well as a small falls.  We passed quite a few bikers making the ascent too.  Considering it is just over 5,000 feet I’m amazed they can do it.  More power to ’em!

Shortly after entering the sub-alpine layer where far fewer trees (and shorter ones, at that) were found we reached the end of the road at the Hurricane Ridge visitor center.  WOW, what a view.  Basically an unbroken line of the highest of the Olympic peaks (ranging from 7,000 to 8,000 feet) to the south, covered in snow and even a few glaciers.  In between the ridge and the peaks were stands of evergreens surrounded by gorgeous wildflower meadows as well as a few heavily wooded ridges.

In the meadows we saw several deer, including one nestled in the grass that appeared to be sleeping.  A chipmunk also approached a group unbeknownst to them and caused a bit of alarm when they realized what was climbing on their shoe!

We took a short walk on the other side of the ridge, the side facing north.  Not only did we see many beautiful wildflowers but also had a spectacular view of the Strait as well as across to Vancouver Island, British Columbia and even could (barely) see Glacier Peak many, many miles away.  In addition we could see the fog bank still clinging to the coast of the peninsula.  While taking a detour on another trail (because the one we had intended to take still had a major snowbank blocking it) Addison spied a deer in the woods not more than five or six feet away, almost perfectly blending in.

I was blown away by Hurricane Ridge.  It was quite different from Mount Rainier’s Paradise vantage point in that the snow-capped mountains were separated from the ridge by a sizable valley rather than being directly on the flank.  It, more than anything I’ve seen to date, reminded me of Switzerland.  The weather was wonderful too, low 60s and a slight breeze, sunny with just a few clouds (which are actually welcomed — they make photography much easier).

We stopped by the visitor center and let the kids buy one thing each before reluctantly heading back down to Port Angeles.  Along the way we stopped at two vantage points.  One pointed out that some of the mountains were actually volcanic in nature despite there being no volcanoes on the peninsula.  They were actually much older and formed on the sea floor and were later pushed up and mingled with the rest of the Olympic mountains.

The other was a great vantage point overlooking the Strait and explained that the northeast part of the peninsula was actually in a rain shadow and only received 20 inches of rain a year (far less than even Raleigh, North Carolina receives).  Meanwhile just forty miles west the western slopes of the Olympic mountains get upwards of 180 inches!  This explained why Sequim was celebrating “Irrigation Days” as they depend on irrigation.  The fog bank that had afflicted Sequim was also visible just a tiny bit offshore.

Once back in Port Angeles we looked for something to eat as it was 2 o’clock already.  We decided it needed to be something fast food-ish so that we could eat in the car as the late start was costing us dear.  After a false start exiting the town we returned and picked up some McDonalds.  Finally fed we headed out towards the west on route 101.  We passed a few signs protesting any expansion of federal land as “working woods = working families.”

Route 101 led directly past Crescent Lake, a beautiful lake in the northern part of the park.  Quite long, it was remarkable for the very clear blue water, water that appeared even turquoise in the shallows.  I got a few pictures but they don’t do it justice.

Just before the town of Forks we peeled off on 110 towards Rialto Beach near La Push.  We saw an odd sign at the entrance to the Indian Reservation stating that there were no Vampires there.  That was a real head-scratcher for a bit…

La Push and Rialto beach lies at the discharge point of three rivers that flow from the Olympic mountains.  These rivers bring massive amounts of tree debris downstream and deposit them on the beach.  I’ve never seen so much driftwood.  I know my parents (particularly Dad) would be in heaven.  The driftwood littered the beach.  The beach was also remarkable for having lots and lots of smooth pebbles, many of which beachgoers had stacked into little cairns on top of the driftwood.

But that’s not all!  Just off the beach were a number of tree-topped sea stacks.  With the fog clinging to the surrounding hills (in fact, the temperature at the beach was 55 — contrast that with the 75 we had inland with no fog nor sea breeze), the angry gray sea, and the silhouettes of the sea stacks it was quite an ominous — and exciting — landscape.

Addison spent some time looking for sharks’ teeth to no avail.  I took lots and lots of photos.  Genetta and Michelle walked a bit then sat on a large piece of driftwood and watched us.  As it was getting late (now past 4 o’clock) we decided to head back to the car.  Along the way I read about tsunamis and got a picture of their amusing (to me) tsunami escape iconography.

Headed back to route 101 and passed through the small town of Forks.  Again, stores and signs everywhere referencing Vampires and Twilight, even “Twilight Firewood” haha.  Turns out that Forks is the main setting in the Twilight series of books (though not filmed there).  Continuing on we turned onto the Upper Hoh River Road.

The road roughly followed the very pretty Hoh river, a river bluish-white with runoff from the mountains.  There were also scads of really tall trees, some with immense trunks, and all moss covered.  This part of the peninsula received two hundred or so inches or so a year and as a result was one of the few temperate rain forests in the world.

The visitor center was closed, unfortunately, but we were able to hike the Hall of Mosses trail, a pretty easy mile-long or so with light elevation changes.  It first crossed a pretty stagnant creek then rose in elevation a bit and passed out of the immediate Hoh River floodplain and into woods that had not been touched in thousands of years.  There was a stand of maples that dripped with moss, many ferns, and amazingly thick and tall fir trees, some nearly 300 feet tall.  The only downside was that we were wearing shorts and there were so many mosquitoes I thought I was in Louisiana.  It was difficult to take pictures as within seconds my legs were covered with them.  We also had a slight moment of panic when we thought we had walked a bit too far and must’ve wandered on to another set of trails (some of which go nearly twenty miles!).  Luckily about then we emerged back at the start of the loop.

At the visitor center there was also a no longer used phone booth with moss on top.  I just had to take a picture.  The only thing that would make it better if there were a bright red and blue garden gnome standing in it.  I bet it’d make a swell house for them!

Now nearly 7 o’clock with a fair bit of driving ahead we made a beeline for our hotel near Centralia.  Route 101 paralleled the shore a bit allowing for some nice views.  We stopped for dinner in Aberdeen at a Mexican restaurant called Mazatlan around 9 o’clock.  It was decent, but a bit different (more chile-based) than our normal haunts.  Finally just before 11 o’clock we arrived at our hotel and the rest of the family went to bed as I started working on the blog.

Woke up fairly early, checked out of our hotel, and headed towards Mount Rainier National Park.  Snagged a quick breakfast from McDonalds along the way then took route 410 along the northern then eastern border of the park.  There were many beautiful views of Mount Rainier along the way as well as just very pretty rugged terrain blanketed in evergreens.  I really like the trees here and will definitely miss them when we get back home.

Along 410 we stopped at several vantage points.  The river that ran alongside some of the route was chalky white and named, appropriately enough, White River.  It turned out that was due to the finely ground pieces of rock from the glaciers (twenty six of them!) atop Mount Rainier.  We also saw beautiful Skookum Falls emptying from the cliff above into the river.

Next we took route 123 briefly before entering the park officially right after turning onto Stevens Canyon Road.  Here the forest was much older (being protected as part of the park) and the road quickly became steeper with switchbacks as we ascended the southeast flank of Mount Rainier.  We were treated to beautiful views of the peaks of the Tatoosh range, a range just south of Rainier running at about 6,000 to 7,000 feet and containing Unicorn Peak, Pinnacle Peak, and The Castle, among others.  The peaks were very jagged and didn’t have a lot of snow left.

After several more stops, including a visit to a remarkably clean port-o-potty and the beautiful Reflection Lakes (which weren’t too keen on reflecting that day, but did have some ice still), we finally arrived at Paradise, the closest that we can get to Mount Rainier via driving.  There was a new visitor center (opened in 2008), a guide building for climbing information, a ranger post (now closed to visitors), and the Paradise Inn, a lodge built in 1916 (without using a single nail, if they are to be believed!).

We first headed to the lodge to get some lunch.  The interior was a lot simpler than the lodge in Yellowstone that we saw back in 2010.  The food was good, if a bit expensive — Michelle and Addison had burgers, Genetta a chicken sandwich, and myself some macaroni and cheese which had an awesome additional wedge of very flavorful cheese in it.  Michelle and Genetta had some kind of chocolate mousse-like cake and I had blackberry pie a la mode to top it off.  Very yummy.  We learned too that the staff all stayed on site, which makes sense given the distances involved.  Michelle found a nice magnet in their gift shop.

The visitor center was nice and contained some exhibits on the second floor.  We learned that the Tatoosh range was actually much older than Mount Rainier and that, on average, Paradise receives just over 700″ of snow a year, with a record 1122″ (almost one hundred feet!) being dumped on them in the winter of 1972.  The visitor center occupied the site of an older building that was demolished in the 1950s for more parking.  Before building the new center the park service performed some archaeology on the old ruins and also clearly marked where the old building stood.

After talking with the ranger we decided to tackle the very short (one mile round-trip) hike to Myrtle Falls.  Along the way were spectacular views of Mount Rainier (now with clouds starting to form along its face) as well as many wildflower fields and small stands of squat, thick evergreens.  Snowfields still dotted the slopes even at Paradise’s altitude (about 5,500 feet) and we’d occasionally have to be careful walking on them.  Once we got to the falls Addison and I went down a short but steep path to the viewpoint that perfectly framed the falls with Mount Rainier in the background.  Amazing!

On the way back Genetta and I took pictures of each other in front of the summit as well as of wildflowers and other things.  A couple of rockfalls below Pinnacle Peak (of the Tatoosh Range) looked like ghosts and she couldn’t resist taking pictures.

Also in front of the visitor center was a roped off area that preserved some of the wildflowers.  We learned about the glacier lily, a flower that sprouts under several feet of snow and uses starch to generate heat and melt the snow above so that it can emerge.  Nature never ceases to amaze.

As it was getting quite late we headed out past Longmire and onto route 7 exiting the park.  We stopped along the way at a Verizon store to get a car charger for our phone as our old one got lost prior to the trip.  Near Tacoma we got on interstate 5 then route 16 and went over the Tacoma Narrows bridge, famous for its 1940 incarnation collapsing when the winds caused a harmonic wave effect or some such (do I look like a physicist?!).  Amazingly no people died, though a brown cocker spaniel named Tubby did.  A rescue was attempted but the dog in its panic bit a would-be rescuer and made rescue impossible.  The driver was compensated for his car (which was never recovered) as well as the contents of the car including Tubby.  It would be ten years before the bridge was replaced due to World War II.

The countryside along 16 up through Bremerton and the Kitsap peninsula was quite pretty.  We snaked around several inlets and even saw a number of very large navy ships (some even looked like light carriers) in a navy yard.  We crossed over a draw bridge and onto the Olympic peninsula where the terrain was even more rugged.  This honestly surprised me as I imagined the peaks, despite their 8,000 foot height, would be much more eroded.  Also of interest were Elk Crossing signs and a reminder sign that the area required headlights always be used, at every hour.

Update: A reader pointed out that those were not light carriers but full carriers that are often brought to the yard to be stripped on retirement.  They then are not sold for scrap but often instead used as target practice at sea and sunk.

After passing through Discovery Bay we made it to our home for the night, the Holiday Inn Express in Sequim.  We walked to the adjacent Black Bear Cafe and had a pretty decent meal before heading back and turning in.  Exhausted from the previous night and the day’s travel sorting through hundreds of photos proved very, very daunting.  Particularly since it is almost impossible (almost being the key word, I succeeded a few times) to take a bad picture of Mount Rainier.

Woke up early for our day in Seattle and got greeted by an amazing sight out of our window: Mount Rainier.  It was “out” today (as opposed to when it is clouded in) and just spectacular, floating above the horizon in an almost otherworldly way.  Easily one of the most mesmerizing things I’ve ever seen.  Looks like we caught a major break with Seattle having a sunny day — the week before was all rain and clouds.

The picture doesn’t come close to doing it justice.  Mount Rainier is a 14,411 foot mountain about fifty miles from Seattle.  It has twenty six glaciers on its slopes and is considered to be one of the ten most dangerous volcanoes in the world due to the tremendous impact it would have on the surrounding communities should it erupt and the glaciers help create a tremendous lahar down the nearby Puyallup River valley.

After a buffet breakfast at the hotel we learned that we could get into Seattle by taking their light rail system, the southernmost stop of which happened to be across the street and accessible by a sky way.  What luck, as we had not really wanted to drive around Seattle.  The train was quite fast, keeping pace with cars on the adjacent (in parts) interstate.  We also got to see a number of interesting communities along the way with many murals adorning buildings and such.  We passed Safeco Field (used by the MLB Mariners) and the Seahawks’ (of the NFL) stadium.  Closer to downtown the light rail when into a tunnel that it shared with the cities many buses.  I had never seen that, quite ingenuous!

We rode the light rail all the way to the end, emerging below a mall area called Westlake Center or some such.  After a short walk down a mild hill, then up again, then down a steep hill we came upon the Pike Street Public Market.  The Public Market is an interesting place.  Part farmer and fisherman market, part mall with small shops, and home to some seafood restaurants (Lowell’s, Athenian) with incredible views of Puget Sound.

The market is also known for its fish vendors tossing fish around.  We saw a few doing it, but it certainly wasn’t ubiquitous.  Maybe had something to do with it being late morning on a Tuesday, but I was a little disappointed.

Lower down in the market was a store that sold many comics, RPGs, and collectibles.  Mostly recent stuff that can be found anywhere but they also had a display case with old Star Wars figures which was impressive — I remembered a few of the toys.  They also had a cute magnet of a stick person with arms raised in what appeared to be water in the form of squiggly lines.  The caption was “Yay! Bacon!” (the squiggles did look like bacon, after all!)  Michelle talked me out of it, though.  Also got a glimpse of some unopened Magic: The Gathering boosters they had.  Their Dark booster was $20, Antiquities $100, and Unlimited $500!  Fallen Empires was $3.95 though, haha.

Spying a Starbucks and thinking it was the site of the first one, and Genetta craving a bit of coffee, we learned that the original Starbucks was further down the street a block or two away, right across from the market.

We returned to the market and ate at the Athenian restaurant.  A scene from Sleepless in Seattle was filmed there and I amused myself greatly explaining to the kids that Meg Ryan must’ve divorced Billy Crystal after their fling and Tom Hanks had dumped mermaid Daryl Hannah.  They didn’t understand a word of it.  Man, I’m feeling old.  The food itself was excellent — I had the reuben, Michelle some prawns and chips, Genetta a huge bowl of tomato bisque, and Addison a very large bacon double cheeseburger.  Even better was that every table was a window view on to beautiful Puget Sound and the dock area (including a Ferris wheel).

We continued on through the market, tempted by things but standing firm (as anything we buy we have to figure out how to cart around).  Along the way we caught a glimpse of the first Starbucks across the street from the market.  It was preserved as it appeared upon opening in 1971 as it is part of a preserved historic district.  As it was packed we decided that seeing it was enough.

Nearby stood a small park with a large totem pole in it.  Despite being small it was packed with people enjoying the sun and the amazing views of the Sound.  We walked back up the very steep hill and back to the shopping center that housed the light rail station.  This time, however, we hopped on board a monorail via a station in the food court on the top floor.  The monorail took us to Seattle Center, a 74 acre area containing museums, parks, and the Space Needle that was created for the 1962 World’s Fair.  The monorail and Space Needle were both created for the fair, and both celebrating 50 years.  Elvis had even ridden the monorail!

The Space Needle was only a very short distance away.  We purchased tickets and stood in a very long line.  The line moved fast and, other than a person behind us that kept disrespecting Michelle’s personal space, the wait was uneventful.  Along the line’s route there were signs giving out facts about the Space Needle, including that Supernatural’s own Jensen Ackles likely visited during filming of “Dark Angel”, something that made Michelle happy!

The line over, we were assigned to one of the Space Needle’s three glass elevators that would take us up to the observation deck (both indoor and out) at 520′.  The guide informed us that when it was built in 1962 the Space Needle was the tallest building west of the Mississippi.  Now it is only the seventh tallest building in Seattle.  As he quipped, “Progress.”

The view from the top was magnificent.  Not only of downtown and Mount Rainer to the south but (going clockwise) also Puget Sound with the Olympic Mountains behind it, the northern suburbs of Seattle including Lake Union, and further east a glimpse of Lake Washington and the Cascades beyond.  We also occasionally saw seaplanes angling in and landing on the surface of Lake Union.  Very cool.

After a brief stop in the gift shop where Michelle found a really cool magnet celebrating the Space Needle’s 50th anniversary we headed on.  We elected not to see the rest of the sights in Seattle Center which includes EMP (the Experience Music Project), a cool glass sculpture museum and garden (Chihuly Garden and Glass, thanks mom for pointing that out), and the Pacific Science Center (which was hosting the traveling exhibition of King Tut’s artifacts — though Michelle and I had already seen them in 1994 on our honeymoon in Cairo).

We had decided to pass on them so that we could make it down to Pioneer Square and the Seattle Underground tour.  Jumping back onto the monorail and then the light rail we made it to Pioneer Square (the oldest part of Seattle) with time to spare for the 5 o’clock tour.  We had feared that it would be the last tour of the day but it turns out that in the summer they added more so we were in no danger of missing.

After a brief rest highlighted by some light refreshments of Coke and Raisenettes we attended the introduction to the tour which gave an entertaining overview of the early history of Seattle.  The town was founded in 1852 by a family from Illinois, encouraged to settle by the United States offering them free land (820 acres per person) in a (successful) attempt to prevent the British from claiming that as far south as the Columbia River (between Washington and Oregon) was part of Canada.  They thought that they had found a perfect place of over one thousand acres but it turned out that the tide was out.  Once the tide fully came back in it shrank to eight acres!  As there were only a handful of settlers they made do.

It was originally known as Duwamps and the primary industry was felling the incredible stands of timber that stood all about the area.  In fact, the logs were felled and skidded down a road to the waiting lumber mill — the origins of the term “skid row.”  Doc Maynard, also one of the city founders, arrived in 1852 as well and, having planned Cleveland, Ohio, was instrumental in helping to plan Seattle.  He also realized that “Duwamps” would never be a catching name and used the name of a friend, Chief Seattle, as the new name of the town.  Doc Maynard had intended to head to California but instead ended up in Seattle as he fell in love with a woman he treated for cholera (he was sadly — and perhaps conveniently — unable to save her husband) who decided to go north to her brother’s in Olympia rather than to California.

Sadly for the town, however, it seems that nobody was great at sanitation issues.  Originally there were just privies on the high ground that would spill their contents downhill and to the tidal flats.  With the invention of the toilet (by, funnily enough, Thomas A. Crapper) sewer pipes were introduced to Seattle — though they were just six inch hollowed logs that were not buried but rather elevated and at a very steep angle to discharge into Puget Sound.  The tide would carry the waste down to rival city Tacoma, but the return tide would just bring it back — “Tacoma’s Revenge.”  The returning tide would also put pressure on the outflow end of the sewer system, leading to waste geysers sprouting from people’s toilets at certain times of day.  ICK!

The town burned to the ground in 1889 when a cabinet maker’s apprentice attempted to soften a glue block and left the flame unattended a bit.  Luckily nobody died and this afforded the perfect opportunity to solve Seattle’s terrible sanitation issue.

We went out on the street and then down some steps into cool passages below the modern sidewalks.  What the city did was build retaining walls (from just 8′ high to almost 30′ high, as they wanted to change the slope of the town from 46 percent to 18) on either side of the old streets and filled them with dirt in between, burying the sewer pipes underneath the new streets.

This left the sidewalks and buildings (as they had rebuilt before the street raising was done, as they needed to get back to business) many feet below the street, however.  The town installed ladders at every intersection so that the townsfolk could climb up a ladder, cross the street, and then climb back down.  Our guide joked that this was a one step program for quitting drinking as 17 people died while drunk, some falling from as high as thirty feet to their deaths.  Eventually, new sidewalks were built at street level, supported by I-beams between the building walls and the granite retaining walls spanned by brick arches.  The lower sidewalks were still in use, however, and most buildings had a street-level and a below street-level entrance.

To solve the issue of light skylights were installed in the upper sidewalks.  The glass was infused with manganese to prevent it from turning brown but instead sunlight would normally cause the glass to turn purple-ish in ten years.  Due to Seattle’s famous rain, however, it took 35 years!

It was neat down there.  We saw the foundations of some buildings including a bank and a dry goods store.  We learned that Seattle made a ton of money “mining the miners” during the Alaska Gold Rush of the 1890s.  Word that gold was found reached Seattle and many, including the current mayor, ran off to seek their fortunes.  Canada passed a law requiring that each miner have a ton of supplies before passing through, however, so those that stayed behind in Seattle became rich selling supplies.  Prior to the Alaska Gold Rush all of the businesses in Seattle combined made $300,000 a year.  During the gold rush that grew to $25M a year!  All the gold going through was stored in the aforementioned bank, which was robbed and a teller killed — some say his ghost roams the Underground still!

We also learned that much of early Seattle’s tax revenue came from taxing prostitution, though the tour guide used a euphemism of calling them “seamstresses” since that was often the occupation they claimed.  Eventually the Underground fell into disuse until a gentleman started tours in the 1960s and helped preserve the entire neighborhood as one of the nation’s first historic districts.

After the tour was over we headed back to the light rail and got off on the next stop, Chinatown.  There we were greeted by an incredible gate and there were sculptures of dragons on the lamp posts.  We ate at a nearby restaurant called The Red Lantern that was good — Michelle had crab rangoons, Genetta had chicken fried rice, and I had Mongolian beef while Addison just ate from each.  After dinner I had a yummy desert of vanilla ice cream on top of sponge cake and drizzled with strawberry coulis and blueberries.  Yum!

Full, we headed back to the hotel via the light rail arriving right at dusk (about 9 o’clock).  Sadly I missed some great sunset shots of Mount Rainier.  Hopefully I’ll get some good ones tomorrow when we go to Mount Rainier National Park.