After hiking along the Kauai coastline on Sunday, we were ready on Monday to visit two of Kauai’s state parks, Waimea Canyon and Kokee State Park. I had done some research on the parks, but apparently failed to understand what I had read. When my daughter pulled out of the parking lot, I was sure she was going in the wrong direction. Of course I was wrong. It’s a good thing she was driving. I also thought the two parks…
Continue Reading “Kauai’s Foggy Mountain High to Waimea Canyon Low”
Deception Pass is the narrow strait between Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island about an hour north of Seattle. It was named by George Vancouver after apparently neither he nor his crew noticed it on their first exploration to the area. Later, when they did discover it, they thought it had deceived them, thus the name. Today this strait is traversed by bridges. Between the two large islands is another small island, Pass Island, so there are actually two bridges. They…
Continue Reading “Exploring the North Side of Deception Pass”
There were thin, high clouds in the sky as we left our home to visit Mt. Rainier. It looked to be a perfect day for a return visit to Mt. Rainier National Park. It had been two years since our last visit. This time we were going to a part of the park we had never visited before, Sunrise. The Sunrise area is on the northeast side of the park. There are three main parts to the Sunrise region. First…
Continue Reading “Discovering Sunrise at Mt. Rainier in Washington”
While the Space Needle is the iconic sight for Seattle, Mt. Rainier is the icon for the state of Washington. In fact, despite Washington having many mountains, locals often refer to it as simply, “the mountain.” If you can get the Space Needle and Mt. Rainier in the same picture, then you really have a classic Washington picture. Unfortunately Mt. Rainier is not always as visible as we would like. The areas infamous rainy days often hides it from view.…
Pinnacles National Park is a newer national park. It only became a national park in 2013. Perhaps because it is newer explains the reason why many people aren’t even aware of it. While it is located just 80 miles south of San Jose, it is the 13th least visited national park in the United States. Only a little over 233 thousand people visit in a year. Compare that to the 4 million who visit the popular Yosemite National Park just…
While visiting my daughter in San Jose, she decided we needed to explore Angel Island in San Francisco Bay. She and a friend had ridden bikes around the island and enjoyed it. She thought it would be fun for my wife and me to explore it as well. To get to the island was a journey in itself. We had to drive about a half hour north to catch the BART light rail system. After a half hour ride, we…
When most people think of Washington, they think of Seattle, the Space Needle, and Mt. Rainier. Washington is far more than that, however. The Cascade Mountains divide the state into two distinctive regions. To the west is the rainy, cloudy region that most people associate with Washington. To the east one finds a much drier area which is hotter in the summer and often colder in the winter. Through this eastern region flows the mighty Columbia River. In the southern…
Continue Reading “Discovering Washington’s Dry Side: Tri-Cities”
