Friday April 9, 2010 We left Tillamook, Big Spruce Park and drove to the Tacoma, WA area, and settled into the parking lot of the Emerald Queen Casino. No facilities here so we will be boon docking for a couple of nights. We went over to Camping World to be sure that the part for the refrigerator came in and everything was on schedule. We went over to the port to see some of the container ships. There were only 2 ships in port that we could see. It is amazing how large these things are and how fast the crane operators are at loading them. From there we went to a greasy spoon hamburger joint called Quick-Pick. The burgers and fries were fresh and really good. We had a short night - went to bed early.
Saturday April 10, 2010. We went to Sam’s to get new tires on the Jeep and do some last-minute stocking up. We know that food will be more expensive in AK so we are trying to stock up on some of the essentials. So with that in mind, we have now successfully stocked up enough food to keep a family of 10 going for at least 2 years (we will be in Skagway a total of 5 months, do you get the picture?). After getting tires we drove to Mount Rainier National park. Mount Rainier is 14,400 feet tall and quite beautiful. The park is very interesting to explore. It turns out they have naturally occurring Co2 springs that bubble right up to the surface. Apparently at one point in there was a place there where you could go for health treatments with the water.
We hiked through part of the park enjoying the trees and landscape. We learned a little about the cycle of the forest. When a tree dies it becomes a great place for the seedlings to bed and begin their lives. Also the event of fire helps to clean the underbrush out, giving smaller plants a chance to grow and get established.
We drove as far up to the top as we could go, which is the snow play area. They had 14 ½ feet of snow at that point. They have a nice ranger’s station there with snow shoe rentals, souvenirs and food and drink. It would be nice to go all the way to the top but to do that you have to do some real mountain climbing and that isn’t for me!!! On the way back down we stopped at a water fall that was just spectacular. It wasn’t the largest we have seen but it sure was pretty. We took the advice of the park guide and did a short hike to view the falls framed by an arched bridge. One of those little things that is off the beaten path but well worth it.
Sunday April 11, 2010. Drove up to Sequim, WA to see a couple of campgrounds there. The drive up there is really nice. Traveling along the coast is hard to beat for the beauty but it will wear on you after a while making all those turns. Sequim is kind of a small hidden treasure. It is large enough to have some decent services but small enough to still have a small town feel. There is a herd of elk that live in the town and are quite often seen on the roadway. I do believe they have the right-of-way. The park we went to see, Gilgal, was a beautiful place. The sites are reasonable size and the grounds are well taken care of. They say Sequim is in a banana belt which means it stays relatively temperate year round. This would be a lovely place to stay!
We drove the motorhome over to Camping World for one more night of drycamping (it may not be glorious but it sure is cheap camping). Got the refrigerator fixed and on the road by 11:00 am. Drove to a town north of Seattle called Lynwood and parked at Twin Cedars RV Park. It’s tricky to get into and the sites are small, but it will probably be OK for a base to see Seattle.
Getting very excited about going to Canada and Alaska!
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