Saturday 8/19/00
Day 2: Snoqualmie, Mt Rainier, Tacoma
We
left early about 6:00 this morning to see the Snoqualmie Falls. Highway 18 is
the route we take which is a nice forested highway that goes past Tiger Mountain
and will connect with Interstate 90 going east. On Interstate I-90 we go about
ten miles east and will pass the Snoqulamie exit and see Mt Si on the left side.
This is one of the more popular moountains for locals to hike in the spring
time. The view is great from the top but expect to take half a day to go up
and come back down. I have hiked it twice but not for over ten years and not
today. We drive next into North Bend which is the last town before going over
the pass. Both North Bend and Snoqualmie were once lumber communities as Weyerhaeuser
ran a large sawmill. In the last decade though, the towns have relied more on
tourism and also new communites of urban families moving away from the city.
NintendoUSA is located in North Bend and the TV program 'Twin Peaks', popular
in the 90's was also filmed here.
Next
we would drive back to Snoqualmie to see the Snoqualmie Falls. We first pass
by the old train depot in Snoqualmie. There are many old railroad cars on the
track as you drive toward the falls. The depot gives rides during the summer
and is very busy on weekends. A couple miles later is Snoqualmie Falls. It is
a 268 foot high punch bowl waterfall which had always been a popular falls going
back to the Snoqualmie Indians. I was suprised that there wasn't more water
coming over. There were quite a few people here today on this sunny morning
as the temperature was expected to be in the70's today.If you look at the bottom
of the falls you will see a cave which was dynamited out for electricity in
the early 1900's. The Salish Lodge is located above the falls and is one of
the nicer hotels in the state. We haven't stayed here as the rooms are expensive
but we hav ebeen shown a room and is very nice. We have ate here and although
the cost for dinner for two is about $100 with wine,it is a very good meal and
does make for a good anniversary.
We
leave Snoqualmie and start back on higway 18 and will drive towards Mt Rainier.
Since I live in the vicinity we will take some shortcuts to get here and stop
at a couple places on the way. After driving over Tiger Mountain we will come
to a Hobart turnoff which will take us thru the little town. This is a scenic
drive with many farms, nice old houses and forested area. We will travel for
about 15 miles until we come to a four way stop on Kent Kangley road with a
little store on the right side. We turn left here and drive a couple miles before
turing right at a Y intersection and are now on Lake Retreat Rd. We are going
towards the only state parks located in well-populated King County. You will
see where they have been logging in this area for the last five years and leave
the land bare. Drive for another three miles before turinig right then drive
to Kanaskat-Palmer State Park on the right side of the road. There is a campsite
here as this park is popular for fishing, hiking trails and also kayaking along
the Green River. The river has formed a gorge here that will continue this way
for many miles until reaching Flaming Geyser Park in the valley. I take a walk
up the river and just enjoy the scenery and quiet atmoshphere this morning.
I was able to get a good picture of a girl that I couldn't resist showing you
as she was standing on rocks in the river. We leave Kanasket-Palmer State Park
and drive next to Nolte State Park where there are picnic tables, fields to
play in and Deep Lake which has a one mile trail around it. This is a great
place to picnic as it is away from urban areas and never is real busy. We come
here a lot for picnics during the summer as we will eat here today and and let
thekids play and wade into the swimming area.
After
lunch we left Nolte State Park and turned right toward Enumclaw. We drove thru
flat farming land that has mountains surroundiung the area. One of the few areas
that has not been 'urbanized' by the growth in the Puget Sound area. As we reached
Enumclaw we turned left. Enumclaw is a larger town that is mainly farming and
logging area. We are now on highway 410 and going towards Mt Rainier. It takes
about thirty minutes to get to the turnoff to Sunrise where we paid ???$$$ to
go farther into the park. The Sunrise area took us along White River and where
we got a view of the northwest side of the mountain at the end of the road.
It is a very impressive moutnain and is taken for granted by people who live
in the northwest. It's not until popele have moved away from here and come back
that they realize how large this mountain is that sits between Tacoma and Seattle.
We leaveSunrise and continue on 410 and will take the turn off for Paradise.
This is the more popular of the two roads going to Mt Rainier. We come to Reflection
Lake as this is a dark blue lake from the blue sky background and then Mt Rainier
is reflecting into the water. Rainier is 14,411 ft high and is a one of the
more popular mountains for hikers during the summer. It is really a hikers mountian
as there is not a lot to do here if you just drive to see the mountain. Most
people spend the day at Paradise for a picnic andto enjoy the scenery. We go
for a walks on some of the shorter trails that are located here. There is a
lodge here at Pyramid and also gift shops.
We
started driving down Mt Rainier and will see the south side of as we travel
east on highway 706. This highway meets up with highway 7 at Alder Lake and
will go north toward Tacoma. We took the turnoff for highway 161 to Eatonville
and will go to Northwest Trek today. This is a Wildlife Park that was started
back in 1975. You will see sheep, elk, beaver, bison and many other types of
wildlife that live on this large 600 acre wildlife area. It's the next closest
thing to being in the wild as you will go on a tram that explores their life
style and how they intereact with other wildlife. The prices range from $8-4????dollars
but is worth it if you have never seen wildlife other than in a zoo. We took
the tram and took pictures and just enjoyed relaxing the afternoon as both kids
enjoyed seeingthe animals.
We
left around 6:00 and would now drive into Tacoma. This town is often forgotten
as part of the Puget Sound. It used to have bad pollution problems but has been
cleaned up and is a nice town to visit. It has a waterfront of the south Puget
Sound, an old part of town and the Washington Stae Museun. We drove down to
the waterfront to get something to eat at The Ram as they offer outside seating
and a nice view of the waterfront. This is a poular restaurant and bar for sporting
events. Cindy had a Cobb salad today and I had a Focacia Chicken Sandwich as
the food was good but service was slow. We have also eaten at The Spaghetti
Factory in the old part of town which is a good family restaurant. A good place
to go for music at night on weekends is right across the street fromThe Spaghetti
Factory at The Swiss. They also serve good food but the place is very busy on
weekends. The best place to find a hotel in the area is off of I-5 between Tacoma
and Auburn as there are several with resonable prices. We have never stayed
around here but have never heard anything bad about them..
I drove 250 miles today and 350 total