Last stop: Seattle!

Goodbye Thrifty rental car... we had some good times together!Our first glimpse of Puget Sound from the waterfront, at sunset:
The obligatory Space Needle picture:
A HUGE Chinese dragon at the annual Seafair Parade:
The view of Pike Place Market from our hostel window:
The "original" Starbucks near Pike Place Market, complete with street performers outside:
The famous Pike Place Fish Co., aka. "the place where they throw the fish."
Amazing (and cheap!) local growers' flowers at the market... gorgeous!
Jimi Hendrix... born and raised in Seattle, buried in Seattle.
We made it... Daft Punk!A YouTube video of one of the best parts of the Daft Punk show:



Packing up in the hostel after our last night. So sad! Farewell West Coast!

Mt. Rainier and our favorite campsite!

Our campsite just off Forest Dr 1270 near Mt. Rainier, along a river with our own little private beach, nestled among beautiful old-growth pines:
A rope swing next to what looked like an *awesome* swimming hole... I just wish the water wasn't freezing cold glacial meltwater!Cooking pancakes for breakfast on the bridge:The view of the trees and the river from our tent:
Awesome.
Majestic Mt. Rainier, Jeremy's new favorite mountain:
A fox in the parking lot!
Two deer butting heads along the Skyline Trail:
Going up the Skyline Trail, just starting to get above the clouds:
Watermelon snow!
Marmots in the meadows:
Mount Adams, one of only 3 mountains tall enough to pierce the clouds covering our view from Mount Rainier; we were also able to see Mount St. Helens and even Mount Hood in the distance!
Our buddy the mountain goat, munching on alpine vegetation:
He isn't very shy... he was crossing the trail right next to us, ignoring us completely!A beautiful day!

Ape Cave & Mount St. Helens

A glamour shot in front of Mount St. Helens, on a relatively clear day. This is the best view we had, before more clouds moved in the next day:
Entering Ape Cave, the third longest lava tube in North America, formed probably around 2,000 years ago:
A funky rock formation apparently called "the meatball" deep inside the cave:
Fun with cameras and flashlights:
The deepest point of the lower cave:
Hiking through the blast zone on the Independence Pass trail. Although it was too cloudy to see St. Helens, we could clearly see Spirit Lake. It is still clogged with thousands of trees from the big eruption on May 18th, 1980... just over a month before I was born!
Along the Independence Pass trail:
Destruction!!

The Columbia River Gorge loop, including Mt. Hood

Our one night sleeping in the car, at a truck stop in Troutdale, OR. We had fun meeting a cool trucker in a bar there, and got our cheapest gas of the entire trip: $2.71!The Columbia River Gorge area on a beautiful Sunday, with lots of windsurfers and parasurfers on the river!
Wahkeena Falls, along the Columbia River historic highway:
The top half of famous Multnomah Falls, also along the historic highway:
And the bottom half (HUGE waterfalls!):
An underground window for viewing salmon and steelhead fish climbing the fish ladder at the Bonneville Dam. We saw TONS of steelhead that day (such as the ones below)... they are big fishies!
Lampreys attached to the fish ladder viewing window... YUCK!
At the famous Timberline Lodge, on Mt. Hood, as used in the film "The Shining." Follow the link for a picture of the lodge from the movie.
A beautiful view of Mt. Hood:
Toasting marshmallows at our free campsite near the mountain:
Smores!!

Astoria OR, Long Beach WA, Cannon Beach OR

Standing at the top of Astoria Column, overlooking the mouth of the Columbia River. This river feeds the Pacific Ocean, and separates Oregon and Washington. We crossed that funky bridge to get to Long Beach in Washington this same day.The beautiful North Head lighthouse at sunset. This is Cape Disappointment State Park in Washington, just on the north side of the mouth of the Columbia River.Remember the movie "The Goonies?" Here is a screen shot to jog your memory:Here is our picture of Haystack Rock, at Cannon Beach in Oregon. Although much of the Goonies (the town) was filmed in Astoria, there were a few scenes that used Cannon Beach, including the one above. Our view was from a different vantage point to the south.A close-up view of Haystack Rock, one of the world's largest geological monoliths:
Crazy rainy windy weather... but still having fun!