Washington and Oregon

Posted on September 11, 2011 by Nanette Harter

We met Mailea in Leavenworth, Washington, on Monday after our cruise (thanks to Helene and Timothy generously loaning us Rover, one of their cars.) The town of Leavenworth is modeled as an Alpine Bavarian village. I was impressed that all the buildings in town are built in the Bavarian architecture, even the Holiday Inn. We ate a hardy German lunch in full tradition of the town but we missed having an um-pa-pa band. We enjoyed the hike and soak in Scenic Hot Springs in the afternoon.

The following day was spent in Seattle exploring the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks and Carl S. English, Jr., Botanical Garden, followed by lunch at Pho Than, for Vietnamese soup with Chessa, a friend of Mailea’s. Luckily, we didn’t stay full for long because we had a fantastic salmon dinner with our friends Helene and Timothy that night.

Setting out for Oregon, we stopped several times off of I90 in Washington searching out waterfalls. We took a gentle but lush forested hike along the creek to Denny Falls. It was a lovely cloudy drippy interlude from dry car travel. We also had a car picnic while parked at an old growth forest with heavy drippy mist coming down all around us; typical Washington weather. Any longer and we would have put down roots and become part of the forest ourselves. We drove through the town of Roslyn, Washington, made famous as the location where much of the TV show Northern Exposure was filmed (Yes, Northern Exposure was supposed to be about an Alaskan community.) The camel painting is still on the side of Roslyn Café.

Greg and Trinity, aka Lucy the dog, had the house all ready for us. Oliver and Lela, the cats, tolerate our presence after smelling everything we brought in the house. Lela took full advantage of the extra laps to sit in and soaked up lots of loving attention. We feasted each night of our visit with Mailea; particularly memorable were the excellent salmon sushi, the incredible brined roast turkey from the Neil/Greg chef team, blueberry pie and cobbler made from fresh pints of berries, and Neil’s fresh rhubarb sauce.

Our previous visit in February was just too cold outside for us to explore much beyond La Grande. This time we set off to see some of the wonders of Oregon Mailea and Greg have been treasuring. They love to mountain bike and we went with them to one of their favorite spots where we hiked a bit while they rode. On Saturday, we drove to Wallowa Lake via the town of Joseph. The area is so picturesque that it has become a little resort alpine village in the middle of Oregon. After our lakeside lunch, Greg, Mailea, and Trinity took off for a walk to Lower Adams Creek falls while Neil and I took the gondola ride to the top of Mount Howard. (We had to split up because in their foolishness, the gondola people do not allow people who happen to be in dog bodies to ride in their cars. In solidarity, Neil stuck his head out the window pretty much the whole way up and down. No barking or slobbering, though. He mostly just used his opposable thumbs to operate the camera.) At the top, we walked over the still snow covered trails to the rocky overlook to take in the view of Eagle Cap Wilderness area and its rugged peaks.

Back in the La Grande vicinity, yet another afternoon of exploration took us to the top of Mount Emily which overlooks La Grande and the surrounding valley. Sadly, our trip was finally coming to an end on July Fourth when Mailea and Greg drove us to Pasco Airport to pick up a one-way rental car to drive back to Seattle. We returned for one last evening with Helene, Timothy, Shane, and Talia before our early morning flight to Maui. Thus ended a wonderful event filled three weeks of family, friends, sights, feasting, and laughter.

Photos and commentary by Neil.

Seattle

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Nanette Harter

We are fortunate to have wonderful friends in the Seattle area where our cruise ship departed. Plus a few hours away Mailea and Greg were residing in Eastern Oregon while Greg was completing his Masters in Education. (Greg graduated in July. Yeah Greg! In August they moved to Washington where Mailea now began her PhD program with University of Washington. Another July graduate is Ari, Neil’s daughter, completing her nursing degree (on top of her bachelor’s in biology). We’re proud of you Ari!)

In Seattle, we stayed with our friends Helene, Timothy, Shane, and Talia. Hard to believe with all the photos taken, we didn’t get a family photo of them but I have one from a few years ago when they visited us in Hawaii. Shane and Talia were great tour guides for our shopping expedition plus took us on a great hike in Carkeek Park. They also introduced us to a delicious Indian restaurant in Ballard.

We had a lovely visit and excellent dinner with our friends Barbara and William. They have recently added onto their house and we were able to see Mount Rainier from their balcony on the clear Seattle evening.

Mailea came up from Oregon to drive us back. We planned several days touring Washington together before reaching La Grande, Oregon. While still on Maui, Neil had researched hot springs and waterfalls in Washington and printed lots of maps, directions, and descriptions. Helene and Timothy hosted us for several more nights and provided us excellent local knowledge as we headed out for day trips. One trip was to Scenic Hot Springs near Stevens Pass in Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. We highly recommend it a as a medium strenuous hike and wonderful soaking spot. We also recommend you carefully read the directions (sent after you pay your reservation fee) that indicate the hike actually starts from the option two parking spot. We hiked several extra miles before figuring out our error. It made for a long day and we were very happy for the soak by the time we arrived at the pools.

Photos and commentary by Neil.

Victoria

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Nanette Harter

We departed Skagway Thursday evening sailing through the Lynn Canal and the Chatham Strait surrounded by a gorgeous sunset reflecting off the clouds and granite mountain peaks. We had two days at open sea as we headed back toward Seattle and this was the first time I felt the slightest roll of the ship. We got in one more formal night along with a Captain’s cocktail reception (as we were traveling with the Captain’s Gold Circle frequent cruiser members Audrey and Bill.) The culinary demonstration Friday included a tour of just one of the many shiny stainless steel kitchens. Probably one of the most memorable tastes we had aboard was an aperitif: lime sherbet infused with strawberry and thyme! An incredibly tantalizing experience with the tart, then sweet, and just the hint of thyme revealed at the end. I am still trying to reproduce it in my Vitamix!

As we traveled into the Juan de Fuca Strait between Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula, we saw a variety of marine life from orcas to humpback whale pods. Victoria, Canada, was our stop in a “foreign port” and sadly we only had a few evening hours here. We watched the docking process with the evening light and Neil spotted an eagle that sat perched right on top of the huge parking lot lights. And by moving to the far end of the observation deck, Neil was able to frame it against the green copper dome of the Capital Building.

Somehow, during our two days at sea, the camera received a major dent. We still can’t figure out when but the camera now vibrates every time the lens cover is open. (Neil has since taken the camera apart, removing one by one the tiny printed circuit boards and lens assembly, and repaired the dented casing but once back together, it still vibrates. We are looking into replacement cameras.) Even on the gorilla tripod, the vibration shows through on the night exposures. We decided to include a few of the blurry night shots of Victoria because it was so pretty with all the lights haloing the buildings and harbor.

Skagway

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Nanette Harter

The town of Skagway came into existence almost overnight when gold was discovered in the Klondike region (Canada.) What kept it from becoming a ghost town like nearby town of Dyea after gold fever died out is the railroad. Originally conceived to transport miners to the minefield, the rush to the fields was done by the time the rail was completed. Even so, the railroad prospered for many years as the workhorse hauling gold and ore down to the ships. Later, it was used to supply the US Army’s Alaska Highway projects. It was actually the completion of the highway into Skagway on the opposite side of the valley that eventually led to the closing of the railway in 1981. Happily, it reinvented itself as a tourist railroad and reopened in 1988.

The town itself is being restored to the turn of the century facade much through the efforts of the National Park Service and the Visitors Bureau. Mom, Neil and I spent the morning wandering through the town, part of the time following a Park Ranger tour as she pointed out the most notable buildings and colorful history. The most photographed building in town is the Arctic Brotherhood Hall which has over 8,800 pieces of driftwood making up the front exterior. Neil commented that at least the town retains its charm even with all the tourist commercialism.

After lunch including a lovely piece of smoked salmon that Neil had procured from the local market, we boarded the White Pass & Yukon Railroad for our afternoon excursion. The train climbs 2,865 feet through incredible scenery with breathtaking views in all directions to the top of White Pass. The terrain, tunnels and trestles are a true feat of engineering especially considering this was accomplished in 1897. Please click through the gallery below on the webpage to get a good idea of the beauty we experienced.

Juneau

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Nanette Harter

Juneau is of course the capital of Alaska. One of its novelties, like Honolulu, is it can only be reached by sea or air. Although there isn’t a road connecting the city to the “mainland,” that lack doesn’t prevent tons of cars and buses from being shipped in for use on the local roads. More fun is the Mount Roberts Tramway.

We visited Juneau in the afternoon following our sail through Tracy Arm. This is the stop where the ship excursion desk really pushes all the evening Salmon Bake tours, and although we had the option of an Alaskan Luau (yes, the flyer shows both Alaskan and Polynesian food and performers), we opted to go the scenic route and travel high above Juneau on the tram for the view and hike. We got positioned by the windows as the crowd filled the tram and we soon started getting the views we were hoping for.

Checking in at the naturalist deck at the top of the tram, we were told the hiking trail to the top of Mount Roberts was still covered in snow about a mile beyond the loop trail (lucky for me or Neil might have wanted to hike the whole 8 miles up.) We hiked the nature loop trail and some spurs off it which took us through the forest and out onto the alpine meadows above timberline. The emerald green grass and the numerous delicate wildflowers were a treat to view as we hiked. We reached a rocky outcropping which provided a scenic overlook of the channel, the town, and our cruise ship! We hiked past patches of snow still on the mountainside but the weather was lovely enough for short sleeves. We ran into some small critters (including a small snow bear 😉 and get a glimpse in the distance of a mother bear and her two clubs frolicking on the snow just before they went over the edge and into the forest far below us.

We were impressed with the totem in the Tramway lobby. Neil found a article in the Juneau Empire newspaper about the carver Stephen Jackson and the totem pole meaning. It took Jackson two years to complete the intricate detailed carving. “The story is about the supernatural gift of the constellation of the Big Dipper to the Big Dipper House of the Auk Kwan. A creature symbolizing this gift is one of five design elements in the pole. At the top, Raven’s folded wings seem to hug the surface. In the center is a totemic frog figure. Toward the bottom, a woman — the ribs of her back strikingly evident — stretches down to embrace an infant.”

All this wonderful air and exercise made us ready for another decedent dinner aboard ship. Not salmon that night but we did have it later on the cruise!

[One more note about viewing the full size photos and Neil’s witty descriptions. If you click on any photo in the text portion, you will only be able to arrow through the five photos included in the text. However, if you click on a photo in the gallery below, you will be able to move through all ten.]

Photos and commentary by Neil

Nan Harter

Sharing my adventures with family and friends

Category Archives: Travels

Washington and Oregon

Seattle

Victoria

Skagway

Juneau