A weekend in Seattle with a side trip to Mt. Rainier

[Gofirstclass]

This past week my Galley Wench and I took our Whaler and made a road trip. We drove across the Cascade Mountains to Seattle and spent 4 days with her daughter and SIL. On Friday morning, under beautifully clear and sunny skies, we launched the boat on the Ship Canal. We headed west along the north side of the Ship Canal toward the Ballard Locks, then headed east along the south side to Lake Union. We cruised both sides of Lake Union then stopped at Ivar’s Salmon House restaurant for a late lunch, then went back to the launch ramp.

Here are a few photos we took along the way on Friday:
A very nice old trawler

This is a fish processing ship. They take the catch that the fishing fleet gets then cleans the catch, filets it and freezes it. These things stay out for months at a time.

I don't know what this is, but it's huge.

The entrance to the large lock at Ballard Locks (also known as the Hiram Chittenden Locks and Government Locks). That large fishing boat was waiting for the green light to enter the lock.

Apparently the lock personnel don’t think much of people who don’t wait their turn to enter the lock.

Here are a couple of shots of the fishing fleet. Much of the fleet that fishes the North Atlantic and are seen in Deadliest Catch are based out of Seattle. Quite a sight to see!

Here are two shots of the fire boats docked at the Fisherman’s Terminal.

While poking along near the south end of Lake Union and rubbernecking at all the pretty boats I heard a strange sounding boat motor. I looked to my right and this thing was about 50’ away on a direct line for us. Needless to say I scooted out of his way.

 

[Gofirstclass]

We stopped at Ivar's Salmon House for lunch For those of you not familiar with Ivar’s, it’s a fairly small chain of seafood restaurants (OK, it is rumored they served a steak once to someone from the Midwest, but they deny it!) around the Seattle area. GREAT seafood of all shapes and sizes.
We had a waterfront table and these were just a couple of the hundreds of boats that cruised past while we were dining.

After lunch we just slow cruised back to the ramp. On the way we took these pics:

We took a run by the Seattle Yacht Club. Unlike our club, which is very informal, SYC is quite formal. On Opening Day they are all out on the boats dressed in their blue blazers, white shirts and pants and white bucks and wearing their captain’s hat. Shoot, in our club we feel lucky when everyone wears clothes!

After lunch we slow cruised back to the ramp and put the boat back on the trailer. Then we made a run to pick up some fresh seafood and other fixin’s. Here’s the result, a seafood boil that included King crab, clams, scallops, spicy sausage, potatoes and some other goodies that GW threw in. This pile of food fed 6 and the only thing left were some spuds. There’s nothing quite like fresh seafood.

Sunday we didn’t take the boat out because the Seattle weather had used up its quota of sunshine (2 days per summer) so we stayed home and watched the Seahawks!

 

[Gofirstclass]

Monday morning we left Seattle and drove to Mt. Rainier. We had two nights’ reservation at the lodge at Paradise and it truly is a paradise. But talk about a change of conditions. We went from sea level in Seattle to ~5000-5400’ elevation, went from temps in the mid-70’s to the mid-40’s and from mostly sunshine to socked in. It’s definitely fall at Mt. Rainier. The trees have changed colors already, most of the lakes are dry, awaiting the new snow falls, and it is Q-U-I-E-T up there. There were few tourists (thank heaven), very little traffic, and we had the hiking to ourselves.
Here’s the lodge we stayed at, the Visitors Center and the Ranger station. Sadly, the weekend prior to our arrival a climber died on the mountain and they brought his body out on Monday. We didn’t find any of that out until later, but we did see a huge contingent of mountain rescue people when we got back to the lodge on Monday afternoon.

The building on the right is the one we stayed in. Our room was on the third floor on the corner that is at the extreme right side of the building.

Here are some random shots I took. The colors are muted because there was almost zero sun. We did get one small bit of blue sky right over part of the mountain and I was able to grab a shot of it. You’ll just have to use your imagination. Most of these were taken while we hiked a short trail that went through the “Grove of the Patriarchs”, an island that has a lot of HUGE trees that are over 1,000 years old.

 

[Gofirstclass]

GW doing her part to clear a small bit of wood off the trail.

Check out this tree trunk that GW is sitting in, and the following picture that shows how deep it goes.

Now before you start asking if we saw any wildlife, the answer to that is yes, and here he is.

So, that’s it. There are a lot more pics, but those are a good sampling of what we saw. It was a fun trip but it’s sure nice to be home.

 

[Dieseljeff]

Beautiful State and Picts....
Thanks for sharing.

Jeff

 

[SeaAyeOwe]

Thanks for sharing - stunning pictures as always in the PNW - however can't show the wife as she still wants us to move back into Kirkland and this will make her more determined :grin:

 

[wyrman]

Beautiful pics, its been a long time since I've been up there.
I think its gonna have to be on our short list.

 

[juggernaut1]

Hats off to you - you are living the dream :thumbsup:

 

[Reelsly]

Great photos. Makes me wish I could make a trip up that way. It's just a bit too far from Florida.

 

[Gofirstclass]

SeaAyeOwe, I already emailed them to her! GOTCHA!

"Hats off to you - you are living the dream" juggernaut, if I'd known retirement was going to be this much fun I'd have started years earlier!

Pete, no it's not. We were in Ft. Meyers and Key West last summer. It's just a hop, skip and a jump via those long silver tubes you see in the sky!

 

[The Bill Collector]

great.....

 

[BritLady]

Great pics, thanks for sharing. Brought back great memories of our time up there. Used to love trips up to Paradise.

 

[MonacoMike]

Great thread!

MM

 

[pineknollj]

Sister in law and her family are all in the Seattle area. Spent a week there in May and loved it. Great pics and loved the trip to Ranier too.

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