2007 USA Seattle Route 4-4

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Sep 3 Monday Glacier National Park (US)

32º    240 km    route:  route-09sept03
This morning started good after breakfast. We won playing in the local gas station scratch lottery: $1! Unfortunately the ticket cost $1, result: $0. We drove into Glacier National Park, but now to Logan’s Pass where we saw Bighorn Sheep (see pictures). After a lunch and a ranger preMOUNTAINGOAT2sentation we went for a hike up to the Hidden Lake. During this (uphill!) trail we met several mountain goats. These really are beautiful animals. The hidden lake was gorgeous but hiking to the lake would take another 4 hours with a similar elevation difference. No way. We walked back and drove to Kalispell (took quite a while). Parts of the road had fallen into the valley so only one lane was available. Back at the hotel we had dinner at the North Bay Grill (again). Very good food!

Location: Kalispell  (statistics)
Hotel: Hampton Inn Kalispell
Dinner: 406 Bar & Grill (”very” nice!)
Glacier National Park
Hiking: Hidden Lake Trail (460m elevation, 5km)
US-93N Kalispell Shopping area

 

Sep 4 Tuesday to Moses Lake

30º   route   570 km  route: route-09sept04
This morning we had breakfast in the hotel, got a fresh bag of ice at the gas station and drove off to Moses Lake. Even though this is not a particular exc TOMOSESLAKEiting route we enjoyed the views. Roads were good and the views were ok.
Once we arrived at Moses Lake we were scared. The only decent place we saw was “Papas Casino & Sports Lounge”. Oh my $(£”. This place however turned out to be pretty good! We enjoyed ”great” burgers, played pool and tried out the Bowling.

Location: Moses Lake (statistics)
Hotel: AmeriStay Suites
Dinner/Entertainment: Papa’s Casino, Sports Lounge & Bowling
Destination: Moses Lake (of ”all” places we had to end-up here ;-)

 

Sep 5 Wednesday to Olympia

23º   route  420 km  route: route-09sept05
Early in the morning we headed for the nearest Starbucks (which appeared to be 300 meters (1000 feet) away from the hotel) for coffee and breakfast. After about 1.5 hrs boring road we saw signs for the Snoqualmie Falls. Pretty impressive! Of course we found a Starbucks and  got Lunch at Subways. On the road back to the TO_OLYMPIAhighway we found signs for “Model” homes for sale. Of course ;-) we were interested and got the full tour in very nice homes.
Finally we made it back on the highway and drove to Olympia. After 1 hour we only could think of one word: “hippy town”
Dinner was ”very” good!

Location: Olympia (statistics)
Snoqualmie Falls
Entertainment: Quadrant Homes Washington (checked out new houses in the woods, close to Seattle)
Hotel: Phoenix Suites
Dinner: Basilico (very good food!)
After dinner fun: The Royal (very good service, great atmosphere)

 

Sep 6  Thursday – Olympia National Park

22º   sunny_blue   route     20 km
OLYMPIADINNER Today is an actual ‘holiday’. No obligations, nothing we ”have” to do so we went shopping and saw a movie. (this is actually nice during a holiday – not having to do anything) <grin>

Location: Olympia (statistics)
Hotel: Phoenix Suites
Shopping: Westfield Shopping (huge!)
Movie in the Century movie theatre:  Superbad (imdb:8.4)
Dinner: Dockside Bistro (picture)

 

 

Sep 7  Friday – Seattle

20º   sunny_blue     220 km   route:  route-09sept07
2 minutes in Seattle and my wife has spotted 5 Starbucks shops.. Yeah, I will ”have” to stop at one of them. Right after the Starbucks tour we took the “Seattle Underground Tour”. Very interesting to ”see” and hear about the cities history. Quick lunch across the Smith Tower downtown-seattle2before we went up to the 42nd floor for an amazing view of the City. Interesting fact is that the elevator motors are the ”’original”’ ones! They just added a bunch of electronics
Next stop was Pikes Place Market. This is a very busy market with character. Everything is being sold and most of the salesman try to make a little show out of selling something simple as a fish. Very nice! After this stop we headed back to Olympia.

Location: Seattle (statistics)
Hotel: Phoenix Suites
Destination: Seattle
Via: Jamba Juice (Capitol Mall)
Tour: Seattle Underground Tour (very nice!)
Lunch: xx
Sightseeing: Smith Tower
Market: Pikes Place Market (wikipedia)
Dinner: Falls Terrace Restaurant

 

Sep 8  Saturday – Olympic National Park

23º   sunny_blue        680 km    route: route-09sept08
That’s a lot of miles! At the end of the day however I would do it all over again. For about the 17th time this holiday I thought:

“I could spend 1 week here”

First stop was Hurricane Ridge. So beautiful. If you’re from Europe: compare it to one of the best Swiss or Austrian OLYMPICNPAlps pictures you’ve seen.
Second stop: Hoh Rain Forest. RAIN FOREST?? Yes, Rain Forest. Unfortunately it was not easy to capture the incredible sights on camera, but I’ve tried my best.
One thing I always wanted to do: Eat at Taco Bells. Don’t ask why. I have done it (probably the last time, even though the food was fine).

Hotel: Phoenix Suites
Destination: Olympic National Park
Breakfast: McDonalds (bleh)
Hurricane Ridge
Hoh Rain Forest (National Geographics)
Dinner: Taco Bell

 

Sep 9  Sunday – to Amsterdam

26º   sunny_blue        8.100 km   route: route-09sept09
Feeling a bit sad. Our last day in the US. Relaxing & taking our time to pack our bags. Drove to the airport where we returned the rental car (you should have seen the look on the rental-ladies face wheTOAMSTERDAMn she asked “Almost 4.000 miles, is that correct sir!???” <grin> YES </grin>. After check-in we went to the international terminal. Unfortunately there was one option for lunch: Burger King. Ahh what the h$£”. This is our last day as ‘Americans’ so lets keep those triple-ultra-stacked-burgers coming!
The flight wasn’t that bad, but sleeping was difficult. (even though we had the huge seats).
Back in Amsterdam we were picked up by a friend. Home sweet home.

Almost 3 weeks of relaxing, enjoying all of the beautiful things that nature has to offer. It was a moment where I realized that we’re just tiny little ‘nobodies’ on planet earth. Nobodies who ”are” capable of messing up things big time. Ask yourself: how do I ”contribute” to this world.

Enough of that: Let’s get the laptop connected to do emails – I love my work.

Lunch: Burgerking
Aircraft: Airbus A330-200
Seat: 1e / 1f  (yes, ONE e and ONE f, that’s business class!)
Arrived in Amsterdam on Monday September 10th

 

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