Time to move north and catch up with Spring again! With a mix of sun and showers we turned onto Rte 12 E and then Rte 8 E which brought us to Interstate 5 North. It’s good to be on the road again! The Jeep seems easier to hookup and Ken doesn’t have to get down on his hands and knees anymore - that’s a good thing.
Riding towards Tacoma through the Nisqually Valley, Mt Rainier was to our right but we could only see a small piece sticking out of the clouds. Unfortunately Interstates are for fast travel and very busy with lots of trucks and traffic, but we’re moving along easily.
Soon we can see the Seattle skyline and the Space Needle in the distance. It looks like a really pretty city with a very picturesque harbor. The cruise ships will start coming here this week. We had planned to make Seattle a side trip, but hopefully we’ll get back someday.
Further north we can see part of the Cascade Mountains which are partially covered in clouds, but beautiful anyway. As we left the cities behind and entered the Skagit Valley we saw a hawk sitting on a fence post at the side of the highway just waiting for lunch to show up. The valley has a number of vineyards, fantastic mountain views, and is known for its tulip farms. One ranch sign read - “Tulip, Antiques, and Alpacas!” - they had it all. Continuing north we passed the first apple orchard we had seen. We thought we would see a lot more of these along the way as Washington is known for their apples. The highway skirts the Cascade foothills and runs between Lake Samish and Lake Whatcom and the wind has picked up quite a bit. As we enter Bellingham the road is lined with blooming trees and rock walls and is very pretty. As the southwest identifies with Santa Fe, Bellingham is the essence of what the Pacific Northwest is all about. It’s a great place to spend time filled with cafes, bookstores and beautiful parks. We found our campground and got settled in. The campground is nice and the folks in the office suggested some nice restaurants which we will try later.
Off to the find the Alaska Marine Ferry Terminal to pick up our tickets - oops cut backs have hit here too. They were open yesterday and won’t be open again until Thursday. Guess we just have to wait. Across from the terminal was a little park so we went to investigate. It had pretty gardens and benches right on Harris Bay where we could see the pleasure boats docked in the harbor.
We picked up some veggies for dinner and went home. I can’t believe we get on the ferry in 2 days!
Pictures: Marine Park
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