Skyet, senere sol - ca. 20-22˚/ Cloudy, later sunny - 68-72˚
Wood Village & Mount Hood, OR --> Des Moines (Seattle), WA: 450Km
Vi efterlod Travel Lodge i Wood Village, efter endnu et “større” morgenmåltid, sammenligner man med så mange andre moteller og deres standarder :) Vi havde bestemt os for at ta’ et smut til Mount Hood (65km fra motellet) og nærmere betegnet Mirror Lake, beliggende ca. 2.5km inde i skoven (André havde undersøgt det på nettet, aftenen forinden) Vi kom derhen og ikke et øje var der... Lige bortset fra en dame og hendes hund. Vi tog trøjen og gå-skoene på og så var det ellers over stok og sten! Godt op ad gik det til tider og SNE var der minsandten også! Ikke specielt koldt, men da slet heller ik’ i stil med den varme sommerdag vi havde haft dagen forinden, blot en times kørsel derfra!! Turen / hiken gik godt og vi ankom til søen efter en 40 minutters tid, godt varme :) Vores håb om et rigtigt postkort billede forsvandt hurtigt, idet alt var dækket i sne... MEGET sne!! Desuden var det ret så diset og vi endte også med at ha’ Mount Hood i ryggen, så hele scenariet med bjerget spejlende sig i søen i flot solskinsvejr, gik lidt i vasken...! Men flot var det og godt med lidt motion indimellem alt den kørsel :)
Turen ned gik lidt stærkere og vi mødte en del mennesker... Vi havde åbenbart været tidligt ude ka’ man tænke sig! Ind i bilen igen og med kurs tilbage mod Wood Village og Portland, hvorfra turen så strakte sig nord på til hovedstaden Olympia i Washington. Vejret forblev lidt gråt i det, men behageligt og lunt var det.
I Olympia var der atter et Farmers Market og flere smagsprøver... Denne gang indendøre! Måske de ikke har vejret til at satse på noget udendørs som hjemme i Californien?? Vi gik en tur langs denne “Boardwalk” af en art som strakte sig langs vandet og helt ned til “Heritage Park” med flot udsyn til “Capitol Bygningen”. Flot men stadig ik’ på højde med Sacramento’s i Californien. Der var selvfølgelig også lukket her, idet det var søndag så vi gik tilbage mod bilen igen, denne gang igennem downtown. Meget stille var der, men hyggeligt!
Herfra gik det så stik mod Seattle, WA. Vejret klarede op og det var et FLOT syn som mødte os, i form af Seattle’s skyline. André kørte rundt i byen en lille times tid og vi så en go’ del incl. “The Space Needle”, “Bank of America Tower”, downtown og omkringliggende nabolag. Stor og flot by må man sige :)
Vi havde igen igen booket motel, denne gang i noget kaldet Des Moines, syd for byen. Der var selvfølgelig ingen mennesker på kontoret da vi ankom... De var i den nærliggende lufthavn med gæster, så vi måtte pænt vente udenfor :) Heldigvis var vejret med os og der gik da heller ik’ så forfærdelig lang tid før nogen kom! Efter check-in forhørte vi os om et sted vi ku’ grille og blev anbefalet en sø 5 min oppe ad vejen. Andre mennesker havde fundet samme sted og vi fik hurtigt hævet alt ud og tændt op i gasgrillen :) Dejlig varmt var det endnu engang og med en smuk udsigt ned til søen, var det et alletiders sted at spise aftensmad.
Wood Village & Mount Hood, OR --> Des Moines (Seattle), WA: 281Miles
We left Travel Lodge i Wood Village, after yet another “larger” breakfast, compared to other motels and their standards :) We had decided to take a trip to Mount Hood (about 40miles from the motel) and more specifically “Mirror Lake” located 1.5miles into the woods (André had checked it out online, the night before) We got there and were practically all alone, except for one lady and her dog. Getting ready, putting on a shirt and walking shoes, we went for it... :) It went quite up at times and to our big surprise there was SNOW!! Not chilly per se, but certainly not anything like the weather we had the day before, just one hour from there. The hike went well and after about 40min we arrived at the lake, nice and warm :) Our hopes of getting a real postcard shot quickly disappeared, seeing everything was covered in snow... LOTS of snow!! Apart from that it was quite overcast and we ended up having Mount Hood behind us, ruing the whole scenario of it reflecting in the lake on a beautiful sunny day. Oh well... It was petty despite the snow and we had ourselves a nice walk and exercise in between all the driving.
The hike down went slightly faster and we ran into several people... Suppose we were out early that day :) Inside the car again, driving back towards Wood Village and Portland, we soon headed north going straight for the capitol of Washington, Olympia. The weather stayed gray, but pleasantly warm and nice :)
In Olympia yet one more Farmers Market and samples awaited us... This time inside! Suppose they might not have the weather for an outdoors one, like in California?! We went for a walk along this boardwalk, ending up in “Heritage Park” with a great view of the Capitol State Building to one side and the mountains to the other. Lots of people were out and we went all the way up the hill, to get some close-ups of the State Capitol. Of course that was closed as well, it being Sunday...! We therefor went back to the car from there, this time walking thru downtown. Very quiet that particular day, but nice :)
From there we went straight to Seattle, WA. The sky seemed to clear up along the way and we had a beautiful view of the skyline, driving into town. For a little hour or so, André drove around most of it and we got to see “The Space Needle”, “Bank of America Tower”, downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. Big and lovely city, one must say :)
Yet again we had booked a motel for the night, this time somewhere called Des Moines south of the city. Of course no one was there as we arrived... They were on a shuttle ride to the close by airport, so we had to patiently wait outside :) Luckily the weather was to our advantage and it didn’t take that long before someone came! After check-in we asked for a place to put up the grill and was recommended a lake 5min up the street. Other people seemed to have found the same place and we quickly got all of our stuff out and the grill going :) Nice warm evening with a beautiful view down to the lake and et made for a perfect place to enjoy dinner.
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