Road Trip - Mt. Vernon to Portland 05-26-18

Back on I-5 for the long drive to SCalifornia.  You are probably tired of hearing about the traffic, but today was the worst if one was traveling north, it looked like one long parking lot.  Fortunately, I was going south, but there were still stretches of bumper to bumper traffic and frequent dead stops.  One thing about the drivers here, they don't do the kamikaze stuff that is so common on the freeways in SCalifornia.  Nobody zipped in and out of lanes, trying to get ahead of everyone else.  And nobody passed on the shoulder that I saw.  The day was gloomy and clouds low, but not a drop of rain. However, the pictures are not very clear - I'm already missing those bright blue skies along Hwy 395.  I stopped for gas at Arlington and for a Starbuck's at Tumwater.  Just accidentally on the same block as Ruby Street Quiltworks, a VERY nice quilt shop, that I visited on a trip about eight years ago, with a large and varied inventory.  I spent an hour and I'm not going to tell you what the "toll" was.  I did get carried away.  But mostly I drove at speeds from 20mph to 75mph for about six hours to stay at Comfort Inn near the Portland airport.  I've a date for breakfast with two Portland friends I haven't seen for too long.  

The rhododendrons are just at their peak and are loaded.  These pictures are all in Mabel's neighborhood.  

I don't remember the bright red ones from my childhood, but I guess they were there. 

But I do remember these trees with the bright yellow leaves, but not their name.

This is the dogwood I am familiar with, the petals have a rounded edge with a little dip in the center of each petal.   A later image will show one that is new to me. 

The Skagit Valley, famous for growing tulips also grows veggies and forage crops.  It is a very flat countryside with stands of dark conifers for contrast. 

Dark sky, dark forest, a farm house tucked into the edge of the trees. 

Ah-h-h, here is Seattle from the southbound lanes of I-5, with the Space Needle on the right. 

 Overpasses, some under construction.  But look at the backed up traffic in the northbound lanes, curving up around the hill. 

This one is out of order, I think it was near Tacoma.  The back up on the northbound lanes extends to the right side of the picture. 

Boxcars, flatcars, RR overpasses seem to be the prime graffiti locations. 

 This old Rainier beer facility has been re-invented as something else - an entertainment center, maybe.  It is right against I-5.

Miles and miles of this view, creeping along.  The "motto" is:

 "Your Hometown, National Carrier".  

The southbound view of Tacoma Dome.

This type of dogwood is new to me.  Very pointed petals. 

Those I saw were more a bush than a tree. 

Down the route of the Columbia River which is to the right behind the trees. 

Near Kalama it is very close to the highway and currently very full of water from mountain snow melt. 

Too much traffic for picture taking going over the river and into Oregon where the road construction starts on the south side of the river.  So glad to be off the road tonight.   But I am going to have to wear my earplugs. 

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Road Trip to WA 05-25-18

Back to May 22nd. After spending the night at Holiday Inn Express in north Vancouver, WA.   I didn't remember that it was going to take so long to drive north to Mt. Vernon, and I had not anticipated such heavy traffic until I got to Seattle.  But the traffic was very heavy all the way up.  And then there is road construction. 

My luck, the first thing I came to was another "cone zone".  They are everywhere.

Rolling hills, lots of trees, and traffic.

Once very common on highways in the Pacific Northwest, I only saw these two logging trucks on this entire trip. 

And the logs are skinnier and shorter.  When I was growing up we would see logging trucks with just one tree taking up the entire load.  Those trees are long gone. 

If you look at a map of Oregon you will see a lump sticking up into Washington right on the coast.  This is because the state borders follow the Columbia River which suddenly changes directions flows north just beyond Portland.  This allows ocean going ships to travel way inland (this is at Kalama) and they can be seen from the I-5 all the way up to Longview, WA. 

It is startling to see these big ships so close.  The hills you see in the background are in Oregon.  

I stopped for gas at the first Arco station I saw and then stopped in Napavine, WA, where I saw a Starbuck's sign.  Guess I am just a Starbuck's junkie!   

The area around Tacoma was particularly slow due to road construction. 

Going under an overpass and seeing the Tacoma Dome off to the left. 

First sight of Seattle. 

And the speed restriction zones. 

...Slower..

...Slower....

Sometimes the traffic opens up and you never know why.

Then the Express lanes peel off to the left and the roadway goes down.

And down, under the city of Seattle. 

And comes our on a high bridge over some body of water.  At the time I came through there were only a few cars and mostly big trucks. 

Further north I can see another snow capped mountain.  I tried looking it up on the road map, but the print is so small I can't read it!

And then the traffic picked up.

They do have an advanced public transportation system up here.  Double decker buses are not something I see much in SCalifornia.   Have I talked too much about traffic on this day's travel?  That is what was most prominent and I needed to keep my eyes on the road so couldn't do much photography off to the sides.  The journey was twice as long and, I think, the traffic was at least twice as bad as driving from Placentia to San Diego.  On a Friday afternoon! 

I love this old tree that is found in a rest stop just before reaching Mt. Vernon.  You can read its story below.  I enjoy stopping to see it when I drive up here.  

It came to this location in 1971. 

This map shows its journey. 

A roof was added to protect it from the weather. 

I asked this guy's wife to take my picture to demonstrate just how large the tree stump is. 

One awesome remnant from the forest that once covered this country. 

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Still catching up 05-24-18

I left you in Bend after a great dinner and a good rest.  On Monday, May 21 I left Bend and headed for Sisters, OR, where I made the compulsory visit to the Stitching Post, well known quilt shop that has a huge outdoor quilt show every July.  It is a charming small town and if room reservations are made well in advance it might be fun to be there on the day of the show.  I spent an hour and $92 at the quilt shop. 

As I said earlier, Bend is not the cow town I remember,  Driving through the outskirts there were a great number of newer houses, townhouses, apartments, dwellings!  Amazing. 

The three sisters showed up again across fields and pastures with cows and horses. 

 The sisters are off frame to the left and I think this is Mt. Washington on the right.  Lots of bicyclists around Bend and out onto the highway.  I believe the streaks in the sky are dissipating contrails. 

There is a nice little vista point that gives a diagram of the mountains, but not the one on the right!  In the middle of the picture is a post with a bird house right on the horizon line.  

The house is occupied by a pair of tree swallows who were gathering bugs for a brood.  They are very fast and I couldn't get a good picture.  But here in the bottom right corner is one that stopped to rest.  

Still life with lava rock. 

Here is the famous Stitchin' Post in Sisters.  

Awesome sight upon entering the door. 

Lovely little birdies.  They are from the book "Quilting Row by Row". 

Interesting quilts hanging on the high walls. 

I have seen these hill climbing houses somewhere before, great colors. 

They show modern quilts also, too bad this picture had to include a sunlit window. 

On one edge of a parking lot is this line of blossoming trees.  

Don't know what they are, fruitless something.  Cherry?  Apple? 

Then on the road again heading west.  It was a long slow drive, my average speed n Sisters and the I-5 at Salem was 42mph.  There was TRAFFIC.

The road started out nice and flat, but soon turned into a twisting uphill, downhill, narrow road with mostly two solid lines down the middle.  

Looking to the east side of the road the noon day sun turned everything bright green and the tree trunks a deep reddish brown,  Lovely. 

And, of course, the orange "cones" appeared.  We were high up in the mountains and at some time in the past there has been a fire in this area. 

Here we were diverted into the eastbound lanes while the westbound cars waited in a long, long line.   Do any of you remember before there were walkie-talkies or cell phones when there would be a guy at each end of the detour who would hand the red flag to the last car in line.  The driver of that car would pass the flag to the flagman at the other end of the detour.  And he would start the opposing traffic on its way.  And back and forth the flag would go.   

Here is the first of the line of cars going east.  See the flagman in the lower right.  He doesn't need a flag because he has a walkie-talkie or a cell phone or some such device. 

At last on the go again, behind a auto pulling a trailer.  He was my view for many miles. It seems that all the passing lanes are on the uphill (eastbound) side of the road. 

This is a river full of snow melt from higher in the mountains. 

When I got around the auto/trailer I started following this big flat bed truck. 

But the scenery was nice when I could take my eyes off the road.  Scotch Broom is wide spread up here, covering banks, fields, and roadside ditches.  

From here and throughout the drive to upstate Washington, it is everywhere.

At last I-5 above Salem where they have planted California poppies in the median strip. It was after 4pm and the "rush hour" traffic was heavy from this point on.

I took I-205 to the east of Portland, still heading north, and stopped at one of my favorite view points overlooking the falls at Oregon City and giving a great view of Mt. Hood when it isn't covered with clouds.  I was lucky this trip. 

This is the mountain I grew up with and I get very sentimental about it!

So, on around Portland and over the Columbia River near the airport.  Spent the night at a Hampton Court in north Vancouver.  Just snacked from my food box and had a good night. 

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