Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Beautiful Pacific Northwest!

During the mid 1980s I lived in Seattle, Washington.

As a result of a competition (long before I moved there) Seattle was nicknamed the Emerald City. A very appropriate nickname, too!

Seattle (and Western Washington) reminded me so much of Germany.....

Rainy Weather

Cooler Temperatures

Not much snow

Beautiful Green vistas

Beautiful Mountains - although Mt. Rainier was usually in hiding due to smog and weather patterns



Trees, glorious trees!

I love trees and the Northwest is a veritable feast of trunks, needles and foliage. Oh! And moss, can't forget the moss. It's everywhere and I love it!



This past weekend, Val and I, along with Brandon, who turned 21 while we were there, went to the Northwest.

We flew to Portland, Oregon and spent time in Oregon and Washington.





I loved the moss, all types of moss, everywhere.













Our rental car earned another 794 miles in just three days and we saw some beautiful countryside and the Pacific Ocean!











We learned it takes ten pounds of milk to make one pound of cheese.

Can you believe it? We learned that tidbit of information at the Tillamook Cheese Factory.










Brandon saw his first lighthouse in Cape Meares, it serves the Tillamook Bay.


We stayed with some old friends who moved to Ridgefield, Washington about a year ago. Ridgefield is the birthplace of U-Haul and is a beautiful little village north of Vancouver.


Saturday, Val spoke at a tri-stake Youth Conference in Yakima, Washington enabling us to also see a bit of Eastern Washington and drive the Columbia River Gorge Scenic area.













Brandon and Val hiked Multnomah Falls and I enjoyed looking around the area and beautiful lodge while they hiked.



The Columbia River Gorge Scenic Area is a great place to explore with so many beautiful wonders of nature. I hope we get to return to the Great Pacific Northwest and explore more of it's beauty.

3 comments:

Natalie said...

i love Tillamook! That was the coolest factory. We couldn't get enough squeeky cheese. Looks like guys have lots of fun!!!

CrunchyChick said...

Can you believe how very much like Dad Brandon looks??

Thanks for sharing your pictures! I miss you!

Melinda said...

Some of my favorite places to visit as well---just bring a jacket! Glad you had a great trip!