We flew in late and stayed in Bremerton. On our first day we rode the ferry to Seattle and walked around the city. Seattle has beautiful cascading flower baskets all along the streets. We started in Pioneer Square where we discovered the hidden Waterfall Garden Park and the Klondike Gold Rush National Park, a national park unlike any other we had seen. The entire park was in a building on a street corner in Pioneer Square. From there we went to Pike’s Place Market where we were dazzled by the incredible flowers for sale and the flowers throughout the streets. We also enjoyed a great bowl of clam chowder. We then walked to the Space Needle and enjoyed the view from the top with a beer. After visiting the International Fountain we walked to the Hemp (as in marijuana) Festival. That was very interesting (especially since they were selling “special brownies”) but way too crowded for us. We had dinner at Pike Place Brewery and returned to the hotel via the ferry to Bremerton.
On day two we made the long drive to Paradise at Mt Rainier. On the way to the mountain we walked the Grove of the Patriots and Stevens Canyon trails. On the mountain we hiked the Skyline trail to about 8000 feet which was high enough to be on the glaciers and not a cloud in the sky.
The next day we took the ferry with our rental car from Port Angeles to Victoria another city with flowers everywhere. Our first stop was The Butchart Gardens. The Sunken Garden at Butchart Gardens is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. The rest of the gardens are also pretty spectacular. After checking into our Marriott we walked through downtown Victoria and the Inner Harbor area. We enjoyed dinner at Milestones on the Inner Harbor.
On day four we went to the Beacon Hill Park which would have been impressive had we not been to The Butchart Gardens. We also visit the Parliament building, the Empress Hotel and Craigdarrough Castle. On the walk back from the castle we discovered a great restaurant called the Blue Fox where we enjoyed a late lunch. After that we took a tour boat around the harbor with a stop at the Fisherman’s Wharf and its floating houses.
The next morning we were up early to catch the ferry to Vancouver. That day we went to Stanley Park and went on the horse-drawn tour around the park. From there we went to Granville Island and dinner at the Dockside Brewing Company. Day two in Vancouver we went to Capilano Suspension Bridge. We were also going to Grouse Mountain but it was clouded in and started to rain so we went north instead. We spent the rest of the Day at Horseshoe Bay. We had lunch at the Boathouse. We went to Whylecliff Park, another little known treasure. We almost walked on three seals sunning on the rocks. They blended into the rocks so well we didn’t notice them at first. We ended the day taking the ferry to Bowen Island.
On our last day in Vancouver there wasn’t a cloud in the sky; a perfect day for Grouse Mountain. We did the Grouse Grind, a 1500 foot climb straight up the mountain. Cathy thought the climb would never end and it seemed like it took forever to get to the halfway point. The climb up is so severe that people are not allowed to climb down. Unlike most people, we didn’t stop at the top of the “Grind”; we went to the top of the mountain at 4100 feet. At the top of the mountain we enjoyed the Lumberjack and Birds of Prey shows and took the tram down.
The next morning we drove back to Seattle. We went to Snoqualmie Falls and Woodinville which has over 70 wineries. It’s actually the 2nd largest concentration of wineries in the US after Napa Valley. We only went to three; all good. We had dinner at the Purple Cafe and Wine Bar.
We had a day of flying home due to the time change. It was a very enjoyable trip.
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