Destination Seattle!

Day 4's travels were, again, amazing.  The part of Idaho that we drove through, however, was sort of nothing special by comparison to Utah, Oregon and Washington.  In a way, that's good.  We needed a break from the fabulous landscape in order to not lose appreciation for it.  Ed and Amy said a friend of theirs came up with a term for it:  scenery fatigue.  In fact, all of my pictures from Day 4 are from Oregon because by the time we hit Washington, my reaction was more like, "oh look, more fabulous beauty, more of the same."  I don't want to understate how incredible Day 4 was, though.  Oregon is stunning in its landscape, and the idea that we were on the Oregon Trail was pretty enticing.  I cannot believe people traveled out here by horse.  The picture above is taken from the Blue Mountain summit in Oregon.  I'll have more pictures of the view below, but above the lookout there was a little shack with some horses hanging out on the hill.  Pretty serene.

These pictures are the view from the summit.  We had been traveling through the mountains for several states running and then to have this view of the plains was striking.  Oregon has a little bit of everything - mountains, fabulous coasts, plains, farms/vineyards.  It is truly some of the most beautiful country I've seen.

These pictures are from a rest stop in Oregon.  It really felt like we were on the Oregon Trail and it was easy to imagine the first settlers coming out this way because it remains undeveloped and unspoiled.  That has been one of the most memorable parts of the drive out here:  after Iowa, there is very little and all you see are wide open stretches of land, animals and sky.  


Once we got into Washington we started to see a lot more in the way of civilization and vineyards, and the scenery was, of course, amazing.  The eastern part of Washington has desert and farmland, and couldn't be more different from the western part.  Upon Amy's suggestion we got off 82 at Yakima and drove up SR 821 (which runs parallel to 82) and drove through the Yakima canyon.  It was treacherous driving, as I was so enthralled with the scenery I kept having near misses on the S curves winding through.  The road ran right next to what I believe was the Yakima River.  The water was crystal blue and we could see the rapids from the car as well.


Before getting to Seattle we had to cross the Cascades via the Snoqualmie Pass and the Wenachee National Forest.  It was here that I started to see all the green and smell the trees and plant life, which is what I associate with Seattle.  It's all very lush and green and fragrant.  Crossing Snoqualmie was a beautiful way to arrive.


Of course, we arrived during rush hour, so the last hour of our drive was navigating Seattle's gridlock.  I suppose that was good experience for me, given my job starting on Monday.  


I'm so glad to be here and I'm certain this was a great move for us.  I now focus on looking for a place to live so Shawn and Lorelei can get out here.  I'm ready to move on to phase 2:  Family reunited and getting settled.