Drive to Washington – Day 6 Rain drops keep falling on my head…..

Drive to WA Day 6-3
Yes, we made it to Washington! We’re not quite to our destination, but I confess that the really fun and touristy part of the trip is over. Sigh. But oh, what a fun drive we had.
We started out today with a hearty breakfast with our friends Buster and Leola. They are buddies from our time in Teen Challenge, and it was so very good to catch up with them.
McKeevers_edited-1
From there we set our sights on Washington State. No more scenic back roads for us. No more breathtaking cliffs, crashing surf, quaint fishing villages, interesting lighthouses and tidal pools. Nope, we were doing some hardcore highway driving –
Drive to WA Day 6
Joining with the throngs of other folks who had places to go and people to see. In the rain and in the mist. We joined the masses heading toward the big city of Portland.
Now I bet Portland is a very pretty city. It seemed to have some great architecture
Portland
but in all honesty, it was a little too dreary to give it it’s proper due. It did have a Big Bridge
Drive to WA Day 6-2
that crossed over the Columbia River and brought us into our destination state of Washington.
The river looked pretty busy for a cold, rainy Wednesday morning – maybe the salmon were running?
Fishing in the rain
Right across the river from Portland is the Washington city of Vancouver. It is home to the Vancouver National Historic Reserve. Vancouver was one of the first settlements in the Pacific NW, and was “developed” as a fur trading station for the Hudson’s Bay Trading Company. Later it became the regions first military post, and during WWI and WWII it played an important part in the manufacture of planes and then boats. There was a lot to see, but we opted for just a drive-by of “Officer’s Row”
Vancouver Officers Row
and the walking tour of the fort.
Drive to WA Day 6-9
Drive to WA Day 6-8
This area is literally blocks from the interstate – can you see the airplane taking off over the building? Nothing like a nice mix of the old with the new.
And here we have your tax dollars at work –
Drive to WA Day 6-7
The classic sprinkers going during the rain. Gotta love automation!
Time to get out of the rain, and back on the road. We were already quite a bit behind schedule (the lure of civilzation had drug us into a Walmart and a Camping World already) and we were hoping to get to the Mt. St. Helens Visitor Center before the day was done. Now I confess that yesterday I said we were going to Mt. St. Helens. I was wrong. We were never actually going to the mountain – or even very close to it. The visitor center we were going to is about 50 miles from the Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument at the Johnson Observatory, which is about as close as you can get by car. And that visitor center is closed until mid-May. And unfortunately, the Visitor Center that was open, was closing 5 minutes after we got there. We pretty much had time to buy a post card and use the facilities. No 12 minute video for us. 🙁
Drive to WA Day 6-6
Here’s a shot of the Visitor Center. It’s the best I can do.

I could post a couple more rainy road pictures (and even one with another bridge in it), but I think you get my point about the day. We are happy to be in Washington, close to our final destination (Warm Beach Conference Center in Stanwood, WA), and thankful for our safe journey, not only today in the rain but for the last week on all of those beautiful (twisty, turny) coastal roads.

Here is a map of where we’ve been over the last couple of days, and our final destination is there at the top.
WA Day 456

So that about wraps up the road trip. I don’t know if Gary has any sightseeing planned for tomorrow – if the day clears up (calling for rain again. What? Here is Seattle?), maybe we’ll see a bit of Seattle since we can’t go into our new spot until Friday morning. So if something interesting comes up, I’ll be sure to post tomorow too. But if all that’s available are pictures like this –
Drive to WA Day 6-4
I’ll spare you!

I’ll be fallllliiiiinnnnnngggggg assslllleeeeepppp toooooo thhhhhhheeeee sssssouuuunnnndddddd oooofff rrrrraaaaiiiinnnnn……….
‘nite!

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