Month: July 2003

Look Mom No Trees – Day 102

Look Mom, No Trees!

Day 102 – July 11, 2003 – Friday

Very few people would look at the three photos at the top of this page on our website and guess that we spent the day in Washington state. Central and eastern Washington state along Highway 2 don’t look anything like what I expected — NOTHING like western Washington. While there were apple trees and cheery trees and your regular run-of-the-mill roadside and forest trees, there were also many miles of wheat fields without a tree in sight. There were even areas that looked like desert.

We drove half way across Washington state today — from Wenatchee to Spokane — almost to Idaho. It was a short, relaxing day — only on the road for about 8 hours.

The morning was spent catching up on some website work. We hit Dusty’s In N Out Burger for lunch, regarded as the best hamburger in Wenatchee. Dusty’s has been in business since 1949, and we enjoyed their “sloppy” Dustyburger. Traditional hamburger bun filled with a hamburger patty topped with mustard, ketchup, red relish, cheese, onions, and lettuce. We both enjoyed our goopy but good Dustyburgers.

In Wenatchee, we visited the Washington Apple Commission to learn more about apples. Beulah was very nice and very informative. Wenatchee is the apple capital of the world. Beulah advised us that we should have eaten that pie at the Cottage Inn or the Windmill. She looked like she would know. She’s lived there all her life. A little trim lady, but I bet you she knows her apple pie.

We stopped and saw both apple and cherry orchards as we drove east through the Wenatchee Valley. Orchards for miles. A huge percentage of the apples grown come from Washington state.

Reluctant photographer, Bozzie Jane, had her creative juices flowing as she took artsy photos of cherries growing on a Washington cherry tree. She got a good close-up, even though we didn’t have a lens designed for extreme close-ups. It’s interesting that George Washington cut down a cherry tree, and cherries are a big crop in Washington state, the only state named after a President.

We really enjoyed the scenery as we left the Valley and went up into the mountains. Then we were blown away when we saw flat wheat fields for as far as the eye could see. Wheat fields cover much of the area from central to eastern Washington. Later, we saw a deep gorge, and in the eastern part of the state, some of the terrain is desert-like. Boz and I competed to see who could get the best wheat photo; I think Bozzie Jane won. She was on a roll today.

We passed through a few small towns and saw some colorfully painted barns. I took a photo of a painted barn outside Waterville. I also took a photo of the homemade rest stop in Waterville. It is a tiny little town, but it had a drive-thru espresso shop. In the little spot called Douglas, we took photos of the Douglas General Store with classic old west architecture, as well as the Farmer’s Community Hall with not one but two outhouses.

The town of Coulee City advertises itself as “The Friendliest Town in the West,” so we decided to drive through town and see for ourselves. We saw very few people, and no one was friendly to us. We chalked it up to false advertising. Of course, it was over 100 degrees today, so perhaps all the friendly folks were inside on this unusually hot day in this part of the world.

From Coulee City, we headed for Grand Coulee Dam. The Dam is the biggest public works project in the history of the world and the largest concrete structure in the world. Very impressive. We met a delightful group of dam workers at the Visitor Center — Molly, Beth, Jeremiah, Clayton, Shery, Craig, John, and Allisha.

We learned that the visitors to the Cooley Dam are the strangest in August. For some reason, they come in with really stupid questions and do stupid things. People ask, how do you get electricity out of the water? Or they’ll ask if the electricity in the water hurts the fish or if removing the electricity hurts the fish…things like that.

The Dam folks gave us some interesting facts about the dam and how it works. When they added a power house back in the 60’s, it tripled their electrical power capacity. And prior to that, the water came down a cement fall area, and it was always a white…almost like Niagara Falls. It would cool, just like an outside air conditioner. It would cool the entire the town of the Cooley Dam area. No one had or needed an air conditioner. But when they added that other power structure, it reduced the need for so much water, and depending on the level of the lake, the level of need in the area for irrigation and just what they do in the power plants, it’s pretty much just a trickle down the cement right now. When the water is flowing over the dam, it lowers the temperature by 20 degrees over a huge area.

Between the Dam and Coulee City, we stopped in the town of Grand Coulee and saw the Gehrke Windmill Garden. The life’s work of Mr. Emil Gehrke — hundreds and hundreds of windmills and whirlygigs that used to reside in the yard of his home. Thank goodness someone saved this amazing collection. Grassroots art again.

Mr. Gehrke was really proud of his windmills and whirlygigs. He had them in his backyard and when he was getting quite elderly, he contacted this city to ask if they would like to have them set up in a park area for everyone to enjoy. Turns out that not only did they say no, but they said, “hell no.” The city had been trying to get him to remove them from his backyard even while he was building them enjoying them himself. After his death, there was some land donated and some folks voted to put his items all in one place for people to enjoy.

We hope Mr. Gehrke is looking down from heaven and realizing that his work is being appreciated.

A few more small towns, and then we hit Spokane. We checked into the Marriott Courtyard to grab some computer time and get to bed early. The next few days will involve longer drives than we’ve had lately — wide open spaces across Montana.

I guess the lesson for the day is that it’s hard to be friendly when it’s really hot. It’s also hard to write a lot about a pleasant, relaxing day when not much exciting happened.

Random Comments:

Boz and I were surprised by the temperature in Washington State. Bozzie said if anybody ever told her it would be 100 degrees in Washington, she would have told them they were nuts. We were also surprised by the diversity of the landscape from western Washington to eastern Washington.

 

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Wenatchee Washington — Dusty’s In N Out Burger — Washington Apple Commission — Coulee City Washington — Gehrke’s Windmill Garden — Grand Coulee Dam
 

Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure – Day 101

Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure

Day 101 – July 10, 2003 – Thursday

We drove halfway across Washington state today — heading back east.

Today was a big day for pie. First, we had Cherry Pie in the cafe made famous in the TV series, Twin Peaks. Then we followed up with Apple Pie in Wenatchee, the apple capital of the world and the home of the world’s largest apple pie.

We had a lot of fun today. We saw the Snoqualmie Falls, the various locations where Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure were filmed, the Bavarian village of Leavenworth, and more. We saw the world’s greatest cow statue in Carnation, and we visited Dick and Jane’s Art Spot in Ellensburg. We met some especially nice people today.

We ran into Ralph, sales manager at the hotel in Lynwood, Washington, and he gave us a ton of sights to see. The desk clerk told us we needed to look up Ralph before we left town. Ralph had seen the elusive billboard on Whidbey Island, though he too believed that it had been taken down.

The first sighting of the day was an especially nice totem pole in Fall City.

The Carnation Research Farm just outside Carnation, Washington was built by the founder of the Carnation Company as a dairy stock farm. This historic 817 acre farm has been transformed to accommodate Leadership and Executive Training for the Nestle Company. We visited because we wanted to see the World’s Champion Milk Cow Statue. During the 1920s, the cow named “Segis Pietertje Prospect” had a yearly yield that exceeded 16,500 quarts of milk and 1,400 pounds of butter — ten times that of the average cow! Can you imagine producing 45 quarts of milk a day?

We saw a sign that said, “Blackberries killed and removed permanently.” I guess blackberries cause a problem for some crops.

Twin Peaks was an Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody and Golden Globe-winning television serial drama. Twin Peaks initially aired on ABC in 1990, and in its first season was one of the most successful television programs on TV. Declining ratings in the second season led to the series being canceled. Despite its short life as a TV series, Twin Peaks quickly became a pop culture hit. In addition, the series has been credited with influencing several television series in different ways, including Northern Exposure, Picket Fences, and others. These series have been referred to as “the next Twin Peaks,” either before their run or after popular success, and examine the human condition and the underworld of a seemingly perfect suburban setting.

Boz and I enjoyed the show, though we haven’t been Twin Peaks fanatics. Our reason for coming to the North Bend – Snoqualmie Falls area is cherry pie, the favorite dessert of FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle McLachlan) on Twin Peaks. After all, we are on a pie trip, and some of the most famous pie in TV history needed to be part of the trip.

While tasting a fresh piece of cherry pie at the Double R Diner, Cooper proclaimed “This must be where pie goes when they die.” The restaurant also made a “damn fine cup of coffee.” The Double R Diner seen on the series was actually the Mar T Cafe located at 137 W. North Bend Way in North Bend, Washington. The TV series was set in the North Bend area.

So, we made our way to the Mar T Cafe, and we had cherry pie and a cup of coffee in the same spot where Kyle McLachlan seemed to order a piece of “cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee” each week. We met Marissa and Heather at the cafe. They told us to go next door to a tourist information place, and we met Ed. Ed Stowie was an actor in several episodes of Twin Peaks. He told us all about the show, and he directed us to a number of locations that were used in the show. He also told us about people who come from all over the world to see the locations where Twin Peaks was filmed. We saw the mountains that are called the Twin Peaks. We saw the famous sign from the opening of Twin Peaks TV show. We drove to Snoqualmie Falls and saw the beautiful waterfall. This was the hotel and the waterfall featured in Twin Peaks. We also drove to Fall City where we saw the Colonial Inn. It was a roadhouse in Twin Peaks.

While in North Bend, we also saw the Train Depot, a railroad graveyard, and a giant log.

We then drove to Roslyn Washington. This town was the setting for the TV series, “Northern Exposure.” Northern Exposure was a quirky TV show about the cultural clash between a transplanted New York doctor and the townspeople of fictional Cicely, Alaska. It featured stories of how people of diverse backgrounds and experiences strive to accept their differences and co-exist. Plots revolved around the intricacies and eccentricities of the citizens of this small town. The show aired from 1990 to 1995. It was a Top 20 TV show for several years.

We took our 10,000th Round America photo today — looking down main street in Roslyn, Washington. This entire town was transformed into “Cicely, Alaska” for the TV show. We took photos of places we recognized from the show — Dr. Joel Fleischman’s window, the radio station, the bar, and some signs. We spent a little time watching a movie crew at work filing some scenes from a science fiction movie that was using some locations in town.

Dick and Jane’s Art Spot in Ellensburg, Washington scored high on the Quirk-O-Meter at first glance. I don’t recall how or where we heard about it, but we drove to Ellensburg to see it. It features a yard full of art — brightly painted wooden figures, bicycle wheel sculptures, and bottle cap decor. As I looked more closely, I realized this was not like some of the questionable art we have seen filling some yards across America…these folks really are artists.

Dick & Jane each received a BA in Art from Central Washington University, in 1971. Dick Elliott and Jane Orleman created the art site predominantly from their own play, but it is also a collection of the work and play of over 35 artists. Dick & Jane’s Spot is dedicated to the philosophy of “one hearty laugh is worth ten trips to the doctor.” They have been working on “the Spot” for 27 years. There are over 10,000 bottle caps and thousands of reflectors. The pieces in the yard are always changing. Old pieces decay and new ones are added. We met two tourists, Kathy and Tony, at Dick and Jane’s Spot.

When we were hundreds of miles away, we spoke to our son, Ryan, and we were distressed to learn that the first employee he ever hired for his business makes his home in Ellensburg! We were so very disappointed that we didn’t realize it and missed meeting Michael Stowe.

For some reason, I had on our list to go to Cashmere, Washington to Liberty Orchards to get some applets and cotlets candy. So, to Cashmere we went. The brochure says: “The blossom-fresh flavor of crisp Washington apples, the tangy goodness of ripe apricots, and the nutty richness of crunchy English walnuts have made our namesake Aplets and Cotlets our top sellers since 1920!” We were too late for the tour, but we bought some candy. Not my favorite. I wish I could remember why I thought we needed to go.

Cherry stands on the side of the road began to get our attention, so we stopped at one and met Josh, a fruit farmer from Cashmere. He was also a forest firefighter. Nice guy, and the best cherries we have ever eaten.

Leavenworth, Washington is a stunning Bavarian Village and a great success story. A small timber community, Leavenworth became the headquarters of the Great North Railroad in the early 1900s. The railroad relocated to Wenatchee in the 1920’s. With no easy access to the railroad, the sawmill closed in 1926, and the lumber company headed for more profitable areas. With the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression of the 1930s, followed by the war years, Leavenworth’s economy spiraled downward. These hard times plagued Leavenworth through the 1940s and 1950s. With little hope of an economic rebound, stores were closing and people were leaving as there were few job opportunities.

The city struggled until 1962 when community leaders approached the University of Washington Bureau of Community Development looking for ways to save the town. Out of this work came the idea to use the town’s beautiful natural surroundings and a Bavarian theme to attract visitors to the area. The town underwent an amazing transformation. The first six buildings were remodeled in 1965 and 1966, and the others soon followed. Two of the leaders instrumental in this effort were Pauline and Owen Watson, longtime residents of Leavenworth. One of the most impressive facts about this entire project is that it was financed with private money – no federal assistance at all. Simply dedicated people mortgaging everything they had! Leavenworth has become a premier destination for family vacations, holidays, recreation, and getaways.

Bavarian-themed shops are uniform in appearance throughout Leavenworth. It is as if you were in a village in Bavaria! Boz went shopping at the Nutcracker shop, because Ryan has received a Nutcracker as a Christmas gift every year. There are fabulous mountain views from Leavenworth — a beautiful area!

We even spotted the World’s Largest Suit of Armor in Leavenworth.

Smallwood’s Harvest is a tourist stop in Peshastin. Surrounded by fruit trees at the base of the beautiful Cascade Mountains, the farm at Smallwood’s Harvest offers attractions for young and old, including a petting farm, a maze, an enormous pumpkin patch every fall, shopping, and fun things to do.

It was well past supper time when we rolled into Wenatchee, Washington. We checked into the hotel and asked where we could get the best pie in town. Riley took care of us at the Comfort Inn. We took her advice and headed to Prospector Pies for dinner and pie. Ryan was our waiter. The Toll House Cookie Pie and the Dutch Apple Pie were both very good. Wenatchee is the Apple Capital of the World and is home of the World’s Largest Apple Pie.

The lesson for the day is to always take advantage of the assets you have. Leavenworth was almost dead as a town, and Pauline and Owen Watson knew something had to be done. They looked around and realized that Leavenworth’s assets were one of the most beautiful settings anywhere — a setting that lended itself to a Bavarian theme. So, they came up with the absolutely crazy idea of having independent businesspeople re-do their storefronts to have a Bavarian theme. The town took what it had and capitalized on it, and Leavenworth has become a significant tourist attraction and a thriving town.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today: 
Carnation Research Farm — Twin Peaks — Double R Diner — Snoqualmie Falls — Roslyn Washington — Northern Exposure — Dick and Jane’s Spot — Liberty Orchards — Leavenworth Washington — Smallwood’s Harvest — Prospector Pies
 

Best Pie in America – Day 100

Best Pie in America

Day 100 – July 9, 2003 – Wednesday

Day 100. Hard to believe. We are in Vancouver, British Columbia. One of the most beautiful cities in the world. Sorry Vancouver isn’t part of the US.

Wednesdays always begin with our weekly radio show. DJ Dan McGrath calls at 7:11 every Wednesday. This week, we talked about Alaska, Seattle, and the best pies of late.

We drove from Bellingham, Washington to Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), then back down to Lynwood, Washington.

Canada has done a beautiful job at the border — gorgeous flowers and landscaping, great signage, and a wonderful monument. The United States has no flowers and untrimmed weeds growing in the median and along the highway. The good old USA needs to clean up its act visually at all of our borders.

We met a man at Canadian Immigration who goes only by a number — #154669. He would not tell us his name. I tried to bribe him with beads. I couldn’t get anything but 154669.

Vancouver is beautiful. The downtown, waterfront, and Gastown areas are especially beautiful. We loved the Gastown Steam Clock.

Gastown is where Vancouver began. One September day in 1867, “Gassy Jack” Deighton arrived (he received his nickname because of his penchant for spinning tall tales and talking without end). He stepped ashore with a barrel of whiskey, telling the millworkers that if they’d build him a saloon, he’d serve them drinks. The saloon was up and running within a day…just across the property line of the mill. Gastown was born.

Gastown fell on hard times during the Depression years and deteriorated into a stereotypical skid row area. When talk of demolishing the area became more widespread in the 1960s, a group of dedicated citizens took it upon themselves to save Gastown’s distinctive architecture and character. The city rallied around them. Gastown was not just saved, it was reborn.

Gastown is now a refreshing mix of old and new, downhome and upscale, a place for tourists, Vancouver residents, and office workers alike. Various shops have the streets buzzing during the day. A host of restaurants and nightspots keeps the area humming into the wee hours.

The famous Gastown Steam Clock was built by Raymond Saunders, owner of The Gastown Steam Clock Company located just opposite the clock. He built it in 1977 based on an 1875 design. The world’s only steam clock is powered by steam from an underground system of pipes that supply steam to heat many downtown buildings. The clock is a favorite photo location for tourists and provides a focal point for a trip to Gastown. The clock sounds its whistles every quarter-hour. Steel balls are raised to the top of the clock under steam power then slowly fall to power it. No one could tell me how the Gastown Steam Clock Company could be viable if this was the world’s only steam clock. I wondered if this was like the Yellow Pages commercial on TV about Arnold’s Rug, the guy with only one rug who was afraid to advertise because he might sell his rug.

The sky was a gorgeous blue today. We walked and walked. We enjoyed an excellent meal along the water at The Mill. Maria and Lionel took excellent care of us there. We met a tour guide named Maria and a man who said he was an author. The architecture in Vancouver is exceptional.

Chinatown in Vancouver is North America’s second biggest Chinatown. San Francisco’s is the biggest. Mandarin and Cantonese are spoken in 30% of Vancouver homes, which makes Chinese the largest “minority” ethnic group.

Stanley Park is a 1,000 acre park bordering downtown Vancouver. It is the largest city-owned park in Canada and the third largest in North America. The park attracts an estimated eight million visitors every year. A 5.5 mile seawall path circles the park. Much of the park remains forested with an estimated half million trees that can be as tall as 250 feet and hundreds of years old. There are approximately 125 miles of trails and roads in the park. The Project for Public Spaces has ranked Stanley Park as the sixteenth best park in the world and sixth best in North America.

Stanley Park contains numerous natural and man-made attractions that lure visitors to the park. The forest gives the park a more natural character than most other urban parks. Recreational facilities are abundant. The seawall is a popular destination for walking, running, cycling, and inline skating. The miniature railroad is popular. The park also contains tennis courts, an 18-hole pitch and putt golf course, a seaside swimming pool, and the Brockton Oval for track sports, rugby, and cricket. For entertainment, there is the Aquarium, Canada’s first and largest, and the Malkin Bowl, home to the local Theatre Under the Stars.

Over the years, a large collection of monuments has accumulated in Stanley Park, consisting of statues, plaques, and various other memorials commemorating a large variety of things. Among these is the statue of Lord Stanley. After we drove all through Chinatown and Stanley Park, we headed back to Washington.

Several people (Nathan at the Comfort Inn in Bellingham and the four Canadians we met at the restaurant in Bellingham) recommended pie at Dutch Mother’s Restaurant in Lynden, Washington, so we went. We have a new leader in the clubhouse for Best Pie in America. The Raspberry Pie at Dutch Mother’s was absolutely out of this world. It was so much better than the two excellent Raspberry Pies that we’ve had previously on the trip that we felt it must move to the top spot! We also had Bumbleberry Pie and Caramel Apple Pie, and they were all great. But that Raspberry Pie was truly exceptional. Big, giant raspberries the size of big strawberries, wonderful flavor, and a great crust. (After 148 days, the Raspberry Pie at Dutch Mother’s Restaurant was indeed named “Best Pie in America.”) Theresa and Trisha served us at Dutch Mother’s.

Lynden, Washington is home to the state’s largest Dutch community, which proudly displays its heritage with Dutch-theme shops and windmills. We stopped at the big windmill in Lynden. We met a family there — some folks in town doing sightseeing.

From Lynden, we went in search of a sign at Whidby Island. We saw Mount Baker as we drove south.

Whidbey Island is one of nine islands located in Island County, Washington. Whidbey is about 30 miles north of Seattle, and lies between the Olympic Peninsula and the I-5 corridor of western Washington. The island forms the northern boundary of Puget Sound. It is ranked as the fifth longest and fifth largest island in the contiguous United States (Padre Island, Texas is the world’s longest barrier island). The Whidbey Island Naval Air Station is the biggest thing on the island.

We went to Whidbey Island because of Carol at Accentrics, a store that Boz frequents in Atlanta. When Carol heard about the trip and our desire to photograph flags and patriotic displays, she told Boz that she collected photos of American flags. Carol saw a fabulous American Flag on a billboard near a bridge on Whidbey Island, Washington. Carol said she would love to have a photo of that flag. When Boz told me the story, we decided we would go to Whidbey Island in search of Carol’s billboard. Carol gave Boz a good description of where the flag billboard would be, so we were well-prepared. When we left Lynden, we headed for Whidbey Island in great anticipation of surprising Carol with a photo of her prized flag billboard.

It was 85 miles from Lynden to Whidbey Island. As we neared the island, we sat up in our seats and kept our eyes peeled. We were told the billboard was near “the bridge.” What we didn’t bargain for was a lot of bridges, a whole lot of bridges. We drove all around the island, and we drove over a lot of bridges, and we never saw a billboard with a flag. We drove up and down the highways on Whidbey Island, and we never saw a billboard with a flag. The sun set, and it was gorgeous — a beautiful yellow and gold sunset, and I took a wonderful photo of the sunset. But we were determined to find that billboard with a flag. We ultimately drove up to the front gate of the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station where we were quickly moved off to the side in a parking area with several soldiers carrying M-16’s. They must have feared we were terrorists, but they relaxed when they understood that we were simply trying to find a patriotic billboard. Unfortunately, Ken, one of the soldiers, said he had never seen such a billboard. About that time, a Domino’s delivery car pulled up, and Brian delivered some pizzas to the guard shack. We grabbed Brian as he was heading back to his car, and he informed us that he thought the billboard had been taken down. How disappointing! Carol, we tried.

The day ended in Lynwood where Paul took good care of us at the hotel. He is certainly one of the most enthusiastic people we’ve met about our trip.

The lesson we learned today is that the best can be found anywhere and anytime. We found the Best Pie in America on Day 100 in a town we never planned to visit. We found our way to Dutch Mother’s by following a suggestion from desk clerk Nathan and Canadians (Mary Ann, Guy, Suzanne, and Glen) who we met at dinner last night.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

Best Pie in America

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Vancouver British Columbia — Gastown — Gastown Steam Clock — Vancouver’s Chinatown — Stanley Park — Lynden Washington — Dutch Mother’s Restaurant — Whidbey Island
 

Movie Tour in Seattle – Day 99

Movie Tour in Seattle

Day 99 – July 8, 2003 – Tuesday

We spent the day in Seattle, and we drove to Bellingham, Washington in the evening. Headed for Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada first thing on 7/9/2003.

Sleepless in Seattle House in Seattle, Washington
Sleepless in Seattle House in Seattle, Washington – Round America 50-State Trip.

The houseboat where Tom Hanks lived in the movie “Sleepless in Seattle.”

We visited several Seattle movie locations today — the houseboat in “Sleepless in Seattle;” Space Needle — the home of “Austin Power’s” foe Dr. Evil, and used in “Cinderella Liberty,” “Frasier,” “Georgia,” “Harry and the Hendersons,” “It Happened at the World’s Fair,” The Parallax View,” and many more; the DigiCom Building from “Disclosure;” the Alaskan Way Viaduct used for a high-speed chase in “Assassins;” the Elliott Bay/Washington State Ferries used in “Disclosure” and “Tugboat Annie;” the monorail that Elvis rode in “World’s Fair;” the Triangle Pub used in “Get Carter;” the Waiting for Interurban statue used in “Say Anything;” Alki Beach used in “Sleepless in Seattle,” “American Heart,” and “Life or Something Like It;” the Fremont Troll used in “10 Things I Hate About You;” Safeco Field used in “Life or Something Like It;” Seattle Center used in “Cinderella Liberty,” “Scorchy,” the 100th episode of “Frasier” and more; Pike Place Market used in “Sleepless in Seattle” and “Fabulous Baker Boys,” and others. Seattle has certainly been an extremely popular movie location! It’s an incredibly beautiful city with a wide variety of sights.

In addition to our movie “tour,” we also saw the Experience Music Project at Seattle Center.

Dahlia Bakery in Seattle, Washington - Round America 50-State Trip.
Dahlia Bakery in Seattle, Washington – Round America 50-State Trip.

Dahlia Bakery for lunch and three (3) pieces of pie.  Best in Seattle, and certainly among the best of the trip.

For lunch, we visited the Dahlia Lounge and Bakery — home of what is widely regarded as the best pie in Seattle — Triple Coconut Cream Pie. The Triple Coconut Cream Pie was excellent, as was the Bing Cherry Chocolate Pie and the Blueberry Brown Sugar Pie. This was the best pie in Seattle and among the best pie on the trip.

Charlie and Spencer.

One of these guys is a famous photographer of rock stars.  The other one rides in a Radio Flyer wagon with a special infant seat. 

While we were enjoying our three pies, we saw the cutest little guy ride by in his Radio Flyer Wagon with a special child seat. We met one-year-old Spencer and his dad, Charlie. Spencer just enjoyed his first birthday on June 19, so he is exactly a week older than Miss Madison. Spencer enjoyed his Dahlia’s cookies as much as we enjoyed our pie.

We had a nice chat with Charlie, and we came to learn that he is a photographer. Charlie has taken photos of a wide variety of rock groups and performers over the years, and his photos have appeared many times “on the cover of a Rolling Stone” magazine. We probably drove Charlie crazy with all the questions we asked. He really enjoys his art, and he told us that he has enjoyed too many of his clients to name one favorite. He almost always enjoys his projects, but he did indicate that Kenny G was his least favorite client. His next big project was with Garrison Keeler’s Prairie Home Companion.

Charlie is a really talented big-time photographer! And Spencer is the cutest — big smile and wonderful laugh! What a treat it was to meet Charlie and Spencer! Here’s a link to one of Charlie’s photos — http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/bigphoto.asp?gid=7313&s=11&e=15&seq=11&cf=&bc=&afl=frnd

Pioneer Square Building in Seattle, Washington where my company had an office.
Pioneer Square Building in Seattle, Washington where my company had an office. Round America 50-State Trip.

Pioneer Square building where I used to have a company office.

After lunch, pie, Spencer and Charlie, we saw the sights in Pioneer Square — the old part of Seattle. It’s a beautiful area with great old buildings. I was CEO of a company with a division in Seattle a few years back, and our office was in one of the great Pioneer Square buildings on Yesler Way.

We saw the most unusual national park we have seen — a storefront in the Pioneer Square area — Klondike Gold Rush National Park. We drove by Smith Tower. It was the fourth tallest building in the world in 1914. We visited Waterfall Park in Pioneer Square.

Soon after leaving Seattle, near the town of Arlington, we saw a herd of wooden cows out in a field. I stopped to take a photo. We have no idea what the story was with this, and we have not been able to get any information on it.

We met a lot of nice people today. Tom (not Hanks) came to our aid as we searched for the houseboat that Tom Hanks called home in “Sleepless in Seattle.” Heidi helped us at Dahlia’s. Nathan took care of us at Comfort Inn.

Then we had a ball tonight at dinner when we met just about everyone working at and eating in the Olive Garden restaurant in Bellingham. Hostesses — Summer, Katy, Emily; our excellent waiter — Deran; Culinary Assistant — Mr. Josh; Manager Kevin; waitress Alisa; customers Mary Ann, Guy, Suzanne, and Glen (the Canadians), Candy, Laura Lynn, and Jamie. Deran has given us some great spots in Nevada to visit when we take our next trip Round America, and the Canadians suggested several pie places between here and Vancouver. Then when we returned to the hotel after dinner, Nathan had two Bellingham area suggestions for great pie.

If the people we’ve met so far are any indication, Bellingham must be a special town!

The thought for the day is how special it is to be able to bring a smile to the faces of others. We’ve seen it throughout the trip, but it was especially enjoyable tonight in Bellingham.

Random Comments:

Today marked the start of Week 15! Hard to believe. 20,500 miles in the rearview mirror. I’m estimating another 7,000 to go — but it could be as many as 10,000 ahead of us. We’ve burned almost 1,200 gallons of gas. 26 states down and 24 to go. We’ve taken almost 10,000 photos. We’ve probably met 1,500 people.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Seattle Washington — Space Needle — Experience Music Project — Pioneer Square — Dahlia’s Bakery
 

Mooseless in Alaska – Day 97

Mooseless in Alaska

Day 97 – July 6, 2003 – Sunday

We spent a leisurely day in Anchorage before flying back to Seattle.

Seeing a moose (somewhere other than at a zoo) was a goal, so Bozzie Jane researched this, and we drove to a wooded area on the outskirts of town. There we took a walk along a path. We saw a lot of warning signs about bears, but we never saw a bear…and nary a moose.

As we drove back into town, we spotted a Chili’s Restaurant. It’s against our Rules of the Road to eat at chain restaurants, but after two days of bad food at local Anchorage restaurants, we screeched to a stop at Chili’s. The food was great — as it almost always is at Chili’s, and the service was extremely good (Katherine) — as it always is at Chili’s.

The rest of our Anchorage day was spent seeing the sights in and around downtown. Anchorage is small and not very old, so there wasn’t much to see. The highlight was the statue where the Iditarod Dog Sled Race begins each year. We saw Resurrection Point and the Captain Cook statue, and we saw the beautiful flowers in the City Park. Victoria took good care of us at Alaska Airlines and upgraded us to First Class. We also met Alvin and Bob — two security people.

Our flight was especially nice as we sat next to interesting people. I met three children as they boarded, and Elizabeth, Jessica, and Zeke were excited to receive beads. The Senior Flight Attendant, Terri, enjoyed wearing her beads as well. Boz sat next to Gary. He was very kind to send us a photo of a moose that he took while in Anchorage. I sat next to Beth. She saw a moose on the drive to the airport. Everyone saw a moose but us, it seems. We were mooseless in Alaska.

Beth and her husband, John, are adventurous outdoorspeople. She’s a tiny young lady, but she hikes on glaciers, spends weeks with grizzly bears, kayaks in the oceans, and is about to take a mule ride down the Grand Canyon. I rarely talk on planes, but Beth and I talked non-stop. On their travels, Beth and John met some folks who went around the world — took them four years.

On the shuttle to the Doubletree Hotel, we met another flight attendant named Terri, and she now has her beads. Same goes for Jeanna at the front desk.

Random Comments:

I have spent entirely too many hours online and running various programs to try to rid my laptop of a virus that causes annoying popup ads to harass me every time I boot up. I’d bet I have 12 hours invested with no success.

There is a lot to see and do in Seattle, so we may need an additional day. Currently, the schedule calls for us to return to Atlanta on August 17 and then fly to Hawaii.

The lesson for the day is that sometimes the best part of a day can be what doesn’t go as planned. Not seeing a moose in Alaska provided more laughs and enjoyment than we would have had if we hadn’t gone mooseless.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Anchorage Alaska
 

Pack Your Lunch (and Dinner) for Alaska – Day 96

Pack Your Lunch (and Dinner) for Alaska

Day 96 – July 5, 2003 – Saturday

If you come to Alaska, pack your own lunches and dinners. We’re not hard to please. In 96 days of travel, we have been critical about less than five places we’ve eaten. But in Alaska, we have struck out. Each meal has been worse than the one before.

On a more positive note, what we had seen of Alaska is incredibly beautiful and I ‘m sure that we had not even seen the “tip of the iceberg” or glacier.

We started our day with a drive to Earthquake Park, a memorial to the 1964 quake that nearly destroyed Anchorage. Measuring 9.2 on the Richter Scale, this earthquake is still considered the largest and strongest in the history of North America. The trail led to a viewpoint where countless homes and land “fell” into the sea on a Good Friday morning decades ago. It’s always amazing to think that nature mends itself throughout the ages. To look at the beautiful forest, you’d never know that anything so violent took place 40 years ago

Anchorage is the float plane capital of the world.

We drove past downtown Anchorage and across the bridge to see where folks try their skill at catching the huge salmon as they pass under a rapids area at a bridge and make their way through a thin stream to the river beyond. It’s called “combat fishing” because there are times when the anglers are literally shoulder to shoulder in their quest to snag a big one!

A nice man named Joe explained to us that the limit is usually one fish per person, but this season the abundance of salmon has increased the bounty to two. It’s also a rule that the fish have to be caught in the mouth. We witnessed a man release his catch when it wasn’t according to the rules. I asked Joe how anyone would ever know. He said that standing amongst us was most certainly a plain-clothes game warden who was keeping an eye out for the opportunity to slap big fines on fishermen who might break those rules.

Watching the men silently and methodically cast their lines in the water was almost hypnotic?never taking their eyes off the stream or noticing that tourists like ourselves were watching and waiting along with them. We were thrilled to see the fisherman at the end of the line catch a huge salmon, but it wasn’t an easy job. He raced along down the river in his thigh-high waders, allowing the fish to dart and swim, only to reel it in a little closer with each episode. The fish finally tired of this dance and allowed itself to be pulled up onto an island of sorts where the man promptly pulled out his tape measure to record his accomplishment (probably 24″ long).

Boz naturally felt sorry for the poor fish and turned her attention to figuring out which one of the men standing on the bank might be from the game warden’s office. We started to interrogate one man who looked suspicious because he was wearing a T-shirt with the misspelled word “Sammon” plastered across the front. We decided not to bother him. Who knows, there may be a fine for being an annoying tourist! After all, the maps here clearly indicate that wildlife have the right of way.

Our day included a visit to the Statehood Memorial (Alaska is state #49 for the USA — state #26 for the Windsors’ trip Round America). There’s a bust of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Alaska became a state in 1959. Alaska is the largest state in terms of size, but the smallest in terms of people — just 626,932. Anchorage is home to about 250,000 of those folks.

We spent some time at the Saturday Market in downtown Anchorage. It’s a park on the edge of downtown. There were primarily food and souvenir vendors, a few musical groups, and a couple of street performers. Bozzie Jane had an apple covered with caramel sauce ($4.50) and some peanut brittle ($6.00). Everything is really expensive in Alaska! Our hotel is running double what a comparable hotel would be most places in the lower 48. I had a delicious cherry pie from a stand in the market. We met a photographer who specializes in photos of the Aurora Borealis — the “Northern Lights.”

Anchorage is very proud of the hanging baskets that line the streets of downtown. Beautiful baskets and flowers. Next was a scenic drive to Seward and the Gulf of Alaska — about 125 miles. There was certainly some beautiful scenery, though most of the trip was under heavy gray skies. We saw mountains that descend right down to the water, snowcapped peaks, and beautiful green valleys. We detoured off the road a few miles to see the Exit Glacier and Resurrection River. Exit Glacier is the only area of Kenai Fjords National Park that is accessible by car. It is one of 35 glaciers that flow off the vast Harding Icefield. The Icefield is the largest in North America, and it remains as a 300 square mile vestige of the last ice age.

There wasn’t much to see in Seward other than the Gulf of Alaska. We saw what may be the World’s Largest Knife near Seward.

Tonight, we drove around downtown Anchorage until we spotted the largest crowd. Phyllis’ Cafe and Salmon Bake. The service was almost nonexistent. I was served salmon that was burned and full of bones, Uncle Ben’s white rice that was overcooked, canned corn served in a plastic bowl that was sitting in the middle of my plate on top of the salmon and rice, and a hamburger bun as “bread.” Oh, I forgot to mention that the starter salad had a plastic container of salad dressing nestled nicely on top of the greens, right in the middle of the plate! Boz settled for a Caesar Salad that was served after I had my main course. It was lettuce and big giant hunks of bacon, served with the same hamburger bun. $40. Really bad. Even the water tasted bad. And our table was filthy — wiped with a horribly dirty rag that was used to wipe every other table. But the place was packed. The best meal in Alaska will be the one we had in-flight on Alaska Airlines. I didn’t eat, and Bozzie reports that her meal was far better than at any of the places we had eaten in Anchorage. Anchorage seems like a very nice, quiet place, but they just seem to have a problem with food. We saw one closed restaurant after another as we drove around here. We wondered why. Now we know.

I’m afraid Phyllis Cafe and Salmon Bake will just edge out Gwennie’s (also in Anchorage) for the Worst Dinner Award. We figured the only reason lunch wasn’t bad is because we skipped lunch.

The lesson we learned for about the fifth time today is to never assume a restaurant will be good based on the number of cars in the parking lot.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Anchorage Alaska — Earthquake Park — Combat Fishing — Alaska Statehood Memorial — Saturday Market in Anchorage — Seward Alaska — Exit Glacier — Phyllis Cafe and Salmon Bake
 

Sun Always Shines in Alaska – Day 95

Sun Always Shines in Alaska

Day 95 – July 4, 2003 – Friday

The Fourth of July in Anchorage, Alaska. State #26 on our trip. We flew Alaska Airlines from Seattle to Anchorage. It is 2,400 miles by car with not much to see but more trees, so we decided to fly when we planned the trip. We’ve now traveled by car, bus, trolley, boat, ferry, fire engine, train, and plane.

Before we left Seattle, we had an opportunity to meet some of the people at the Science Fiction Convention at the Doubletree Hotel near the Seattle Airport. Interesting folks. I spoke with Axel Moeller, a writer and illustrator, and Lauryn, a costume designer. Most of the attendees of the convention are science fiction fans who are really into this. Many of them like to wear costumes. Different.

Curtis took care of us at Alaska Airlines. Upgraded to First Class for a mere $50. Very pleasant flight. Boz inhaled our family friend’s latest novel, “Isabel’s Daughter.” She couldn’t put it down, so we think Judi Hendricks has another bestseller on her hands!

Anchorage is clean and nice. Quiet place. Much smaller than I anticipated — only 250,000 population. Alaska doesn’t seem particularly patriotic — very few flags. We saw no sign of fireworks anywhere. When you think about it, when could they set them off? It doesn’t ever get dark at night during July, so fireworks are probably not high on the celebration list.

Al and Mary Ann from Tampa, Florida sat behind us on the flight, and then we ran into them again at our hotel. Johnny, Myra, and Maile were especially nice at the hotel when we checked in. They told us about several things that most tourists would probably miss, so we have added some specific things to our must-see list. We also met Luke.

Gwennie’s was recommended for dinner. Not good. My fish was obviously frozen; the corn was canned; and the bread was strange. I ordered an Apple Dumpling for dessert, and it wasn’t very good either. We were really looking forward to some good Alaska seafood. Maybe tomorrow.

We took red, white, and blue pies (Cherry, Apple, and Blueberry) back to the folks at the front desk at the hotel because they joked that we should bring them some pie.

The sun was fairly low in the sky about midnight, but our room faced west, and there was bright light shining around the curtains all “night.” We propped various things against the curtain throughout the night in an effort to minimize the bright sunlight that invaded the room. Different.

The lesson of the day is one we’ve learned before: the weather can have a major impact on sightseeing. This is, however, the only time that bright sunshine was a problem.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today: 
Anchorage Alaska — Gwennies Restaurant
 

Writing in Tacoma – Day 94

Writing in Tacoma

Day 94 – July 3, 2003 – Thursday

Today was a writing day. I spent the day in Tacoma and Seattle just writing and working on the website updates. I added photos to most of the days since June 27.

The staff of the Comfort Inn was really delightful. Fatima was the General Manager, and she has personality plus! Leehanna was the Desk Clerk there this morning, and I enjoyed speaking with her.

I did go see the Western State Mental Hospital today; it was recommended by Desiree as the most unique sight to see in the Tacoma area. Photography was not allowed. Western State Hospital is an infamous facility where movie star Frances Farmer was allegedly raped, shocked, and brutalized. See http://www.cchr.org/art/eng/page34.htm for the story. I was also told that Stephen King spent some time there to do research. It certainly ranks as one of the more unusual places to visit on the trip. I was pleased that the radio folks from South Bend, Indiana didn’t call me for another interview today.

I saw Fort Steilacoom in Tacoma.

I went to the airport and picked up the sweetest, most beautiful, and most wonderful woman in the world, my lovely wife and ace navigator, Bozzie.

It is just 60 miles or so from Tacoma to Seattle, so it didn’t take long to get there. It did, however, take five calls to the Marriott Courtyard on Westlake in Seattle to finally get the directions needed to get to their hotel. I made three laps of about 20 miles. The service was so bad at the Marriott that I checked out within an hour. A faceless Marriott person named Jerry is the rudest person I have ever come in contact with at a hotel. Marriott Courtyard on Westlake in Seattle — avoid it.

So, we moved to the Doubletree Hotel at the Seattle-Tacoma airport. Huge hotel, and the staff is really nice. As an extra added plus, there was a big Science Fiction Convention taking place at the hotel.

I met Mary at the hotel. She was a flight attendant for Delta. She was on the way to South Bend, Indiana to spend the Fourth of July with her husband.

When training salespeople and customer service people over the years, I have always stressed the importance of being nice to customers and prospective customers.  People like to do business with people they like.  I believe it is the most important lesson in salesmanship or customer service.  The lesson of the day is to never hire a Jerry; never allow a rude person to work in sales or customer service. Some people do not deal with questions well. Some people do not deal with stress well. Some people are rude to everyone. Those people do not belong in customer service positions.

Random Comments:

Bozzie Jane and I fly to Anchorage tomorrow!

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Port Angeles Washington — Olympic National Park — Hurricane Ridge — Olympic Game Farm — Sequim Washington — Port Townsend Washington — Port Townsend Pie Co. — Tacoma Washington
 

More Trees – Day 93

More Trees

Day 93 – July 2, 2003 – Wednesday

This was one of the least eventful days on the road thus far. Western Washington simply isn’t an action-packed area. Mainly trees. Literally. There is little in this area but the big Olympic National Park, and about all it has is trees and more trees. The day’s travels took me from the trees in Port Angeles to the trees in Tacoma, Washington — beside the trees on Highway 101 most of the way.

Dan McGrath of EZ-103 in Palm Springs called this morning for our regular 7:11 am Wednesday radio show. We talked about Cape Flattery, the Kinetic Sculpture Race, and Marionberry Pie.

I met Erin, Cassie, and Anika at the Red Lion Hotel. Nice ladies. Erin and I met by phone when I made the reservation.

Port Angeles is a pretty place. The city has extremely well done murals all around town. Victoria, British Columbia, Canada is just a short ferry ride across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so there is a lot of water traffic to and from Canada. Darrell and I met at a gas station in Port Angeles. He is of Indian descent.

From Port Angeles, I drove up into the mountains of Olympic National Park to Hurricane Ridge. This had been highly-touted for its panoramic views. The view was spectacular…but you can see just so many mountains covered with trees. After 93 days of sightseeing, I’m afraid trees just don’t do much for me. I would much prefer a giant chicken or something like the world’s largest albino armadillo.

I did finally buy the annual pass to the National Parks. I SHOULD have known to do this when I hit the first park, as I have long since spent the $50 cost of the pass. The pass is good for 13 months. It is a must-have on a trip like this. I never realized there were 380 national parks, that the national parks have so much to offer, and that many places are national parks that I never thought of as “parks.” Ranger Betty was happy to take my Amex for the $50. She wouldn’t give me a dime’s worth of credit for all the parks I’ve already seen, so I didn’t give her any beads.

There are a number of paths that one can hike in and around Hurricane Ridge, but the terrain is very steep, and after yesterday’s hike down and up in the rainforest at Cape Flattery, I didn’t even consider more hiking today. Boz and I aren’t big outdoorspeople — not into hiking and camping. We prefer staying in hotels and driving near the sights and then enjoying a leisurely walk to see them. We probably wouldn’t be happy living in Washington or Oregon where the rugged outdoors provides so much of the available recreation. I did get a few wonderful photos at Hurricane Ridge.

I visited the Olympic Game Farm in Sequim. I chose to visit because my understanding was that this was a refuge for animals that had been used for entertainment purposes. I was anxious to support such a noble cause — taking care of animals cast off from carnival sideshows and the like.

Rather than finding animals running wild, I saw animals pinned up in spaces that I felt were way too small, and many were continually shaking their heads — almost crazily — to try to dislodge the ever-present flies. It took five attempts to take a photo of an exotic deer as it was continually trying to shake the flies off. I couldn’t pass through one gate where an elk was shaking its huge antlered head like it was crazy; I was afraid it would bash the car. Most of the animals had been “trained” similar to Pavlov’s dog; when they saw a new car, they automatically came up looking for food. I don’t know if other wild animal parks are like this as I have never been to one before. I just don’t believe any animal should be mistreated, and I feel pinning an animal up in a small space is mistreatment. Monkey Jungle in Florida was very well done, but in my opinion, these folks at Olympic Game Farm have way too many animals in way too small a space.

It turns out the Beebe family, owners of the Olympic Game Farm, used to train animals to be in the movies — big difference from being folks who take in animals that were cast-offs from carnivals as I had heard.

I left Sequim in a bad mood, though I did enjoy seeing the lavender fields.

Port Townsend, Washington perked me right up, though. I detoured off 101 to see this beautiful waterfront town, and I thoroughly enjoyed walking around and seeing the area. The downtown is filled with wonderful 1880’s era brick buildings, and every building is occupied with a business (unlike most downtowns we’ve seen) — mainly tourist-oriented restaurants and shops. I had a delicious Meatloaf Sandwich at the Port Townsend Pie Co., and the Cherry Pie was excellent. It was made with local organically-grown cherries, and Jeani (the pie lady) told me that a little vinegar is her secret to a really light crust. Marionberry Pie is her biggest seller, and for a brief time each year, she makes a Watermelon Concord Grape Pie that she says is spectacular.

I saw the World’s Largest Orca Whale on a Trailer in Port Townsend. As they say in the biz, slow news day.

I met “Dimples” and Tara at a gas station as I was leaving Port Townsend. Tara asked about Mardi Gras.

The rest of the day was spent driving the rest of the way to Tacoma. Check your road atlas, and you’ll see the drive is along the big bay that dips down into Washington state. Except for an Indian reservation with perhaps 100 fireworks stands, there was little to see but trees and water. I’ve got to ask someone what the deal is with all these fireworks stands at the Indian reservations. Perhaps the Indians have an exclusive on fireworks in Washington.

As I was pulling into the parking lot of the Comfort Inn in Tacoma, I was thinking that today certainly wasn’t one of the best days. Then I walked in the hotel and met Fatima, Desiree, and Krystin of the Comfort Inn. Delightful ladies and funny. We exchanged stories for a half hour or more. Desiree suggests the Western State Mental Hospital as the most unique place to see in Tacoma, so I will plan to go there tomorrow. Fatima suggested the plant that makes the Almond Rocha candies. Krystin was just chewing on ice and rolling her eyes at all the suggestions, but she did endorse the mental hospital visit. Desiree says some famous people have been there and some strange things have happened there. I’m not sure if Krystin thinks the mental hospital will make an interesting place for me to see…or whether she figures it’s a place where I belong.

I have been disappointed lately that there was no great revelation at the end of each day when I asked myself what we had learned today. I learned some geography, I guess. I confirmed that it is good to pay $50 for an annual national park pass at the start of a trip Round America, but Day 93 of 148 days should be better late than never. I was reminded how much it bothers us to see animals in questionable conditions. I was reminded that I do love great pie. I was reminded that something can happen when you least expect it to brighten your day.

Random Comments:

We met two folks from the area today “virtually.” They saw the PT Cruiser on the road and emailed to say hi. Crystal Maden and Phil Shoemaker. We get these from time to time, and it’s always an extra treat to meet people this way.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Port Angeles Washington — Olympic National Park — Hurricane Ridge — Olympic Game Farm — Sequim Washington — Port Townsend Washington — Port Townsend Pie Co — Tacoma Washington
 

Trees Trees and More Trees — The Evergreen State – Day 92

Trees Trees and More Trees — The Evergreen State

Day 92 – July 1, 2003 – Tuesday

Astoria, Oregon to Port Angeles, Washington today — on Highway 101 almost the entire way.

I saw a lot of trees today — Washington is full of them. The welcome sign said: “Washington — The Evergreen State.” Good motto.

I saw the northwesternmost point in the Continental United States, I think. Other sights today were the Astor Tower, the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, a lot of trees, several lighthouses, the World’s Longest Beach, lots of trees, the World’s Biggest Frying Pan, the World Kite Museum & Hall of Fame, and a whole lot of trees.

I drove around Astoria before crossing the bridge to Washington State ? The Evergreen State. The big sight to see is the Astor Column (I’ve also seen it called The Astoria Column). It is a tower overlooking the Columbia River on Coxcomb Hill. The 125-foot tall column was built in 1926 with financing by Vincent Astor, the great-grandson of John Jacob Astor (the first millionaire in America), and the Great Northern Railway. It was built to commemorate the city’s role in the Astor family’s business history. It stands atop 700-foot tall Coxcomb Hill, so it is way up there. The Column includes an interior spiral staircase that leads to an observation deck at the top. There is a fabulous view from the top of the hill at The Astor Column.

There is detailed artwork covering the entire Column. The brochure calls it a “spiral frieze” (which I mistakenly thought was a treat at Dairy Queen), and it is almost seven feet wide, and 525 feet long. Painted by Electus D. Litchfield and Attilio Pusterla, the mural shows the early history of Oregon with a focus on Astoria’s role including Captain Gray’s discovery of the Columbia River in 1792 and the Lewis & Clark Expedition. I was able to get a good closeup of the detailed artwork, but I guess only the painters and a few birds get to see it all because the mural is on the outside of a 125-foot tall column atop a 700-foot hill.

I was interested to learn that at the time of his death in 1848, John Jacob Astor was the wealthiest person in the United States, leaving an estate estimated to be worth at least 20 million dollars. According to the latest Forbes rankings, he would be worth $110 billion in today’s dollars, making him the fourth wealthiest person in American history.

I saw some Victorian homes in Astoria. The most impressive was the Flavel House Museum. This home was built in 1885 by Captain George Flavel, a Columbia River bar pilot and the area’s first millionaire. This is a magnificent example of Queen Anne-style architecture with period furnishings and artwork, and it sits on an entire city block. It is a gorgeous home, but I bet it could be really spooky-looking at Halloween.

I then drove over the looong bridge between Astoria, Oregon and the coastline of Washington state near Ilwaco. State #25 for us. Did I mention that the Welcome to Washington sign said Washington is the “Evergreen State?”

I stopped at the Visitor Center at the Washington border, and Jiggs was very helpful. He was a fountain of information. I asked him about all the trees, and he told me more than I ever needed to know about trees…but I enjoyed it.

The Washington coastline near Ilwaco is very beautiful.

In the town of Chinook, I passed by Washington’s first salmon hatchery — established in 1893.

Ilwaco is the Centennial Murals City, so I photographed a couple of the murals. Since 1986, 18 Pacific County walls have become canvases for colorful and historical murals. The murals, which are the work of 14 artists, string from Tokeland to Chinook to Ocean Park and were painted to commemorate the Washington State Centennial in 1989.

I walked along the shore to the North Head Lighthouse in Ilwaco. I was able to take some good photos of the coastline and the North Head Lighthouse.

Just down the road was the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center which was a work in progress. It had artists’ renderings of what the displays would be like. There wasn’t much more to see. Surely they were running way behind schedule. The Lewis and Clark Expedition left in 1803, so 2003 is the bicentennial, and half of 2003 was gone when I visited on July 1, 2003. The folks out west can be glad that those operating the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center were not the ones leading the expedition as the west may have never been settled.

I got a photo of the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse in Ilwaco. The only thing this area has more of than lighthouses is trees.

Long Beach, Washington had a number of interesting and enjoyable sights. In addition to some nice trees, the World’s Longest Beach is in appropriately-named Long Beach, Washington. I walked down the beach a bit so I could say I had truly been there. I took a photo of the sign that says “world’s longest beach” and a photo of the beach that goes on forever. It looks like it really could be the world’s longest — we know some cities, states, and countries are prone to exaggeration.

Then I met Sharon and Kay at the World Kite Museum & Hall of Fame. The World Kite Museum & Hall of Fame is the only American Museum dedicated exclusively to the history of kites, kitemakers and famous kite fliers. I had never stopped to think that there were famous kite fliers other than Benjamin Franklin.

The major attraction that I went to see in Long Beach was Marsh’s Free Museum. W.W. Marsh, Sr. went broke raising rutabagas is North Dakota, so he moved to Long Beach, Washington and opened a candy shop and ice cream store. A few years later when the passenger liner Admiral Benson went aground in the fog near Cape Disappointment, the enterprising Wellington Marsh, Sr. sensed a business opportunity and hurriedly opened a temporary hamburger stand to feed the curious onlookers. It was a beginning that would have Marsh return to the Peninsula in 1935, after owning a tavern in Gray’s River. Marsh’s Free Museum was born. Marsh’s Free Museum was originally known as Marsh’s Seashell Factory and Antiques from 1937 to 1952. Originally across the street from its current location, Marsh’s Free Museum soon became known as a place that might purchase that weird stuff found when cleaning out the attic.

One of Marsh’s Free Museum’s many advertising slogans is “a place where troubles are forgotten and laughs and smiles are free.” I laughed and smiled.

If you want to see a shrunken head (one of three authentic specimens on the West Coast), or a complete human skeleton (found in a closet at Marsh’s), Marsh’s Free Museum is the place to visit. How long has it been since you’ve gazed into the eyes of a Yak, a Lioness, a Seca, or a Russian Boar? These are just a few of the hundreds of stuffed and mounted animals that adorn the wall or watch from their posts in the rafters. Known for America’s largest collection of glass fishing floats, one as large as a beach ball, the Museum is also home to a world class collection of sea shells. And to impress this point, more than 1,000,000 free sea shells are given to visitors every year. From the bizarre; a two headed calf or an eight legged lamb…to the old and unusual; mechanized antique gaming machines and peepshows, there is no end to the marvels one uncovers in every nook and cranny. Where else can you watch a peep show, play baseball, have your fortune told, shop for antiques, stretch your imagination, even test your love quotient? From petrified dinosaur dung to a 1940 “Wendell Wilkie for President” poster and a human tape worm in a bottle, if you haven’t seen it at Marsh’s, then, you haven’t stayed long enough…. It was my kind of place!

I met Don and Dan at Marsh’s. I met Yvette and Rebekah just across the street at the world’s largest frying pan. I also visited Long Beach’s Lewis & Clark memorial.

The Hungry Harbor Grill in downtown Long Beach had good clam and chips and slaw for lunch.

I met Randy at a gas station in Long Beach. He gave me a pen as a thank you for buying gas gift, so I took his photo and gave him a bigger tip than I would have given had I not received a free ballpoint pen. I am about out of beads. Boz ordered more, and she will be bringing them when she returns to the trip in Seattle.

There was a fairly pretty blue sky today, so I was able to get some nice coastline photos.

South Bend, Washington had a sign proclaiming it to be “Oyster Capital of the World.”

I saw a lot of Christmas trees today. Pointy-top evergreens.

A sign just outside Raymond announced that I had entered the Raymond Wildlife Heritage Sculpture Corridor. I?d never heard of this. I discovered that steel sculptures of wildlife and people have been placed along Highway 101, State Route 6, and throughout downtown Raymond. The sculptures were designed by local artists in 1993 to reflect the heritage of the area. Loggers, Native Americans, elk, and bear are some of the subjects portrayed. I continued to see them as I drove along, some more elaborate than others. There were a lot of them.

Olympic National Park was on the drive today. Talk about a lot of trees!!!

Humptulips. Funny name. There is a town named Humptulips, and I drove past it. I did some Internet research about the name. The name Humptulips may have come from a local Native American language, meaning “hard to pole,” referring to the difficulty local Native Americans had poling their canoes along the Humptulips River. According to other sources the word means “chilly region.” Another possibility is that Humptulips was the name of a band of the Chehalis Tribe. So, no one seems to know for sure where the name came from.

The largest spruce tree is supposedly in the Quinault Recreation Area. I guess I saw it. There were too many trees to be absolutely sure, but I am confident that I at least saw the top of it. Lake Quinault is the “Valley of the Rain Forest Giants,” and the Big Spruce Tree is one of them. The World’s Largest Spruce Tree has a circumference of 58 feet 11 inches, a diameter of 18 feet 9 inches and it is 191 feet tall for a total of 922 American Forestry Association (AFA) points. A very large tree near Seaside, Oregon has claimed to be the United States largest spruce tree; it has 902 AFA points. The American Forestry Association declared them close enough to be CO-champions. But a little bigger is still bigger. Those darned folks in Seaside!

I stopped to powder my nose in Forks, Washington. Dawn said “I like your necklace” as we passed on the street. She became the proud owner of her own beads. Cody and Andrew liked the flames on the PT Cruiser.

The Forks Timber Museum had a major collection of saws and a logger memorial with a giant logger wooden statue. The museum displays exhibits depicting local history dating back to the 1870’s. It was constructed in 1990 by the Forks High School carpentry class. The signs say the 3,200 square foot building “provides a fascinating look back into the local history of the timber industry.” The displays include an ancient cross-cut saw, chain saws used by lumbermen, a bunkhouse showing where they slept and how they lived, and books and videos of who these men were and what they did. Outside, there’s a memorial garden. There’s even a fire lookout tower and nature trails. A fitting stop on a day with trees, trees, and more trees.

I saw tree stumps left after trees had been harvested. I saw many of these today, and it looked to me like the land was not being managed properly. One of our online travelers emailed to advise me that this practice was proper, and that the stumps would be removed after they served their purpose. I did note that the professional timber companies posted signs along the highway to show how the forests are managed.

The rest of the day was a search for the northwesternmost point in the Continental United States. I had been to the southeasternmost and southwesternmost points, and I hoped to add northwest and northeast.

I went to La Push, Washington because some research indicated it could be the westernmost spot. I then made my way to Cape Flattery.

I saw the famous Running Fish Statue in Clallam Bay, Washington. I saw the boat in harbor and the Makah Indian Museum in Neah Bay, Washington.

I ultimately saw something that very few people have seen — Cape Flattery — what I choose to believe is the northwesternmost point in the Continental United States. The Trail was built by the Makah Indian Tribe with two Federal grants. It provides a view of waves crashing against rocky shores and of Tatoosh Island, a former Makah fishing and whaling camp, and lots of trees. I was told that visitors can sometimes catch a glimpse of puffin, sea otters, seals, gray, orca and humpback whales and other marine life.

It was a very beautiful spot, but it was a long drive and a LONG hike to get there and back. As I entered the trail, I saw a family of five heading back to their car. I asked if it was worth the hike, and the parents said yes while the teenage children all rolled their eyes in unison. I don’t recommend it for the normal tourist — only for crazy folks like me who want to say they were at the northwesternmost point. I kept driving and driving and driving to get there, and I finally reached a parking area and a sign. It was then a 22-minute hike down to the end of Cape Flattery, and a little longer uphill on the return through the rainforest.

It was really beautiful there. I was able to get some wonderful photographs, including the Cape Flattery Lighthouse.

Then I photographed a gorgeous orange sunset at Cape Flattery. I was able to photograph it from several vantage points — some of the best sunset photos from the trip. I especially enjoy “chasing the sun” at the end of the day when there are a few clouds in the sky to make the sunsets more dramatic.

I may have actually failed in my plan to visit the four “most” points. There are conflicting reports about the westernmost, and I lost my sheet with the information, and I couldn’t get anyone on the cell phone to help. I had been at Cape Blanco, Oregon (one of the claimants to be the westernmost point), but I had read that a place in Washington was actually westernmost. So, I looked at the map and visited two of three Indian reservations that are far west — La Push and Cape Flattery near Neah Bay. I checked Yahoo, and it appears the third Indian reservation could have the westernmost point — Cape Alava. Disappointing. It was getting dark after Cape Flattery, and I never even saw a sign for Cape Alava. I will say, however, that a number of sources say that Cape Flattery is the westernmost spot, so I’m goin’ with it.

I saw more firework stands on the Indian reservations here than I’ve seen in the rest of the country. I stopped at Ill Eagle Fireworks.

Random Comments:

Washington is state #25, though the trip is 75% behind us.

Today marks the start of Week # 14, and the fourth month of the trip. I’d like to say April 1 seems like it was just yesterday, but it is tiring to travel this much.

I haven’t mentioned it lately, but I am always on the lookout for flags everywhere I go. I usually take a number of flag photos each and every day. I have done a good job of getting a photo of a license plate in every state as well as a good selection of flag photos from each state.

The Daily Journal of Round America:

Each day, we collect our thoughts on a web page just like this. We drop in some of the photos from the day. Our goal with the Daily Journal is to write about the towns we visit, the sights we see, the people we meet, and the pie we eat. We write about where we are, where we’ve been, and where we are going, but we also make observations about what we’ve seen and done as well as about life in general.

You can follow our travels from the Daily Journal section of this website. Other pages of interest include the running report of “vital statistics” on the Trip Scorecard, our nominations for the Best & Worst of the trip, as well as a rating of the pie we eat. If you’d like to see information for a specific state or town, click here, and then click on the state of interest, and the full itinerary is shown.

 

More Information on the Sights Visited Today:
Astoria Oregon — The Astor Column — Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center — Long Beach Washington — Worlds Longest Beach — World Kite Museum and Hall of Fame — Marsh’s Free Museum — Worlds Largest Frying Pan — Raymond Wildlife Heritage Sculpture Corridor — Worlds Largest Spruce Tree — Forks Timber Museum — Running Fish Statue — Cape Flattery