The day started out with a good walk around Liang's neighborhood where I found Shorewood Park which was a series of trails in lush woods. Gorgeous.
Then the unexpected happened. My friend got sick and was unable to hang out. So after a little quick decision-making I decided to rent a car and head to Mt. Rainier and Snoqualmie Falls. I was able to do both in a rip-roaring 140ish mike tour. The irony was not lost on me as the first song that popped up on the car after connecting my phone was Nirvana, who were originally from Aberdeen, WA(about 90 miles SW of Seattle.
The drive to Mt. Rainier National Park was hair-raising at times. The last 11 miles of road were made of gravel and had no real barriers on the side. The little Corolla I rented handled it like a champ though. I did get a slight view of what I think was Mt. Rainier and crossed an awesome one lane bridge. It honestly was weird to me to see all of the cleared out areas and downed trees. I'm just not accustomed to seeing that in the NC mountains. There were access roads for logging trucks, I presume, all the way up the mountain.
On the way back down the mountain I decided to go right toward a dead end(which turned out to be 6 miles down the road) and found a beautiful area with running water and ferns all over the place.
After seeing all I really had time for at Mt. Rainier, I hustled up the road to Snoqualmie Falls. I must be a fan of waterfalls because I was greatly impressed by this one too. I'll never forget the awe I felt seeing Multnomah Falls outside of Portland. This waterfall had beautiful overlooks and also offered a trail to the bottom of the falls. I wish I had more time to do that. Maybe next time.
This trip to Seattle was good and highlighted by the folks I met on Friday, the awesome conversations with my Uber drivers(seriously all of these guys were great dudes, the whirlwind Saturday at Bremerton and Lake Union and Snoqualmie Falls. I'm glad I came, and don't take this the wrong way Seattle, but it won't hurt my feelings if I don't make it back. I got to talkin'(yeah, got to talkin') with a lady from Virginia yesterday that had moved to Seattle to be closer to her kids and grandkids. Her voice TOTALLY changed when I asked her if she lived here and she said yes. I called her out on it(seriously), and she commenced to tell me about the "Seattle Freeze" as she called it. This is the phenomenon that it takes about 3-4 times for a Seattle resident to open up to you. While that wasn't always my experience here, I can definitely see how that would be the case.
Seattle is a big, growing city. Growing doesn't do justice what is happening here. 6,000 people per month are moving to Seattle. 61 cranes dot the skyline currently as construction continues at a fast rate. I say that to say this: despite the beautiful surroundings, Seattle is a busy CITY. There not much of a "laid back" feel that I would think would be present in Seattle. I honestly remember that feeling in Portland. And, to be honest, maybe I just met the right people in Portland and I didn't here. Who knows? All I know is that next time I come to the Great "Pacific" Northwest(as a fellow world traveler corrected me on the other day), I'm heading to Portland, Brandon Dunes and then Vancouver.
Tune back in in the coming week to hear about Cuba. That is, if I can get a Wifi signal down there!
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