Back in the US, Back in the US, Back in the US …. A
As we return to the “Lower 48” we are taking the opportunity to visit a couple of National Parks previously out of reach on our 2015 North West USA tour before venturing north into Canada. Our first stop is North Cascades National Park.
Transit Travels – Anchorage to Seattle
We have had some transiting to get here – in Washington State – leaving Anchorage early afternoon for a flight to Seattle. With a late arrival in Seattle we just picked up our new car – a Ford Escape – and drove to a nearby hotel for the night.
Yesterday our day started with breakfast at the Lakefront and a short walk along the lake front before finalising our re-packing for our flight. We managed to work our “re-fuelling option” very well and as we dropped off the car it was showing “low fuel” and indicating about 20 miles left in the tank. It pays to do a bit of research with the option to “return full” or “return empty” options many of the car hire companies offer. Fuel prices – as we know at home – have skyrocketed in the last few years. And the prices vary so dramatically from state to state. When we picked up the car in Anchorage they were offering a “return empty” option at US$3.30 per gallon. On the bus on the way in from Whittier, I had noticed the prices were around US$4.60 per gallon at the gas stations we passed. So we jumped on the US$3.30 option.
We flew to Seattle with Delta Airlines – a very full flight of about 3 and a half hours plus the hour we lost with the new time zone. Our 2.10pm flight had us arriving in Seattle at 6.40pm although we were about 15 minutes early in the end.
That 15 minutes soon disappeared as we waited around 30 minutes for our bags to come off the flight. The rental car pickup is off site so we had to get a bus to the pick up location. It was a bit of a walk to the bus stop but there was a bus there – with lots waiting in the queue. We managed to get on.
At the car rental building there were counters for at least 10 rental companies. Ours, Avis, had a huge queue. Not long after we joined the queue, a lady came around to explain there was a delay due to them having a low stock of vehicles so instead of having a vehicle already allocated to a booking, they were having to “find” one in the category of each booking.
We waited well over an hour to get to the front of the queue however when we got to the counter it was fairly quick – we had prepaid and covered all the extras so there was no need for the usual “hard sell” for extras. However we ended up with a different category, which has turned out fine, but we registered the next morning the fuel tank was nearly emptied so they hadn’t re-fuelled it from the previous booking. We also weren’t offered any fuel option. we weren’t proposing to do the “return empty” option hear as the re-fill price quoted was US$5.70 per gallon and I had googled to find the average Seattle price was about US$5.40.
Finally we had our car and were on our way. Luckily Adrienne had phoned ahead to the hotel to check what time their restaurant closed, to be told it was closed due to a “mechanical problem”. So we found one of our “go to” chains, Applebee’s, not far from the hotel so we stopped there on the way. It is always good, simple food and very reasonably priced !
So it was nearly 10.00pm by the time we checked in to the hotel and we really just collapsed into bed.
Seattle to Winthrop
After breakfast at the hotel we started our days drive – this is when I registered we didn’t have a lot of fuel in the car. We wanted to pick up a few groceries any way so a quick stop for both and we hit the interstates around Seattle, heading north east.
The traffic wasn’t too bad with no major slow downs, but certainly a contrast from driving in Alaska – if there were more than 10 cars in sight in Alaska you were probably in a parking lot at a scenic view or National Park ! Eventually we turned off I-5 onto state highway 20 heading toward North Cascades National Park.
Ignoring the metropolis environment of Seattle, the contrasts from what we were seeing in Alaska to the more “familiar” scenery we experienced in the “Lower 48” was immediate – and we were back in cornfields ! 😂 But certainly not in a bad way. We were in an area further north and west of where we had travelled in Washington state on our 2015 tour but the scenery is very similar – very thickly forested volcanic mountains, deep valleys and rivers intersecting throughout the area. I suppose it is just stunning in a more compact way !
The whole area through Washington, into Idaho and across into Montana and Wyoming is so forested that it is prone to wild fires and, as we had on our 2015 tour, for many weeks before this tour we had watched reports of the fires effecting state highway 20 which runs through the National Park. Thankfully they have eased off and while there are some areas still closed – a lot of camp grounds and deeper trails – the main ones we wanted to see we were able to stop. We did come across one section where there was no stopping and smoke evident – being watched by fire teams but luckily there was not a lot of smoke haze.
We reached North Cascades National Park and headed to the visitor centre. As we had a look around, we noticed a board asking “ how many national parks have you visited?” . Trying to do a quick calculation, I made the mistake of thinking of the 44 I had on our “50 state” t shirts and mentally adding the 3 we had seen in Alaska. “47” I said to Adrienne and as 46 was the highest already noted we boldly added our claim ! It wasn’t till later the next day I had a moment of reflection and thought “that doesn’t sound right”.
So technically, at that precise moment, it was “ only” 44, and yes, as Adrienne has pointed out in her blog, I can do some creative accounting by adding ones we have visited twice to get to 47 😂😂. But who’s counting 😂
Before the National Park, the area was first impacted by the building of dams along the Skagit river valley to generate hydroelectric power. Today the power generated supplies a large portion of the Seattle useage.
The lakes created by the dam are stunning with the feed from the significant annual snow runoff. Gorge, Diablo and Ross Lakes provide many scenic viewing areas as Hwy 20 runs past them.
We also stopped at the Gorge power station. When first established, there was a lot of marketing of the technology and the nearby area – which encompasses a waterfall – had electric lights strung amongst the trees to showcase for tourists.
The highway continues through the mountains and gorges and at a point called Washington Pass there is a switchback as the road, having reached its peak, winds back down toward our destination at Winthrop. We stopped at the pass overlook which provides a spectacular view of the road in the surrounding mountains. We also happened upon hoary marmot whilst on our walk along the overlook trail.
As we descended the mountain the landscape became more “prairie” looking as the mountains disappeared replaced by brown undulating hills. It was very similar to the Palouse Valley area, somewhat east, we had seen on our 2015 tour.
Finally we reached our destination of Winthrop, somewhat like driving into an “Old West” town at sunset !
Some enterprising businesspeople got together in the 1970’s when Hwy 20 was completed and came up with the idea of a “western-themed” renovation of the town to attract tourists and it seems to have worked!
We stayed at the Rivers Edge Resort on the edge of town in a cabin overlooking the river – a great location. We walked along the wooden sidewalks through town and managed to find a grocery store just out of town to get provisions for dinner on our deck.
We even had 3 deer appear on the opposite river bank coming down the slope for a drink, followed by a psycho squirrel who seemed to be after any crumbs we might leave.
Tomorrow we head into Canada.