I had a busy weekend full of some quality Washington site seeing both Saturday and Sunday. This state really is a beautiful place with such diversity in terms of things to do.
Crystal Mountain + Mount Rainier
Saturday, the mode of transportation was ruby red gondola! The gondolas shuttle passengers from the base of Crystal to the top where there are sweeping views of Mount Rainier (and the surrounding mountain range). There were some great walking trails, Frisbee golf (now I know what that is!) and you could even climb even further up the hill for higher views of some of the other mountains in the surrounding area!
In the winter, I can’t imagine if this gondola ride were part of my normal ski or snowboarding commute. So much fun! There was even a wedding at the top. While it was amusing to see the bridesmaids struggle to fit all the flower arrangements into each car and even more entertaining to see the bride need the assistance of several others to stuff her gown into a gondola, I can only imagine how beautiful the pictures must be. Fun fact of the day: a co-worker was one of the wedding guests! What a small world it is!
In the winter, I can’t imagine if this gondola ride were part of my normal ski or snowboarding commute. So much fun! There was even a wedding at the top. While it was amusing to see the bridesmaids struggle to fit all the flower arrangements into each car and even more entertaining to see the bride need the assistance of several others to stuff her gown into a gondola, I can only imagine how beautiful the pictures must be. Fun fact of the day: a co-worker was one of the wedding guests! What a small world it is!
“Having lunch at the top of a mountain” was one of the things I had put on my summer to do list, and I made it happen at the top of Crystal. I imagined it would be more of a picnic lunch, but they actually have an incredible restaurant with really good food and of course unbeatable views! They even had the place decorated with an abundance of colorful flowers in planters lining the patio. I can’t even imagine the logistics of making that happen for the summer. P.S. My newest love is the panorama function on my camera!
Before heading back down, I took full advantage of the sling chairs they had lined up and caught up on some nerdy business magazine reading with one incredible view!
Deception Pass + Chuckanut Drive
To start the day off right at Deception Pass, a high-speed boat tour was in order. There were some wildlife sightings (birds and an otter!), our boat learned about the history of the area and we got to see the Deception Pass bridge (and the surrounding San Juan islands area) from a whole new angle.
All of Deception Pass State Park was absolutely beautiful, so I just had to visit one of the beaches within the park.
Since we were already so far north, I thought it was only appropriate to start the journey of Chukanut Drive, a historic road that I had seen featured on Evening Magazine the week before. Leave it to me to see something on TV and want to go exploring… The first stop was the most amazing café in the middle of nowhere that features local ingredients (for example, the cheese in my salad was from a creamery down the road and the greens were from the garden out back!) and has a different themed menu monthly.
Along the drive, I stopped to take pictures of the beautiful viewpoints along the way!
Before the night was over, we watched the sun set over the gorgeous Bellingham Bay and walked around the cuter than cute neighborhood of Fairhaven.
