As you’ll be aware by now, I’m not trying to see and do everything in my travels, or even to see the most popular tourist attractions, but merely to do things that interest me at the time. When I reached Portland, Oregon, I was in a quieter mood, and just wanted to do something peaceful for the day. Washington Park in the center of Portland is home to the International Rose Test Garden, and also a lovely Japanese garden, and wandering…
When you think of mountains in Washington state, two iconic ones always come to mind: Mount Rainier and Mount Saint Helens, both volcanos. I drove through dense and primordial forests to get to Mount Rainier first, and couldn’t help but remember that this is where all the Sasquatch sightings are supposed to take place. Look at the height and density of the trees lining the road there… I could certainly see how a mystery could lie hidden in these remote mountains. …
Seattle is where Starbucks coffee got it’s start, and it hardly seemed right to visit here without having a cup from the wellspring. Although it’s not actually the original building where it all began, the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room is only a few blocks away, and it’s where all the reserve roasting takes place. (No, I have no idea what the guy in the picture is doing, and didn’t see him when I took it!) As soon as…
I guess it’s probably obvious by now that I’m a fan of machinery, particularly elegantly designed fit-for-purpose machinery on a large scale. So when visiting Seattle, I couldn’t possibly miss the Boeing Future of Flight Aviation Center for a factory tour! The factory is at Mukilteo, about half an hour’s drive north of the city. Unfortunatly no cameras were allowed on the tour itself, but I can tell you that we visited the production line hangers for the 747-8, the…
I’ve received a number of questions from readers about living on the road, so thought I’d summarize them in a single post. Please keep the questions coming, I’m happy to answer them! Do you spend more time on highways or backroads? In general, I try to spend more time on secondary and backroads than highways, just because I think I see more of the world that way, get to discover things that aren’t visible just from the major roads, and have more…