A Damn Fine Cup of Joe
Not
Minor morning crisis. There is nowhere to get breakfast nearby (which is not, in itself, particularly a problem) but the coffee in the hotel room is both weak and tastes like it has been filtered through a sock. This is not what is expected from US hotels. I am not happy. Not to worry, I figure I can set off and there will be lots of places to stop for coffee and a bite.
Sadly, due to a few wrong turns and some Nav wig outs, I am practically in Seattle before I get my caffeine fix. Now you might think that there would be great coffee in this area (and there are certainly many artisan coffee outlets), but not just off the Interstate and I certainly wasn’t going to head any further into Seattle. Cue a McDonalds breakfast. The coffee was almost as bad as the hotel coffee but at least I managed to make them serve me an Egg Muffin without bacon. Have to take those wins where you can!
On to the first scheduled stop at Snoqualmie Falls.
Look familiar? That’s right, Twin Peaks and the Hotel on the cliff was the exterior of the Great Northern Hotel. Given my morning challenges, I’m almost tempted to seek out the Double R Diner for a damn fine cup of Joe, but I can’t summon up the enthusiasm. Twin Peaks was fun, but it was no Northern Exposure! At least the temperature is quite pleasant - it seems to have dropped by about 20 degrees to 75-80.
I have a few days of driving quite long distances, in the first instance heading down towards the big mountains / volcanoes. By mid-morning, Mount Rainier is starting to loom large and there is one glorious moment driving straight towards it, but then I’m into forest and not much to see. Of course, as is well known, Americans are masters of the big reveal and you rarely get to the great views without going through a National Park check point. A cynic might say that they deliberately build roads to these locations in a way that ensures this is the case. Actually, its not cynical, I’m pretty sure that is the case. That said, a US annual national parks pass must be one of the best deals in tourism. $80 and you are pretty much in profit if you use it more than twice, so can’t really begrudge the reveals.
I wasn’t actually expecting to go into Mount Rainier NP, but the Grove of the Patriarchs that I wanted to visit was about 100 yards past the checkpoint. Natch.
On the approach, it became apparent that you have to have a reservation to get into the park (of which I was very much not aware prior to the warning signs). I like to think that it is a sign of my once again being attuned to the universe that the reservations are for visits before 3pm and I turned up, randomly, after 6 hours of driving, at 3.01pm. The force is with me.
The Grove of the Patriarchs is not fully open as the bridge across to the really big trees is out, but still a few impressive samples.
As I’m in the park, I figure I might as well head for some more premium views. Reflection Lake seemed like a spot with potential - although slightly too much breeze causing ripple to get the full reflective glory. Almost had to have a word with the youths throwing rocks and snowballs into the lake and explain the necessity of a calm surface for really premium reflection shots, but I feared that my wisdom might not be appreciated.
