We Were In Washington!!

Mt. Shuksan, North Cascades National Park, Washington

In my previous post, Arc'teryx in the Summer, Icy, Karen, Kirigalpoththa, Rainfield and Diane guessed the State we went exploring this summer is Alaska. Ebie guessed the place must be somewhere in the Salt Lake City Area in Utah which was the place for 2002 winter Olympics, while Amanda and Jag said they were clueless or can't take any guess. I really had fun in my previous 2 posts, and I thank everyone for participating and throwing their guesses. In my follow-up post, More Clues, I made the pictures a little bit more obvious, especially the picture of myself at the Key Arena. Ratty, who came in late to guess in the first post, was the first one to name the Washington State correctly in the follow up post. So, yes, we were in Washington from June 28- July 5. We then moved to Oregon late of July 5 up to July 7. Perhaps had I used this picture below in my first post, no doubt, everybody will say with confidence we were in Washington around Seattle area.

Space Needle, Seattle, WA

(perhaps the most famous symbol of WA)

I also thought that aside from the Key Arena, the orange structure of the Eagle in Olympic Scultpure Park in my follow-up post would give away the identity of Washington. 

Eagle, steel sculpture by Alexander Calder

Sharkbytes mentioned that the orange steel sculpture looks like that of Calder in the Grand Rapids. Very true, the sculpture above is one of the masterpieces of Alexander Calder, a world distinguished American sculptor and artist. The Seattle Art Museum uses an icon of Eagle to indicate the location of the Olympic Sculpture Park on its map of Seattle.This orange steel sculpture is also the most popular spot in Olympic Sculpture Park for people to take pictures.  

Calder's Eagle Sculpture and the Space Needle 

 Now, if you ask us, did we go to the top of the Space Needle? The answer is NO! First, they won't let us take the stairs for free or even for a reduced fee :( , haha! We prefer to go to the top using stairs, since we want to be different, plus what is climbing 650 ft anyway comparing it with climbing or hiking several thousands feet up in the mountains? Also, the fee is $18 per person to take the elevator? Well, not our kind of fun :) or we are simply cheap. :( Besides, I did the Empire State Building before in New York and was not thrilled at all with the experience of going up a building using elevator and fight with the crowd for a space at the top. I very much prefer a more peaceful walk. We opted to photograph Seattle from the ground, and waited for the following days to do real climbs in Washington's mountains and be one with nature. We had a great time at Washington, our trip was filled with numerous roaring waterfalls, most of them nameless as there are just too many waterfalls in its mountains. Aside from waterfalls, we tread on snow packed mountains and forests, beautiful alpine lakes and meadows, gushing river fed by glacier melts, wonderful ocean scenery at Olympic, wildlife such as salmon, deers, bald eagles, among many others. 

For my next post, I will bring you to North Cascades National Park, Washington.

The Joys of Hiking, North Cascades National Park, WA

Hope everybody is having a great weekend.

♥♥