Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

 I really wanted to see and experience this city, but we were stymied by the oppressive heat (98-106) and the smoke coming from a big fire in Davenport, Washington.

We took a boat ride and David got to see the golf course right on the lake.  One of the holes is in the lake and you get 2 chances to hit the green and then you have to take your ball over to the green.  They have divers who retrieve the balls regularly!

Manito Park in Spokane

 After we finished touring downtown Spokane we drove to Manito Park and walked thru the Japanese Garden and...

this beautiful flower garden. 

Spokane, WA

 We made a day trip from Coeur D'Alene to Spokane as it is only a 30 minute drive.  It was extremely hot, but we managed to walk around downtown.  You can see how still it is by the calmness of the river that runs right thru the middle of the city.  The clocktower was one of many sights we saw in the middle of downtown!

 We passed this sculpture is in a shallow part of the river in the downtown area.

 We took an aerial tram ride over the river.  It is hard to imagine a cascading river in the downtown  area of an y city, yet here it is.

We walked by this area of bronze sculptures across from the shopping mall and decided to ham it up.

Historic Newhalem

 On our last day in the area we went to visit this historic town.  Our first stop was at the Gorge Dam, one of three on the Skagit River, that provide 40% of the hydroelectric power to Seattle.  We tagged along on a ranger led tour and were able to go inside to the visitor's center.

 This is the bridge we had to walk across to get to the plant and to see Ladder Falls.

Ladder Falls is right next to the hydroelectric plant and is too hard to take a picture of.  It comes down in stair-like steps and empties into the Skagit.  I was lucky enough to catch it with a rainbow at the bottom.

 Upon leaving the dam we took a short walk thru the Trail of Cedars which leads to a very small Newhalem hydroelectric plant.  We passed this tree that is dead in the center with a hole on the other side.  The tree still lives because the leaves provide nutrients it needs..

 You can see just how big some of the fallen trees were.

This is the bridge that crosses the Skagit and leads to the Trail of Cedars.  It is quite sturdy.

Thunder Knob Trail

 We hike almost 4 miles on this trail which started out with a bridge crossing the Skagit River.

 On the way we passed by a mother grouse and 2 babies.  On our way back she had moved to a different place.

Here we are at the top of the trail overlooking Diablo Lake with the glaciers far off behind us.

The North Cascades

 We first took a drive through the area to familiarize ourselves with different spots.  We drove by Gorge Creek Falls which were so high that you could not take a picture of the entire falls.

 Then the clouds lifted and we could see some of the glaciers.

 We stopped at Diablo Lake and were astounded by the color of the water.  This is really what it looked like...blue sky and aqua water!

Here is another picture of the mountains, the glaciers, and the aqua water!

The drive to the North Cascades National Park

 We had to take a ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island in order to get to the North Cascades.

We were the first to board and had front row seats for the journey.   We felt like we were driving on water as we seemed to be that close to the front of the ferry.  Our GPS recorded that we were on water!

Whale watching out of Port Angeles

 We had a fabulous trip.  First we saw a humpback whale.

 Then we saw several orca off of the coast of Victoria

 They played in the water for awhile.

 This is the lighthouse on Canadian soil in Victoria, on Vancouver Island.

 This is the lighthouse at Port Angeles on American soil.

 We saw sea lions sunning themselves and...

 a lone sea otter resting by seagulls.

These are the Olympic Mountains in the fog.  It was incredibly cold and foggy.  The water temperature was 46! I had on my heavy coat, a hood, gloves and jeans and I was still cold!  What a difference from sunny California.

Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park

 This tree was covered in moss and was perfect for a scary movie.

 The root structures were amazing and made you wonder how the trees stood up with so much exposure.

Although it appeared quite lush, it has actually been quite dry for a rain forest.  There was no humidity and no insects flying around.  We were prepared for the worst and pleasantly surprised.