During June, we went to Washington and Oregon States for a couple of weeks. We took the train from Vancouver down to Seattle and rented a car there. Our trip took us into and around the Olympic National Park, and then south to Portland, where we dropped off the car and took the train back to Vancouver (after spending some time on the Oregon coast). Tonight I'll post a few photos from Washington state, to be followed up by Oregon later. Other members are invited to post their own.

Our first stop was Seattle, which we had visited before. Pike Place Market is very popular, especially over the weekend. It was finally quieter around Midnight on a Sunday.


This photo of part of the Seattle skyline was taken from the ferry leaving for the Olympic Peninsula.


Since discovering that (some of) my ancestors came from Norway, prior to settling at the Cape 300 years ago, I've been interested in Scandinavian culture. More than a million Scandinavians settled in North America (much later), and their ancestors still celebrate their Nordic heritage. Many settlers from the old-old country found their way to the Pacific Northwest. Poulsbo (near Seattle) has a Norwegian festival every year. Though many of the original settlers have died or moved away by now, you'll see Norwegian (and other Scandinavian) flags and writing on many buildings.


Olympic National Park is an imposing landmark in North-Western Washington. We went up the mountains, but this photo was taken further south from some distance away (Quinault).


Oregon next
Christo

Thank you, Christo. These are nice pictures and your story is interesting to read. It is nice to hear when cultures hold on to their heritage.

Portland is one of my favourite cities in the USA. If ever I chose to live in the USA, Oregon and Vermont would be at the top of my list. I am not posting photos of Portland, as many have been posted in another thread. [Portland 2006]

Oregon is best known for its nature, I guess. Mountains, forests and beaches. Oregon reminded us of Australia quite a bit. We mainly went to beaches on this trip - next time I would like to see the interior. The next two photos were taken mid-morning at Newport. Lots of light houses around, incl on the hill in the distance.




We went as far south as Bandon, an old hippy hangout. This pic showing the rugged coast was taken at sunset somewhere between Newport and Bandon.


There are some beautiful spots just south of Cannon Beach (north of Newport now). Here is a pic of one quiet beach.


This photo was taken on a very overcast day on a beach near Seaside, OR. Oregon weather can be wet, windy and foggy, but my toddler had a lot of fun in the sand anyway.


Astoria In the north-western corner of the state is quite an historic spot. There are many old bridges on the coast, and Astoria has one of the most impressive bridges. But don't take a wrong turn in downtown Astoria, you can easily find yourself on the way to another state, unable to turn around for many kilometers. Here is the famous Astoria bridge that would take you from Oregon state to Washington state. The town's Finnish club is right under the bridge. We also attended a Viking festival on the outskirts of the town. (It lasted several days).


Back home with fall fast approaching
Christo

The trees are now changing colour, and we will be leaving on our next trip within days, in the opposite direction (ie northwards along the Sunshine coast from Vancouver, returning via Vancouver Island). We were planning to do it by campervan, but it is just working out too expensive and cumbersome. So back to the tried and proven method - rental car and rental accommodation.

Since not everyone knows Washington and Oregon, I thought I'd add the map produced by my GPS logger to this thread, ie showing where the above photos were taken. I mostly had the GPS logger switched on when taking photos, and switched off while driving and in the train (a neat way of embedding the location into the photo file), so look for the flags and the lines (blue & pink added to the map by the GPS logger). I may do the same for the next trip.