Road trip journal #7: Sleepy in Seattle

Summary

• Start: 11:00 (Seattle, WA)
• Finish: 18:55 (Mt. Rainier NP, WA)
• Distance: 84 mi (134 km)
• Mood: sleepy

The day already started sleepy. I had fallen asleep only around 2 AM, and woke up at 8 AM. I guess the hotel life isn’t really for me. Or I was so exhausted from the day before that I was still recovering. In any case, the plan was to get some classic downtown sights again, before meeting Rowland, who had moved to Seattle two years prior. Naturally, I walked for 2 minutes to reach the Space Needle.

Pike Place

I was too tired and running short on time, so I didn’t go into the park. Instead, I decided to get a quick walk through the Pike Place market. It has nice old-school neon signs. A lot of small stands were selling handmade arts and crafts, along with the usual food stands.

I am not sure if these crabs are protesting or not, but they surely do not look too amused.

These salmon have reached the end of their upstream journey.

Finally, some signage photos, and some closed bars.

Surprisingly, there was a pretty long and not-too-socially-distanced line to enter the first Starbucks.

Gas Works

Rowland and I met for a physically distanced lunch around the Gas Works park, which offers nice views of downtown. In typical millenial fashion, burrito and avocado-cheese sandwich were the meal of choice.

We took some nice drone shots of the industrial-looking abandoned gas works buildings. There was a weird flag on one of them, no idea what it means. I still found it quite amusing.

Road to Mt. Rainier

I set my marker to the closest point on the map that was inside Mt. Rainier National Park. I hadn’t prepared at all. There was a huge slog of Seattle afternoon traffic. Getting to the road, I took a brief stop at a gas station and was greeted by a female dog that appeared to have had puppies not long ago. She seemed abandoned, and wanted to be pet really badly. Fortunately, a kind woman took her in moments later.

Mowich Lake

The road started to get rough, with very few cars. I thought that was weird because I expected a crowded, popular national park. Oh well, I’ve set my sights, no turning back now. I’ll drive to the top and see what happens. Some 30 minutes in, the mountain was visible.

The sunset light was nice in the trees.

Getting there, the parking was pretty full, there were lots of cars, but no Mt. Rainier. Where did I end up?! Looking on the map, it was Mowich Lake. Walking around, I took some sunset photos of the lake and surrounding area.

There is a walk-in campground, with free spots. Lots of people were camping, meaning there must be something good around. Mostly backcountry hiking trails, but also some shorter ones to good viewpoints. The campground surrounds a meadow with lots of flowers.

Feeling tired, I decided I’ll stay the night here. But instead of camping, I opted for the car. Apparently lots of other folks were doing it, too. I went to the lake to relax and watch the stars, some burning meteorites, and the occasional satellite passing by. The sound of the lake was very calming, and stars were pretty clearly visible.

Tomorrow will be an early start to get to a trail and the south end of Mt. Rainier with the scenic photos. It’ll be a long day, so I better get a good rest.