American diary Part 21 - Seattle Episode 2

Thursday 21st June - Longest day! happy solstice.... OK, so here are some more things that Seattle is famous for that I missed off the list: 1. Bill Gates and his HUGE mansion and the software company he owns 2. Amazon .com HQ building 3. Boeing - the airplane makers started up here and still have their own place with an airstrip, along with an Aviation museum 4. Mount Rainier (pron. Ray knee Yair - apparently - I have been pronouncing it wrong since I got here) This 14,400 ft ACTIVE - repeat *ACTIVE* volcano was my destination for today.... so if you want to hear about it, read on! Alarm at 6am - hot night in Green tortoise, so not much sleep. I have a fan above my bed but it's really noisy so i can't really use it 'cos the others in the dorm complain. Gathered my hiking, walking, snowing, raining, eating stuff and headed onto the street. Rain in Seattle. just drizzle really. My rendezvous was outside the hostel on 1st avenue and Pine, outside a bagel shop which was closed still, so I walked a short distance to my fave rusian Bakery... which was also closed! then found 'Seattle's Best coffee' which was open and ordered a coffee and muffin (by the way, ordering coffee here is tricky - e.g. 'I'll take a tall, double skinny, why bother to go') By 7.30am I was on the street and got picked up by the tur bus. Along with 17 others we were driven very well by TOM to the national park of Mt Ranier some 80 miles away in glorious Washington State countryside. It really is green here - on account of the rain. We passed small towns, big towns and plenty of pasture, wooden barns and bungalows with horses, RV's and trailers. Stopping mid morning for coffee at Eatenville, the weather cleared so by the time we made it to the park entrance there was only a little amout of cloud on the sumit. We made various stops for waterfalls, scenic locations, river valleys carved out by glaciers and snow melts and then made our way to PARADISE the highest point by road and the location of the visitor Centre. I got another stamp in my national parks passport, and ate a very poor burger from the Restaurant. The summit was totally clear so I took far too many photos. Mt Ranier is an *ACTIVE* volcano.. last eruption was 15000 years ago but every 50 yearsit 'does something' according to Tom and it is over due to 'do something'. Luckily it didn't do anything when we were there! It is part of the Pacific North Western 'Ring of Fire' and one of 5 seriously worrysome volcanoes in this area - Mt ST Helens being the main one. When these 'pyroclastic' volcanos erupt they don't spew out 'magma' (said in the style of Dr Evil) - they have massive super heated hot gas explosions which blast the top or side of the mountain away. The biggest worry for this region are the mud flows which follow an eruption, melted snow running in vast quantities down the slopes and into the valleys destroying and covering everything in it's path. As pretty as the meadows and homes are in this area, I would not want to live here just in case. Amongst the many things I saw, was a suspension bridge across a glacial river, a thermal pool bubbling with mineral deposits like those in Yellowstone and a tranquil forest hike caled 'trail of shadows'. The forest in this region is dense, wet and a circle of environmental perfection - everything has a place and a purpose. One exciting thing about the summit area - albeit only 6000 ft up, is the SNOW!!!! i have never seen snow in June before, so this was a novelty. The mountain has many climbers each year and approx. 3 die trying. Just this weekend a man was killed in a fall. We were told some amazing stories - one woman who made it aged 78 in a record time of 19 hours so she could be home in time to receive her weekly call from her son in New York and a man in a wheelchair who made modifications so he could wheel himself on skis to the summit - using his friends to put him back in the chair when he fell out - amazing! There is a ballot to make an attempt and as well as $1500 you need to pass a rigourous fitness assessment and climbing test.... don't think I'm ready for that ! On the way back out of the park we saw a female deer leading her very newborn calf across the road - just like Bambi it could hardly walk straight and toppled over! so cute! We then stopped at the Copper Creek diner for some seriously good blackberry pie - and i MUST tell you the story about this diner..... it's a long one......... In the 1950's a couple on holiday passed the log cabin at copper creek and noticed it was for sale - so they bought it in an attempt to change their lifestyle and set up as a diner to feed hungry lumberjacks. The husband was a cook and the wife did the waiting and paperwork. Things went really well, until the third week when he left his wife in the middle of the night. So, not knowing how to cook she took a bicycle and visited homes in the area asking for help. A woman agreed to cook until she found someone long term and kept this going with her Blckberry pie recipe. In 1994 this woman finally retired having never been replaced! The original lady owner has sold it since but they kept the secret recipe going and to this day the pie is still served - and it was delicious! apparently over 200 pies are eaten in a typical summer weekend. Where do all the berries come from I wonder? So that was my day at the volcano. no eruptions Some pie some Snow A Waterfall Hot springs A Bridge Bambi cool. Back at the city, I walked from 6th and Pike down to the hostel, bought a SEATTLE shirt from the excellent shop on the corner - you pick a shirt and choose your logo design... then enjoyed the free all you can eat buffet in the hostel. Cool again! I found out from TOM that I had luckily avoided police trouble all week in Seattle, Jay walking is a serious offence, as is crossing a street on red and not waiting for the 'white man'. Both incur heavy on the spot fines, but I so far got away with it! It's hot here tonight - think I'll be Sleepless in Seattle!! Ha ha - i had to get that in somewhere! Kx