I Made It To Seattle!

TownePlace Suites By Marriott

Everett, Washington

July 26, 2021

Back in early February, my intent was to make it to Seattle by March 15, 2021. Missed it by four plus months. What an experience I have had driving the PCH/US 101. They have changed me.

No doubt I took the long way to get here. I could have taken a ferry or a floating bridge and cut my drive time in half. But it was very cool to drive down to Olympia and see on the activity on the water. Some observations from my drive:

• Washington has more Native American names for places than any other state that I can recall. It is refreshing that it pays respect.

• I had the feeling that every vehicle in Washington was on the road yesterday. I was in traffic the whole time. Especially when I hit I-5.

• I have bent my "rules" and drive interstates around big cities.

• More on this later but nearly 4 million people live in Greater Seattle. From Olympia to Everett it was just a lot of vehicles on a five-lane road. Exhausting.

• There are a lot of bodies of water here.

• It seems to be a significantly outdoorsy state. I wonder if that is because it rains so often in the winter?

• I haven't driven that many miles in a day in a long time. I am tired this morning.

I got lazy and went with a video. Jackie Wilson provides the soundtrack.

Some comments:

Living in a Yurt. Hmm?

I took the water shots at the Dungeness Wildlife Area.

I love the horses standing in the sprinklers.

Couldn't decide which barn photo I preferred.

Little Oklahoma -- there were no road signs. 🙁

The views from Mt. Walker were awesome. It was so hazy that even my polarizing filter didn't do much good. Then again some of the objects (Canada, Mt. Rainier and Seattle where 50 plus miles away. But I tried! Getting to the top of Mt. Walker was well worth the eight-mile roundtrip drive on a really narrow gravel road. And I had just washed Hi Ho Silver!

Lilliwaup -- gotta love it. The grocery store was closed or I would have nabbed one of their bumperstickers.

US Route 101 has road signs that indicate it is north, south, east and west. I think that is unusual. I drove it up the Washington coast, across the top of Washington and then south to I-5 in Olympia. There was not a sign saying it was the end of US 101 when it merged with I-5.

Few photos of my drive from Olympia. It was stressful. I did get a photo of the R in Rainier beer and a photo of the Seattle cityscape.

Destination unknown, 🤪