On the way to Seattle from Portland, you kind of sort of pass by Mt. St. Helens and also Mt. Rainier. I think Rainier is way out of the way, but St. Helens is sorta close. Well, you can see it from kind of close. It's 50 miles or so off I-5, and it's like a two-hour one way trip to get there (so said a lady at a nearby town's information center). I decided to just go to the first viewpoint, Silver Lake, which is only 5 miles off I-5.
I took a bunch more pictures but they all sort of look the same and they're all sorta too bright. This'll do, pig.
How is Vader a town and how are we all not living there already?
I got to Seattle around 2:30, parked, and headed down to Pike Place (where they throw the fish around). I guess since it was the afternoon, there were no fish to be tossed, which was sad, but it was pretty bustling, so that was cool.
I still had like an hour 45 on the $8 I paid for parking, so I walked to the Space Needle. It just sorta comes out of nowhere, which is pretty cool. (Side note: Seattle has really cool architecture, which I think I maybe captured in some future pictures. I write the blog as I look through the pictures, so we'll find out together if this is true!)
There was some garden (I think put together by this guy Chihuly) that had colorful pieces. It wasn't open to the public, I don't think, so I have no idea what was going on, but it looked interesting.
Cool building #1!
I then paid $19 to go to the top of the Space Needle. It's amazing how much money they must make and how quickly they make it. Whatever. It was cool to see the whole city from 520 feet in the air.
Qwest Field and Safeco, side by side, as seen from the Space Needle.
Some HUGE house / mansion / building.
More Chihuly.
I saw this as I was driving to dinner. RIP MCA.
Lunch and dinner combo was at Red Mill Burgers, which made the list of "20 hamburgers to eat before you die" and was also featured on Man vs. Food as a great burger and onion ring place. It was good, not great, and not really something I'd say "YOU HAVE TO HAVE THIS." They overloaded it with their "mill sauce," which is some kind of smoky (smokey? smoke-y? smoky? smokey? smoke-y?) mayo, and the onion rings were good but not really as crispy as they could have been. Oh well. I have burger places I'm looking forward to I think in Denver and maybe Milwaukee and Chicago.
Here are some shots of things in the building. No real explanation needed, I think.
My food.
Interstate 90 East, from Seattle, is probably the prettiest interstate in the country. Well, at least it is for about 90 miles; after that it sorta gets bland. Here's a shot from within my car that I took after pulling over quickly… ignore the smudges -- those are just bugs that have exploded on my windshield. That happens A LOT.
I then drove all the way through Washington, through Idaho (only about 70 miles where I was) and I'm now in Montana. By Google's estimate, I did a little over 600 miles today. Wheeee! Heading up to Glacier tomorrow, then spending the night in Missoula.
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