Grand Coulee Dam

On the way from Northern Cascades National Park to Glacier National Park, we made another stop on our dam tour, the Grand Coulee Dam. The Grand Coulee Dam is the largest concrete structure in North America with 11,975,521 yd³ used to build it. Construction on this dam across the Columbia River started in 1933 and was completed in 1942.

The Grand Coulee Dam is the largest electricity producing dam in the US and the 5th largest electricity producing dam in the world. In the summer, you can watch a laser show on the dam each night after sunset. Unfortunately, sunset was close to 10 pm when we were there and we we were a few hours from our destination...no light show for us :(

Northern Cascades, Washington

Washington Pass
River along the Northern Cascades Highway

Dam creating Diablo Lake

Falls in the gorge at Diablo Lake


Winthrop, Washington

Our next major destination after the Olympic Peninsula was Glacier National Park in Montana. We had several choices of routes to take from Olympic National Park to Glacier National Park. We chose to take the road through the Northern Cascades in Washington. The drive was beautiful.

Most of the drive was next to rivers or lakes that were a blue-green shade that was reminiscent of the waters in the Caribbean. Seeing that almost turquoise water next to the dark green spruce trees was an amazing site. Unfortunately, the pictures do not do the colors justice :( It was so beautiful that we made several stops in the cascades just to take in the views.

On our trip we had a discussion as to why this range of mountains that run from southern Oregon to northern Washington is called The Cascades. After driving the Northern Cascade highway and visiting the area around Prospect, Oregon, we agreed we would have named the mountain range "The Cascades" because of all the water cascading down the cliffs from the snow melt. We don't know that for sure but we think the reason is plausible.

We ended our day in the small town of Winthrop. The town still has that old west look that you often see in Western movies. We enjoyed eating burgers at Three Fingered Jack's Saloon which is the oldest "legally" operating saloon in Washington State.

Olympic Mountain, Washington

In the end, we had to go to Victoria so we could see the Olympic Mountains. The entire time we were on the Olympic Peninsula, the mountains were covered with fog or rain. As we were returning to Port Angeles on the ferry from Victoria, we finally saw the mountains in all their glory. We also saw our last sunset over the Pacific before heading back east.

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria Harbor

Ferries to transport tourists around the harbor

Coastline in Victoria

Sea Plane landing on the harbor

Parliament Building

It was such a foggy, rainy day on the Olympic Peninsula that we didn't know how to spend the day. When we looked across the Strait of Juan de Fuca and saw that the weather looked better on Vancouver Island, we decided to take the ferry to Victoria.

After being in small towns on Olympic Peninsula, arriving at Victoria Harbour was a pleasant surprise. It was like being transported to Europe. When you arrive in the harbor, you can see the Parliament building and a historic hotel covered with ivy. The big difference in any European city I have visited is the presence of sea planes. The harbor also acts as a runway for the sea planes.

We had a lovely time visiting a pub, strolling along the harbor, and taking a city tour. If you are ever on the Olympic Peninsula, I highly recommend a brief escape to the lovely city of Victoria, BC.

Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Washington

What we expected to see from Hurricane Ridge

Our View from Hurricane Ridge

Lupines on Hurricane Ridge

Our last full day on the Olympic Peninsula, we drove up to Hurricane Ridge hoping to see the Olympic mountains in all their glory. Instead, we saw clouds, clouds, and more clouds. Based on the pictures at the visitors centers and on the post cards, we believe there are beautiful mountains behind the clouds. I guess we have a reason to make another trip to the Olympic Peninsula so we can see the mountains. That doesn't sound so bad.

Cape Flattery, Olympic Penninsula, Washington

The north western most point in the continental USTatoosh Island Lighthouse

Cape Flattery Coastline

Cape Flattery Sea Caves

Starfish clinging to the rocks at Cape Flattery

Since we had visited the southern most point in the US earlier this year, it was only fitting that we visited the northwestern most point in the continental US. Consequently, we took the hour plus drive to Cape Flattery...and it was well worth it.

Cape Flattery has a .7 mile trail across cedar boardwalks that stops at 4 overlooks including an overlook of Tatoosh Island which is the most northwestern point in the US. The sea caves, sea stacks, and gorgeous coastline make the drive and the hike well worthwhile.

Mora Bay, Olympic National Park, Washington

Driftwood on Rialto Beach at Moro Bay

Driftwood on beach with sea stacks in the background

An American Bald Eagle with lunch for the babies

The eagle killed a seagull to feed the chicks

The beach was mostly stone

We stayed one night in Forks, Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. For those of you with teenage children, you may recognize Forks from the movie "Twilight" based on the books on teenage vampires. The town has gotten a lot of tourism because of the movie. The motel we stayed in even has "Twilight" rooms, complete with hot pink walls and movie posters. We chose a regular room.

The owners of the motel suggested we visit Mora Bay to see the sea stacks and the "hole in the wall" sea cave. When we got the the beach, we were the only folks there. We were surprised to see the huge driftwood logs and the stones that looked like they belonged in a river and not on the beach. It was a beautiful bay.

While walking along the beach, we saw the most amazing thing either of us have ever seen. We saw an eagle flying across the ocean and land in a tree. We have seen eagles before in Alaska and in Florida, however, they were typically sitting in a tree. The amazing thing is what happened next. The eagle took off from the tree and flew out to sea very fast but very quietly. We saw the eagle going after another bird. The eagle was relentless. It kept driving the other bird into the water. Finally, the eagle grabbed its prey and started flying back toward the beach. It landed on a low branch on a dead tree and threw the bird too the ground. It then went down and picked up the bird and flew to the nest. Although we could not see the nest nor the chicks, we heard a lot of racket from the chicks.

We spent so much time watching this amazing display of nature that we never made it out to the sea cave. We will probably get to see other sea caves but I doubt we will ever get another chance to witness such a remarkable event as an eagle hunting.