My Passport’s Travels

Up early – it’s travel day!  Scott picked us up at 6:30, had us to Love Field before 7 and we were seated at Maggiano’s for breakfast by 7:30. After breakfast, we made our way to the gate for an on-time departure on our non-stop to Seattle.  A nice easy flight, with a few bumps along the way, but nothing crazy- and a great view of Mt. Rainier and Seattle!

Upon arrival, we grabbed our luggage and our rental car then checked in at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Seattle Airport. While we love the hotel and its location, this trip was a bit rough. We couldn’t find bellmen to help us with our luggage and it took almost 45 minutes to get checked in. But we found a luggage cart to use and the room was lovely with a nice view of the lake. We dropped the luggage cart in the room (and we kept it – we had to leave early the next morning and our room was about the third furthers room away from the front desk – a quarter mile, I checked).

No time to rest – we have mountains to see! Lunch was McDs and then we were off for a different angle of Mt. Rainier!

Scott’s family had visited Rainier earlier this year and recommended the Crystal Mountain gondola and the view was spectacular!

On the ride up, there was a herd of deer feeding in the woods and we arrived at the top just as a bride was processing in for her wedding. What an amazing backdrop for the ceremony!

We ooh’d and ahh’d over the view!

And the chipmunks!

And the mountains!

Time for one last selfie before we head down.

I wanted to be out of the mountains before dark. On the way out, though we stopped at a couple of scenic overlooks.

We also saw elk! They crossed the road a couple of cars ahead of us. Why did the elk cross the road?

Driving back, we passed an amphitheater where Lynyrd Skynyrd was in concert later – the traffic from the main highway was crazy! It was a little two-lane road and they were backed up for a couple miles. The direction we were going though had only a 1/4-mile backup.

We made a coffee stop at a ‘photomat coffee stand’. (These little stands dot the Pacific Northwest and I love them! They all have unique personalities and specialties.) I highly recommend Bigfoot Coffee’s Legendary Latte!

We also stopped in Auburn to get a picture of a sculpture we had noticed on the drive in to Crystal Mountain.

Back at the hotel, we had dinner in the restaurant then called it an early night. Lyft is picking us up at 6am!