Day 6: Bellingham, WA to Salem, OR

Well, I am a day behind on blogging. I just haven’t had time to connect. I still hope to get pictures up soon. I am typing out our story in Word and then just saving it until we get a connection. I know the next time I get online, you are going to have lots (more than enough) to read. I will try to keep Day 6 to a minimum. Partly for time sake. Partly because there is really not much to say.



We disembarked the MV Columbia at about 7:30am Alaska time, so 8:30am PST. We got all packed in the van, waited patiently for our cues, then drove onto the car-elevator, took it down to the main deck, and drove out of Alaska and into Washington. That was it. No more Alaska. (sigh) We quickly sought out breakfast. And we found the best local joint. We ventured a few miles off course to Burlington, which appeared to be an old farming town with a very well-established breakfast spot, the Burlington Café. Coffee was just the way we like it, too- strong. Perfect fuel for our drive to Mt. Rainier. Gorgeous drive through logging country and national forests/parks. We chose the north park entrance and unfortunately it was closed due to snow. Like 6 feet of it! So we tried to go to the south entrance but missed the turn somehow (didn’t trust the GPS) and drove a little out of our way. I won’t say exactly how much! So instead, we drove along the Columbia River. Which turned out to be okay. It was so overcast that you couldn’t see Mt. Rainier. Mt. St. Helens, which we also planned to visit, was completely covered by clouds and closed due to snow as well. But we did get to drive through quite a bit of snow at Mt. Rainier. Nicholas and I were giddy at the sight of falling snow in June. SNOW!!! So Mt. Rainier National Park- awesome. Falling snow- awesome. Six foot walls of snow filling the shoulders of the road- awesome. Driving on mountain roads on the edge of your life- scary.