A weekend in Seattle with a side trip to Mt. Rainier

[GFC]

This past week my Galley Wench and I took our Whaler and made a road trip. We drove across the Cascade Mountains to Seattle and spent 4 days with her daughter and SIL. On Friday morning, under beautifully clear and sunny skies, we launched the boat on the Ship Canal. We headed west along the north side of the Ship Canal toward the Ballard Locks, then headed east along the south side to Lake Union. We cruised both sides of Lake Union then stopped at Ivar’s Salmon House restaurant for a late lunch, then went back to the launch ramp.

Here are a few photos we took along the way on Friday:
A very nice old trawler

This is a fish processing ship. They take the catch that the fishing fleet gets then cleans the catch, filets it and freezes it. These things stay out for months at a time.

I don't know what this is, but it's huge.

The entrance to the large lock at Ballard Locks (also known as the Hiram Chittenden Locks and Government Locks). That large fishing boat was waiting for the green light to enter the lock.

Apparently the lock personnel don’t think much of people who don’t wait their turn to enter the lock.

Here are a couple of shots of the fishing fleet. Much/all of the fleet that fishes the North Atlantic and are seen in Deadliest Catch are based out of Seattle. Quite a sight to see!

Here are two shots of the fire boats docked at the Fisherman’s Terminal.

While poking along near the south end of Lake Union and rubbernecking at all the pretty boats I heard a strange sounding boat motor. I looked to my right and this thing was about 50’ away on a direct line for us. Needless to say I scooted out of his way.

 

[GFC]

(I'm not sure why the photo links below didn't work. Mods?)

We stopped for lunch at Ivar’s Indian House. For those of you not familiar with Ivar’s, it’s a fairly small chain of seafood restaurants (OK, it is rumored they served a steak once to someone from the Midwest, but they deny it!) around the Seattle area. GREAT seafood of all shapes and sizes.
We had a waterfront table and these were just a couple of the hundreds of boats that cruised past while we were dining.

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[img][URL="http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x313/gofirstclass/Seattle%209%2010%2015/aDSCN2366_zpsv02uhvsz.jpg%5b/img"]http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x313/gofirstclass/Seattle%209%2010%2015/aDSCN2366_zpsv02uhvsz.jpg[/img[/URL]]
We took a run by the Seattle Yacht Club. Unlike our club, which is very informal, SYCis quite formal. On Opening Day they areall out on the boats dressed in their blue blazers, white shirts and pants andwhite bucks and wearing their captain’s hat. Shoot, in our club we feel lucky when everyone wears clothes!
[IMG]http://www.trawlerforum.com/attachments/photobucket/img_370726_2_986f8be641866525373eb52723c07f34.jpg
After lunch we slow cruised back to the ramp and put theboat back on the trailer. Then we made a run to pick up some fresh seafood andother fixin’s. Here’s the result, aseafood boil that included King crab, clams, scallops, spicy sausage, potatoesand some other goodies that GW threw in. This pile of food fed 6 and the only thing left were some spuds. There’s nothing quite like fresh seafood.

[URL="http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x313/gofirstclass/Seattle%209%2010%2015/aDSCN2361_zps12cwi09z.jpg%5b/img"]http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x313/gofirstclass/Seattle%209%2010%2015/aDSCN2361_zps12cwi09z.jpg[/img[/URL]]
Sunday we didn’t take the boat out because the Seattle weather had used up its quota of sunshine (2 days per summer) so we stayed home and watched the Seahawks!

 

[GFC]

Monday morning we left Seattle and drove to Mt.Rainier. We had two nights’ reservationat the lodge at Paradise and it truly is a paradise. But talk about a change of conditions. We went from sea level in Seattle to~5000-5400’ elevation, went from temps in the mid-70’s to the mid-40’s and frommostly sunshine to socked in. It’sdefinitely fall at Mt. Rainier. Thetrees have changed colors already, most of the lakes are dry, awaiting the newsnow falls, and it is Q-U-I-E-T up there. There were few tourists (thank heaven), very little traffic, and we hadthe hiking to ourselves.
Here’s the lodge we stayed at, the Visitors Center and theRanger station. Sadly, the weekend priorto our arrival a climber died on the mountain and they brought his body out onMonday. We didn’t find any of that outuntil later, but we did see a huge contingent of mountain rescue people when wegot back to the lodge on Monday afternoon.

The building on the right is the one we stayed in. Our room was on the third floor on the cornerthat is at the extreme right side of the building.

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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Here are some random shots I took. The colors are muted because there was almostzero sun. We did get one small bit ofblue sky right over part of the mountain and I was able to grab a shot ofit. You’ll just have to use yourimagination. Most of these were takenwhile we hiked a short trail that went through the “Grove of the Patriarchs”,an island that has a lot of HUGE trees that are over 1,000 years old. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3][IMG]http://www.trawlerforum.com/attachments/photobucket/img_370727_5_18a82c1fccbbbf8c0ff24ca6fce216ca.jpg

 

[GFC]

More photo links that didn't work??????

GW doing her part to clear a small bit of wood off thetrail.

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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Check out this tree trunk that GW is sitting in, and the followingpicture that shows how deep it goes. [/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3][IMG]http://www.trawlerforum.com/attachments/photobucket/img_370728_1_4ffd318608d579005ff689bddcc2877f.jpg

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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Now before you start asking if we saw any wildlife, theanswer to that is yes, and here he is.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]So, that’s it. Thereare a lot more pics, but those are a good sampling of what we saw. It was a fun trip but it’s sure nice to behome. [/SIZE][/FONT]

 

[Marin]

I don't think any of the fish and crab boats based in Puget Sound fish the north Atlantic. They fish in the Bering Sea and around Alaska. Some of the Deadliest Catch boats are based in Anacortes, I believe.

 

[dhmeissner]

Wonderful photos GFC. Yup, that's why we live here.

 

[GFC]

I don't think any of the fish and crab boats based in Puget Sound fish the north Atlantic. They fish in the Bering Sea and around Alaska. Some of the Deadliest Catch boats are based in Anacortes, I believe.

Marin, thanks for catching that and giving me a much needed geography lesson. I was thinking Bering Sea but my brain farted just long enough for me to insert north Atlantic. DOH!

 

[twistedtree]

Great pictures. You went right by my boat in the ship canal. Makes me want to be back there....

 

[Nomad Willy]

GFC,
Mike, GREAT pics. Seldom see such good pics. Your wife's so strong I'm motivated to take mine to the gym. Maybe I would'nt need a new winch .. just a rebuilt wench. Two pics above GW clearing the big tree of the trail is a really good picture w the orange bushes on the left. Stunning. Sometimes the colors come out grand w an overcast sky. Frequently an overcast day will show more light on a light meter than a blue sky day.
Spending time in eastern WA makes one notice the trees when over here.

 

[GFC]

Thanks Eric. All of the photos were shot with the camera on the automatic setting. Many years ago I used to fiddle around with the time/aperture/etc. settings but I've found I just do better if I keep my simple minded fingers out of it.


The colors up there were great, albeit a bit muted. Here's one I took just because of the colors. Nothing spectacular like it might have been had the sun been shining, but not too bad for a cloudy day.

 

[Pura Vida]

I enjoyed your trip!

 

[Forkliftt]

Beautiful!! Thanks for sharing!


Forky
1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's

 

[Nomad Willy]

Mike,
If the lighting in post #10 pic was normal sunshine one likely wouldn't even notice the yellow leaves as the background conifers would be rather bright green .. and about the same value as the leaves. The resulting photo would be flat.

 

[Diesel Duck]

..............

We stopped for lunch at Ivar’s Indian House. For those of you not familiar with Ivar’s, it’s a fairly small chain of seafood restaurants (OK, it is rumored they served a steak once to someone from the Midwest, but they deny it!) around the Seattle area. GREAT seafood of all shapes and sizes.
We had a waterfront table and these were just a couple of the hundreds of boats that cruised past while we were dining.

What a beautiful Malahide Trawler!

 

[Al]

Last I saw, was a for Sale sign on the Malahide Trawler. Wonder if it sold.
Never miss a walk about Fisherman;s wharf when in Seattle, every year.

Al-Ketchikan