Tuesday 12 September
Today was one of those rather tedious travel days that happen sometimes on a trip. We were booked on a 2pm flight to Seattle but needed to return our rental car to Anchorage Airport by 11am. We had a leisurely breakfast and checked out by 10.45. I did take to opportunity to take a few shots of the decor in the lobby area – they really love their dead animals up here!
At the airport we had plenty of time to sit around and wait. Took in all there was to offer for activity at Anchorage airport before our Delta flight to Seattle started to board, fortunately on time.
The flight was uneventful and we arrived on time by 6.15pm in Seattle ( having lost an hour traveling east). However things went a little dodgy from there. Firstly we waited quite a loong time at the baggage carousel for our luggage to show up – there was a bit of confusion amongst the crowd as there were at least 4 different flights with luggage directed to Carousel 5 – but eventually our bags popped out and we made our way to the shuttle bus that would take us to the rental car center, a 5 minute drive from the terminal. Things went even further dodgy at this point… I’d prebooked and paid for an Avis car through booking.com. There was a very significant queue at the counter and we rapidly dicovered that it was taking them ages to process each customer. They had “low inventory” so instead of our cars being ready and waiting they were finding and allocating a car to each customer as they came to the counter, a process that took around 15 minutes ( or more) for each customer. We were waiting for well over an hour before we finally made it to the counter! I’d been planning for us to have dinner at our hotel but I thought I’d better ring and double check when the restaurant closed – lucky I did as they informed me that “due to a technical problem the restaurant was closed that evening!”. As we waited in yet another loooong queue to get our car out of the parking garage I Googled possibilities and at around 9pm we pulled in to the driveway of a nearby Applebees ( one of my preferred chain restaurants in the USA) . This was late meal for us, particularly in the USA. It was a relief to finally get to the hotel and fall into bed.
Wednesday 13 September
Neil slept badly last night, his cold was making him pretty miserable. But we both perked up when heading away from the hotel and on the road again. The traffic was pretty busy but fairly soon we were out into green and pleasant countryside heading northeast towards North Cascades National Park. Neil also perked up when we passed some cornfields – for some reason cornfields hold a real place in his heart in the USA!
We stopped at the Visitor center at Newhalem to collect a map and look at the exhibits. Here they had a white board on display asking people to write down how many National parks they had visited – Neil said to me “Are you going to write down 47?”, so of course I did, and felt very proud and took a photo…. Edit: However, two days later as I type this up, Neil has just now informed me that he’s realised he had miscalculated, we were only up to 44 parks at that stage!!. A little creative accounting perhaps?? 😉 Then we stopped at the picnic ground to have a little lunch before heading up further into the park.
Our first stop was only a few miles up the road from the Visitor Center, the Gorge Powerhouse and Ladder Creek Falls and Gardens. The Gorge Powerhouse and nearby dam were built from 1919 and strated operation in 1924. They were part of a three dam hydroelectricity project to provide power for the growing city of Seattle. To reach the powerhouse we had to cross a suspension footbridge across the Skagit river rushing along beneath. INside the powerhouse there was a viewing area where we could look down on the turbines buzzing away.
Behind the powerhouse there were the remains of the Ladder Creek gardens which were planted alongside the Ladder Creek Waterfall. The gardens were the creation of James Delmage Ross, Seattle City Light’s second superintendent.Beginning in 1925, J.D. Ross created a wonderland garden surrounding the Gorge Powerhouse for visitor enjoyment and entertainment. He added a luminescent show where the falls were illuminated with all the colors of the rainbow, coupled with music which drifted through the gardens. You could still see the old light fittings here and there attached to the trees.
Next stop a little further up the road was the overlook of Gorge Lake, we were impressed by its pretty dark green colour, but a little further up the road we reached Diablo lake which is considered the gem of the North Cascades National park. It was a vibrant turquoise blue/green, absolutely stunning! We stayed for quite a while at the overlook, it was a bit hard to believe the colour was real and it was hard to drag ourselves away!
WE continued on our way. The main road through the park is Washington State Route 20. Before we left Australia it had been closed for several weeks due to a wildfire that was burning in the park. Initially we hadn’t seen much evidence of the fire but as we reached the eastern end there was a section where we were not allowed to stop at all because there was still fire activity. WE could see the smoke but it looked as if they were in the mopping up stages.
Just outside the park boundary we reached the Washington Pass Overlook , At 5,500 feet, it is the road’s highest point and the views up to the crags above and down to the road snaking away below were absolutely stunning. In the carpark we also came across a Hoary Marmot, nibbling on some plants and totally unfazed by the people taking pictures of him.
Another 30 minutes down the road brought us to the town of Winthrop, our base for the night. Winthrop is such a cute little town! The lure of gold brought the first settlers to the area in 1883, but in 1972, when State Highway 20 was nearing completion over the North Cascades, several business people began planning for travelers passing through the town. Mrs. Kathryn Wagner and her husband Otto came up with the idea of a Western restoration. All the local merchants pitched in financially, and Mrs. Wagner paid the balance for the reconstruction, painting, and new signs. Westernization codes regulate the look of new construction even today. As you walk along the main street you really feel like your in the old west… if you ignore all the cars!
We checked into a very roomy cabin at the Rivers Edge resort with a back deck overlooking the river and a hot tub. The cabin had a kitchen so we decided to cater for ourselves for the evening and enjoy eating out overlooking the river. It had become pleasantly warm today ( a little too warm for those of us acclimatized to Alaska temperatures!) but it was so nice to sit out there in the evening and , later, to enjoy the hot tub. While we were eating we spotted three deer across the river who came down to have an evening drink, and a little later a cheeky squirrel appeared on our balcony, probably looking for a free feed!
North Cascades was lovely, especially under sunny skies. We’d worried that fire induced road blockages would prevent our visit so we’re very grateful to have been able to see it.