Certainly one of the prettiest & greener states in the USA, with the many thousands of acres under forests. We were also pleasantly surprised to find out how many islands were off the Washington coast, each island had its own identity and so did the little towns on the Island. We stayed for a while on Whidbey Island, which we got to by Ferry from Mukilteo, near Everett. We found the little town of Coupeville on Whidbey a truly fascinating place. On the trip from Coupeville back to the mainland we had to go across the really high bridge at Deception Pass.

Some of the highlights of our trip to this state were;

Visiting the tulip festival at La Conner, near Bellingham. Here one could walk amongst the tulips of all colours, not the variety we saw in Keukenhof in Holland, but the sheer size of the farms was impressive. A visit to the little town of La Conner is a must. This town has a really good atmosphere and if you like boats then find your way to the many large marinas, occupied by some really impressive boats.

Another very quaint town is the Dutch town of Lynden, not far form the Washington / Canadian boarder town of Sumas, and near Bellingham. Just like Holland most of the houses are extremely neat and well-kept. There is even a windmill in the downtown main street. This windmill houses a small hotel which specialises in honeymoon suites. It also houses a well stocked Dutch shop on the ground floor. We have visited this store many times and have bought plenty Dutch goodies from it.

Many of the houses even have Dutch style lace curtains, so it really is like a genuine Dutch village.

Mount St Helens - what can one say about the sheer destruction that volcano inflicted on the area. Today, the damage done all those years ago is still very evident, total forest were destroyed, most of the trees are still strewn like matchsticks on the hills. When one watches the films of the actual eruption at one of the many visitors centres, one is absolutely awestruck by the power of such a natural disaster. Unfortunately the day we went there it rained on and off all day and was miserably cold, but that did not stop us seeing everything we had come to see. This is a MUST VISIT SIGHT!

Our visit to the Boeing factory - also a must visit - in Everett, where they build the Boeing 777 was very well worth the effort. We had checked into an excellent RV park in Everett and without too much difficulty we found the factory and navigated through the traffic in our motorhome fairly easily. At least the roads in the US are built for heavy traffic so generally we found all roads to be big enough to drive an RV without too much difficulty. The tour around the factory is professional and well done, it is also free.

A visit to the Olympic peninsular is also a must, the towns of Fort Steel, Port Townsend and Port Angeles are all worth visiting. From Port Angeles you can catch the ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island, which is exactly what we did in 1999 when we drove our car from San Diego to Cobble Hill on Vancouver Island.

On our drive back to Vancouver along the Washington coast we travelled along the tortuous, but scenic Chukanut Drive, where we stayed at many very good State Parks. One particularly good one was the Larrabee State Park, a short walk to the beach. The night before we re-entered Canada we spent the night at Sumas, just before arriving there we saw a most beautiful view. Mt. Baker was covered in snow and as it was approaching sunset, the scene was really great.

We have been back to Bellingham & Lynden every time we visit Vancouver. The last visits were in 2000, 2002, 2005 (with Scott, Dee and Connor) and in August 2008, and then again in 2012 when we went into Washington a number of times.

In August 2008, we drove through Washington on or way back to Vancouver. Spokane is like any large city so we did not spend much time there. We make a detour to visit Coulee Dam, which was well worth the extra mileage. Our destination was Leavenworth, a Bavarian town.

The town is more authentic than we thought it would be and it certainly feels as if one is in Bavaria or the Swiss Alps.  Unfortunately the "German" food is anything but. The one German meal we had was terrible, but we had an Italian meal at a small Cafe (The Alley Cafe) and the meal was really good. 

We also stopped at Lynden again, Yvonne wanted to see the Dutch windmill and all the "goodies" at the Dutch shop there.

2008 Trip through Washington

2005 trip with Scott & family 

As we have never stayed in downtown Seattle, we decided to spend a few days there in 2012, when we staying in Vancouver.  Our previous trips through Seattle were in one of our motorhomes, the fact the traffic is crazy in Seattle, with most streets being 1-way and the total lack of parking, were the reasons which prevented us from going into downtown Seattle.

We always wanted to go to the Pike Street Market and up the Space Needle, so when the opportunity arose we jumped at it. We stayed at a boutique hotel, only 100 metres from the market. We car was valet parked when we arrived there, and we did not take it out until we left. The public transport in the city is great, and the monorail makes for easy travel to most tourist sights, including the Space Needle.

Unfortunately, it was school holidays so most of America also decided to go to the Needle the same day we did, we queued for hours, but it was worth it.

Pike Street Market is a fascinating mix of seafood, meat and meat products, fresh produce and hundreds of restaurants. As is so typical to many tourist hotspots, the food at the restaurant we ate at, was disappointingly bad. The fish was overcooked and dry!  However we had one of the best curries at an Indian restaurant away from the market, up a little side street.

We did a tour of Seattle's underground city remains. It's a fascinating tour, and is not to be missed.  Check out the their website.

Downtown Seattle is a truly interesting city to walk around, there are quite a number of very interesting alleys and off the beaten track attractions.

The waterfront area, albeit very crowded during holiday and peak season is well worth exploring.

Visit Seattle, you will enjoy your stay!

2012  Seattle & surrounding area

We took Scott and family to Lynden to show them the Dutch shops and authentic Dutch windmill there.

As always we also visited the WalMart at Bellingham, shopping in the 'states is so cheap!