September 28-29–30 Yellowstone NP

Having been to Yellowstone many times, I do hold back a bit on photos.  However, it is still one of my favorite places.
The highlights of this visit were the many very active geysers and the bull elk bugling.
Mammoth Hot Springs

 

Isn't he gorgeous?

 

Canyon Village area and water

All the times I have been here and I had never noticed steam down by the river.

 

Firehole Canyon and Falls

 

 

The morning of the 30th started with this big guy who gave us a 'small' bugle

 



Sights on the road from Old Faithful to Norris Junction

 

Photos didn't do justice to the geysers that were shooting up several feet because of the steam.

 

Shell Spring

 

 

Mustard Spring

 

Grand Prism







This young one was with its mother(?) by a parking area.  It went over the bank to the lake so LeRoy went down where he found another cow and got these photos.

 

I stayed up above and watched mama (we think)

 

 

And to end the day, another bull who also bugled!

 





September 22-Seattle

I am not much for big cities including Seattle where I lived either in or near for 33 years.  However, when I return for a visit, there is usually a reason to go into the city.  This year my daughter Monica, grandson Kyle and I were happy to revisit with LeRoy.
Since we were staying near Puyallup, we did something new….we parked at SeaTac airport and rode the Light Rail to Westlake Mall in downtown Seattle.  Using that way to get there, I think Monica and I might like a girls’ day downtown next visit.
From Westlake Mall we took the monorail to Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World’s Fair, for a trip to the observation deck of the Space Needle.  Now a regular tourist would have taken a photo of the Needle!
While waiting in line for the elevator….

Kyle and Monica

Virginia V – a wooden steamboat that I had the pleasure of cruising on in the late 1960s

Lake Union where we watched sea planes take off and land

Seattle skyline with sport complexes on right

Seattle football and baseball stadiums

A rooftop RV ….. perhaps it is the garden shed??

 

I would have enjoyed a visit to the new Dale Chihuly Glass Museum but will save that for another time.  However, they do have some outside exhibits.

 

Next it was a monorail ride back to downtown and then a walk to the waterfront.  Our path took us Pike Place Market, which I have really never cared for.  I used to work for a produce wholesaler so interesting to see some of the customer names still there.

 

 

This woman wanted to catch a fish so the man told her how to hold her fingers.

She caught it!!

Now a Seattle highlight I had never seen before….the Gum Wall.  Yep, walls of chewed gum.

Kyle adds his.

The Pike Place Market pig.

Stairs from the market to the waterfront.

The ferris wheel recently added….no thank you.

We had dinner on the waterfront at Ivar’s Acres of Clams.  I ordered from the appetizer menu…..crab cakes and to die for apple wood smoke scallops.  Sorry forum friends, I forgot to take pictures.

Not good photos but the bus and light rail tunnel.

September 16 and 17, Mt. Rainier

I find I don’t take nearly as many photos at familiar places!
What a beautiful couple of days we had!  The east-west road from one side of the park to the other was closed in one area.  The first day we used the southeast (Ohanapecosh) entrance and drove to Sunrise.

Sunrise Lake

 

 

The next day we entered at the southwest (Nisqually) entrance and drove to Paradise.

The Castle and Pinnacle Peak in the distance.

September 15, Mt. St. Helen

Well, first the reflection from the sunset the night before at the campground.

We lived between Renton and Issaquah, Washington, north of the mountain when it blew……didn’t have a clue until we were out doing yard work in the afternoon and a neighbor told us.
Thanks to nearby wildfires, clear photos were hard to get so I have played a little with editing.  Obviously, I was more intrigued by the steam vents than the hazy landscape.