The Journey to Avalanche

We awoke ready and excited to explore Glacier National Park, until we looked out the window. Expecting to see the sun, we were met with steady rain from a dark and gloomy sky. We debated whether we should wait a day before embarking on our hikes but decided to make the 45 minute drive to the visitor center at the west entrance of Glacier Park to ask the park rangers their opinions on the various hikes. Here are some pictures from the drive to give you an idea of the weather:

After arriving at the visitor center, the weather began to clear up some, and the ranger we spoke to recommended the 5 mile round trip hike to Avalanche Lake due to the incredible beauty.

We drove to the Avalanche Lake trailhead on Going to the Sun Road, which is as far as we could travel because the road was closed beyond that point due to the fresh snow they received last week. The ranger informed us that part of the road was buried under 80 ft of snow. As we pulled in to the parking lot for the trailhead we were met with this sign:

Sure enough, a few moments later we were 30 ft away from a gigantic grizzly bear that wandered into the parking lot. Luckily we were still in the car and he disappeared into the woods as quickly as he appeared. I would have my head on swivel for the remainder of the hike.

We knew this was going to be a special hike from the scene we were met with as soon as we got on the trail:

                                                   

We could feel the incredible power of these currents just from standing next to them. Here's a video to illustrate that point:

The trail was wet and muddy and took a measure of caution to ensure we didn't slip. Along the way we were met with some spectacular views:

                                 

The hike didn't seem long because we were filled with awe and wonder at every turn as we took in new sights with amazing natural beauty.

When we arrived at Avalanche lake, we looked at each other in silence. I think I uttered "whoa". Words are hard to describe the sheer awesomeness of what we saw. The water was so clear and pristine that we could see the bottom of the lake. We could hear the waterfalls from the snow capped mountains above, and could see them reflected in the lake. Incredible.

As we hiked backed to the car we marveled at the sights we had seen, and were happy that we pushed through in spite of the weather. 

Our night ended in downtown Kalispell, where we checked out a small music festival, ate at a local brew pub, and then went to an ice cream parlor for some delicious homemade ice cream. The perfect end to a great day, or any day for that matter.

Oso and Koshka and Zues, Oh My!

For those following the blog of our roadventure, you are well acquainted with our love of animals and the lengths we have been through to be able to appreciate them in person. This next experience brought us as close as we have ever been to a few of nature's most feared animals.  

Kim managed to find a very small zoo just outside of Spokane that rescues Lions, Tigers, and Bears from abusive situations called Cat Tales Zoological Park. They also have a zookeeper training program and they rely on donations from the community to be able to care for these majestic creatures.  While the animal enclosures aren't as big as other zoos, they hope to keep increasing them as donations allow. 

One unique feature of this zoo was that they allow you to hand feed their animals through a hole in a plexiglass cage which aligns with a fence. We were handed a stick and the volunteer gave each of us 10 treats for each animal. You could really feel the power of the bites as you had to pull the stick out of their mouths, and we were somewhat relieved to have the extra plexiglass protection! 

Here you can see us feeding Oso the bear apples.

                                      

Koshka and Zues both enjoy pieces of raw meat as their treats.

Bye Bye Oso. It's been fun!!

We continued our drive eastward. Here are a few pics we snapped out of the window of the car as we drove through Montana towards Glacier National Park. It was a very beautiful drive with a lot of diverse scenery including flat farmland, mountains, and lakes.

We got to our next Motel 6 in Kalispell and George quickly made himself comfortable as we unpacked our things and looked for somewhere to eat dinner.

We had a quick dinner at a local restaurant (another good find!) and headed back to the room so Daniel could put together all of these videos! :)

Eastward Bound

We bid farewell to Seattle and left to seek better food. While we were at the hotel, George and Jane were nice enough to pose for some pictures.

Jane

George

Soon, Jane decided she had enough.

Get that camera out of my face!!

It was time for another adventure with George and Jane. There are a lot of dog friendly hiking trails near Isaquaah so we decided to go see Coal Creek Falls. Before we got on the trail, we let them run around a bit in a big open field that was at the Trailhead.

 Once on the trail, we were careful to keep them on a short leash. Even on the drive to the trailhead, we had already seen an animal (looked somewhat like a cat but more like a baby cheetah--have no idea of what it was) so we were well aware that other animals were likely lurking in the background. It was a quiet walk through the woods and we only saw a handful of people the several hours we were walking. We reached our destination after about 90 minutes of walking. Coal Creek Falls was more like Coal Creek Drips in June. Apparently in the winter, the rushing water is much more impressive. Sometimes it's not about the destination, but more about the journey and in this situation, that was definitely the case!!

After the hike, the dogs were exhausted and very well behaved as we got back on the road. 

It was really cool to watch the landscaping drastically change from the lush green forests to the almost desert like appearance in the north.  We couldn't capture it well, but here are a few pictures from the car window:

We decided to stop in Spokane for the night where we had another completely unexpected great restaurant find! We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory and were quite surprised by the romantic ambiance. Spokane has been full of very friendly people everywhere we have been, and the Old Spaghetti Factory was no exception.  It wasn't exactly a gourmet restaurant, but the food was pretty good and very reasonably priced. Two thumbs up for our stay in Spokane!!!

Just monkeying around until... BIGFOOT

Most zoos are concrete jungles made with lots of wide paved sidewalks and metal cages. The Woodland Zoo is unique. Exploring this zoo was more like alternating between hiking and walking through a nice park/picnic area with animals roaming all around you. They were separated by a fence, of course, but their designated areas were large, beautiful, and had multiple viewing areas so you could get a good view regardless of which part of the habitat the animal was in.

Simply wandering the grounds made for a nice day, but it was made even better by a few special moments. We got to feed elephants, watch sloth bears wrestle, and see penguins play.

 In addition, we ate the best meal that we have had yet in Seattle. Yes, our best meal from a zoo. True, the competition hasn't exactly been steep, but the Hot Italian Panini we had was fantastic.


After the zoo, we had a little picnic in this beautiful garden that we found next door.

Then, we spent some quality time with George and Jane who snuggled up in bed with us.

We had another mediocre dinner and decided to stop by Bigfoot Java Hut for dessert. The menu showed some blended chocolate drinks that sounded delicious. We both ordered one, took one sip and realized there was coffee in it despite the menu saying nothing about coffee in the drinks. We drove back up to the window where the girl proceeded to tell us that everything on the menu comes with coffee, but you can request it without. I asked if she could exchange the drinks since the menu was misleading. Every coffee shop tends to offer a few non-coffee beverages so there was no reason to think this would be different. She said she would be happy to make us new ones if we were willing to pay for them. Customer service FAIL!!!!! Oh well, it was a great day at the zoo and we are very much looking forward to taking George and Jane on an adventure tomorrow!

Things that fly in Seattle

Our day started at Pike Place Market, Seattle's original farmers market. We saw lots of typical crafts, fresh produce, and lots of fresh wild caught seafood. If you buy fish from Pike Place Fish Market they will even throw it to one another for everyone's entertainment. The highlight of the market for us was a delicious Rocky Road cake cup that we quickly devoured.

Next, we walked a short distance to Olympic Sculpture park which featured modern sculptures and great views of Puget Sound and the Cascade Mountains.

         

Some of the sculptures were weird. Here we are listening to the sounds of a freeway below:

 

We headed uphill for a quick stop at the Pacific Science Center to check out the house of butterflies.

 

We found these cool sculptures in the courtyard of the Pacific Science Center:

After the museum, we drove to Boeing's Future of Flight Aviation Center for a tour of the factory that produces the 747-8s, 777s, and the DreamLiner 787s. Our tour began with a movie that stressed how far travel has come since the olden days of getting across the world by sea. After the film we boarded a bus and headed towards the factory, which we learned is the world's largest building by volume. The building is so large that it could fit Disneyland inside of it and still have 12 acres left. 

The assembly lines were incredible. These massive planes take 3-4 months to build and require over 6 million parts to assemble.  Some interesting facts we learned about the plane of the future, the 787:

-It's the first major airliner to use composite materials instead of aluminum, which makes it lighter and thus more fuel efficient the windows are 65% larger, can be lightened and darkened with a touch of a button, and are located in every single aisle.

-There are more humidity controls inside the plane so passengers don't feel as dry

-The new air conditioning system removes bacteria and viruses

-The lighting system can simulate sunrise, sunset, and starry night to reduce jet lag

-The engines are far more quiet than the 747
-It costs less to manufacturer than the 747-8 than the 777

Overall it was a fascinating experience to get a glimpse at the logistics it takes to produce these planes. Cameras were not allowed in the factory, but here a few shots from the exhibition gallery:

We headed back to Pikes Place to stroll along the water from before dinner. We saw the original Starbucks:

And the wall of gum:

And a water fountain in front of a Ferris wheel: 

And this marine sculpture:

And a bunch of other fun stuff along the way:

 

 

Our night ended with dinner in Chinatown before reuniting with George and Jane.