The morning we left the campground in Anacortes, we went on a walk on this path in the campground.

What is interesting about this pathway is what the sea gulls used it for.  They have learned that they can break open clam shells by dropping them from high up (maybe 8 to 10 feet), breaking the shell open so they can eat the clam.  The sea gulls were flying all over, dropping their shells and eating the contents.  And making a mess. I thought it was fascinating.

I thought our grandkids would find this interesting.

Then on to Gig Harbor.  We spent one beautiful day here. In the morning we went to a nearby park called Point Defiance where we hiked through the forest.

This is the root ball of a fallen tree. It gives you an idea of how large the trees are.

We got in on the tail end of tulip season in Oregon but it was over by the time we got to Washington. But now the rhododendron are blooming and they are everywhere.

And then on to Gig Harbor.

Well worth the time spent here!

From the Cascades we traveled west to La Conner/Anacortes area of northwest Washington. What a beautiful area this is!

We are standing at our campground looking into the trees where our trailer is.  We have a peekaboo view of the water from there.

Another beautiful beach.

Then on to Anacortes.  This is our view from inside the trailer.  Water views are my favorite!

Hilltop views of the town.

This coffee house/used bookstore was amazing.  It was huge and I’ve never thought of a used bookstore as being beautiful but this one was!

And my favorite picture so far.  This is the marina in Anacortes.

We took the car unto the ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.

Cattle Point Lighthouse

Snow covered Olympia Mountains in the background

A lavender farm.  Unfortunately it won’t be blooming for a few months but it was still beautiful.

Lighthouse at Lime Kiln State Park.

I don’t know what this plant is but it was very beautiful.

We drove by an alpaca farm. I hear they make great pets.

Even an oil refinery can be beautiful! Visible from inside our trailer.

Took the ferry to Orcas Island. We drove around the island, took some hikes and walked through the town of Eastsound. It was a lovely day.

Time to take a nap on the ferry back to Anacortes.

A while ago a friend asked  on Facebook for people to say what their favorite National Park was. I didn’t respond because I couldn’t decide. How can you decide between Yosemite and Everglades?  Or any number of other parks. But I would say that North Cascades is right up there near the top. And we didn’t get to see all of it because of the road closure.

Trip from Marysville to North Cascades:

Stopped at a swap meet.  Bought a spoon and two DVD’s.

There weren’t many campgrounds open.  This one had six spots.  Total. And it was FREE!

There were many waterfalls along the way  the color of the water is green and cloudy because much of the water is from glaciers  it was so beautiful!

Here’s the road closure that made us do some zig zagging. Too much snow and potential for avalanches.

Remember the story about not being able to go to Palouse Falls because a boy had ignored the signs and went past the fencing falling to his death?  Well the picture doesn’t really do it justice but there was a shear drop off behind this fence. 100’s of feet down.  This fence was chest high. These girls, with the help of a friend, sat on the top of the fence for a picture. And then they went behind the fence.  No words.

Ladder Creek Falls.

Ladder Creek Falls is at a hydroelectric power house and at night they light up the falls.  We actually stayed up late enough to drive six miles from our campsite to see it.  We were the only ones there.  We had to walk across a suspension bridge across the river in the dark to get to the falls.  Yikes! But it was worth it!

We didn’t plan anything special for our anniversary. Actually, when you are on the road every day is special. We are usually doing something we’ve never done before and never doing again. So I guess it was special.

In my research, I came across a recommended hike along the Icicle Gorge which is near Leavenworth WA.

The drive there included some gravel road. And potholes. We considered the potholes preparation for the Alaska Highway.

The hike. It was a four-mile loop around the Icicle Gorge. It was beautiful and flat!

The article I read had said this was a family friendly hike.  I would have been so scared to have my grandkids here:

After we were finished with the hike we went back in to Leavenworth. It’s a Bavarian themed town similar to Solvang only bigger.  It’s very touristy but, as you may know, we don’t skip places just because of that. We had a great meal of brats, German potato salad, a giant pretzel and beer with German music playing in the background. I don’t have a picture because we were so hungry from the hike, we had eaten most of it before I thought of taking a pic.

I would put both the hike and the town as a must do if you are in the area.

From there we headed west towards Seattle before we back-track east to North Cascades National Park. If you are watching where we are on our map you might think us a little crazy. I use the Trip Planner from Good Sam to plan our routes. You just plug in the places you want to go and it plans the quickest route. Well that route doesn’t allow for closed roads due to snow. It also doesn’t allow for timing issues with extended family that we want to visit. So it will look like we are traveling willy-nilly around the state. But we really aren’t. Trust me.

We had our choice to drive an Interstate or take a less traveled and longer road. Those of you have followed our travels know which one we chose. It was a beautiful drive.

This pic is especially for Selah and Duke, who take riding lessons but notice the gorge in the background:

Lake Wenatchee, just a short walk from our campsite:

I have more pics from our day today but I’m too tired to do more. Maybe tomorrow.  And one more thing. Heidi Mood, we didn’t go through the town of Wenatchee but from what we’ve seen, you grew up in a beautiful place!