Vacation Catch Up: Ocean Shores, Washington

We took a couple of days on our visit out west to drive from Seattle to the Washington and Oregon coast.  Our first stop was in Ocean Shores, Washington.  It's not too remarkable a town, and was mainly a convenient place to stop on our way to Astoria, Oregon.

We did take a nice walk along the beach.  It was quite cool and misty, an amazing difference from Seattle where it had been sunny and pretty warm.  But we enjoyed walking along the surf, and watching the birds.




A line of pelicans flying near the shore.



 




Just being a little silly :)

Washington: Triple X Root Beer

Triple X Root Beer in Issaquah, WA

On the way back from Snoqualmie we stopped at Triple X Root Beer for a treat.  It's an old school diner, and they make their own root beer.  Elijah and I both had the root beer floats, and mar and Felipe enjoyed vanilla malt shakes.  The waitress suggested that for only $0.35 more we could upgrade to the large size...which I think would have used a pint of ice cream and 2L of root beer.  We passed and got the normal size, which was still too much!


Felipe and Elijah

They have a lot of antique 50's and 60's ephemera all over the joint, much of which is on loan from people in the area.  It's definitely quite a lot to keep your eyes occupied while you are there!





There is seating outside as well, but it was a little too warm for all of us.  There seems to be a very large parking lot next door, and there were several classic cars parked around for people to look at.  According to their website they host regular classic car shows.  It was definitely a cool place to stop.

Triple X Root Beer Drive In
98 N.E. Gilman Blvd., 
Issaquah Washington

Snoqualmie Falls, Washington

I cannot tell you how nice it was to take some time away from New York City and see some of the beautiful nature that the Pacific Northwest has to offer.  To see the towering evergreens, and the wild flowers and we were incredibly lucky with sunny blue skies!


Snoqualmie Falls is beautiful and a very popular tourist attraction.  Not only for it's natural beauty, but also for the fact that it is the location for a very popular television show called Twin Peaks.  The lodge that you see above the falls has been in operation since 1919.


Enjoying the amazing day and wonderful view.

We drove a bit out of the Snoqualmie area, along one of the small highways there, where Mariam had previously seen a bunch of wild blackberries growing.  Unfortunately we were too early for blackberry season...but I imagine when they start growing they will be everywhere!  Fortunately for us, the blackberries aren't the only attraction!  There was a clear lake just waiting to be photographed.



Absolutely no retouching of the colors here.


The towering trees with their high canopies and the sunlight shining through we a sight to be seen.

We stopped at one of the bridges on the Snoqualmie River.  There were people swimming in the river, and frankly that seemed like a desirable thing to do...it was getting quite warm. 



Felipe on one of the bridges.


Some of the Twin Peaks graffiti.


More Twin Peaks graffiti, this one about Agent Cooper (played by Kyle McLaughlin).

It was a beautiful area to visit, and really we could have spent all day there - if not more time.  But all the sun and the time difference started wearing us out...so we drove back to spend the rest of the afternoon lazing around the apartment.  Just like a vacation should be.