I was up early to head east out of Seattle on Interstate 90. I stopped of in the town of Winthrop, WA which is a nostalgic cowboy town that would be cool to spend some time in. Here is a link to some Google images of the town
I came through the North cascades from the East. Here is a map of park
Download North Cascades Park PDF DETAILED
The red line is basically the route I took. There were very little options for hiking here as the snow was overwhelming
Heading West out of the park, I made my way towards the town of Mount Vernon and across the Puget Sound to where I had to take a ferry over to Port Townsend on the West to continue on to the Pacific coast and Olympia National park.
My “NeverLost” GPS I used for the trip was incredible. It definitely saved me a lot of wasted time if I had only to depend on my trucker map. I was driving towards the ferry, about 80 miles out, and it told me I could get across and over to Olympia National Park by taking Water St. I am not sure why I believed it, but was cautiously optimistic I would not need to board a ferry. Of course when the road ended at the ferry station, I knew I had been had. Cruel joke by the NeverLost people. On top of that I had just missed the ferry by about 1 minute as I saw it throw off the ropes and head to Port Townsend.
I backtracked and found a restaurant along the water and drenched my fish fry in vinegar. It was raining and had been all day. I had another 2 days of rain ahead of me. It was a depressing feature of the Northwest. I think I prefer snow to rain because you can at least go outside and do a little more. When I got back I looked up the precipitation amount for Seattle compared to other major cities and was surprised that it actually was not that high. Now I am not sure what to believe.
I boarded the ferry around 10pm and relaxed
Here is my GPS as I head down Water Street..bastards
I crossed over and wanted to find a safe place to crash for the night. I remembered a recent trip to Puerto Rico where I was in the city of Ponce and found a casino that made a good place to stop. With all the in and out of traffic at all hours, my car would not look out of place. I gambled a bit, won a bit and headed back out to my car. I had struck onto something here. I decided I would write a book about sleeping in casino parking lots and cleaning oneself up in restaurant bathrooms. It would take the country by storm; families would now map out family trips based on casino distances and the rating of McDonald’s bathrooms.
Here is the 7 cedars I called home that night
I had forgotten how much I liked the Indian art of the Pacific Northwest
I think if I ever do get a tattoo, it will be something to this effect across my face.
Until Tomorrow
Darren
