Fresh Snow Falling

My farewell to Bellingham came Tuesday in the form of an adventure through Whatcom Falls Park, culminating in this jump. Each visit to the park throughout my week and a half in town gave me the same feeling, "Spend more time here." The morning was foggy but dry, and the river meanders through the dense trees here hypnotically. With company, my option of wussing out was ruined.

In the park, a portion of Whatcom Falls visible under the bridge

In Seattle the next morning, I decided to take the long way to Portland through the Cascade Mountains. Exploring 15 miles down a gravel roads leading deeper into a valley allowed me to enjoy an entire campground to myself that night, where I departed from in the morning for intending to hike to a lake. It rained on me at first, then the rain turned to snow, and as I missed the turn off for the lake and walked another mile up the canyon, I found myself in the middle of a beautiful snow storm in this part of the state that's all but abandoned this time of year.

Today was an adventure on the road. With clear skies in Yakima, I chose to take the scenic route along Rainier and St. Helens. I thought the snow in the first pass I went through was bad, appropriately named White Pass. Then I got to the second pass along Mt. St. Helens. Deciding against taking the time to put on chains in the snow and all that, I followed the tire tracks of previous trucks and creeped to the top, at times my speedometer reaching 30 and 40 mph with my car barely crawling. But I made it, slowly up and slowly back down to the welcome sound of rain on the windshield and a road with lines I can see.