I never thought I’d see this place so many times, but ever since 2005 (my first visit/drive here), I keep returning and being shown more and better of it.
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Table of Contents:
- Introduction
- Phase 2
- Phase 3
- Main Images (Images Begin)
- Sea-Tac
- Mt. Rainier
- Eastern Badlands
- Best Hotels
- Vegan Restaurants and Shops
- Ancient Ruins
- Other Sites
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Introduction:
The biggest of all the volcanoes I’ve hiked up and into was here; Mt. Rainier. It is so big that it dominates much of the northwestern quadrant of this big corner state. After learning about the Mt. St. Helens incident, I am hesitant to ever return, but it was absolutely lovely exploring that cool and snow-capped alpine wilderness. With what little time my team had during this first push, we sure made it count, and I’d wanted to return for years, wondering when it would finally be.
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Phase 2:
During my second visit to this state, I caught up on old times with another fellow warrior turned Blackwater hoss (former Marine gone legal-mercenary for arguably the best company in the world in that field, now called Academi), and was treated to the weeks-long grand-tour of Seattle and all its surrounding areas out for dozens of miles. I even found a micro-rainforest out on its Olympic peninsula.
The only hitch was that I’d made sure it was alright to use the spare floor of the dude’s giant house until my flight out, but for some reason that turned into “just 2-3 days” after I was already there; must have been a miscommunication somewhere, and my how those things stir the life-paths, making for the longest and most interesting of treks. Still, that beyond-last-minute total change of shelter plans motivated me to do way more camping and exploring than I would have otherwise, so I oriented to this state like it was going out of style, and I’ll be ready for a return and business anywhere.
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sun12may2024: Spokane to Pullman has the most beautiful green rolling farm hills to the horizon
Glad I got to see it again
(and S of Pomeroy; both routes into the north of the Umatilla National Forest)
tue21may2024: Mem’ refreshes: trying the rest stops before remembering them all from several years back (when I first tried them in my Jeep)
- NOT a rest stop like Google Maps has it labeled: Honey Bucket at the cemetery; just a porta-john
Foothills Trl, Buckley, WA 98321 - 2320 136th Ave E, Sumner, WA 98390: shitty, small, noisy, okay for semis but not personal vehicles
..and 6 or 7 amazon delivery trucks here at same time when I arrived (not sure if I remember that from last time; if this is another loop/repeat event, or an area-trigger) - tue21may2024: NOT a rest area; all spaces full (as if there was a big camping/homeless event here when I arrived), some for 15min, rest for 1hr. (a sign posted in front of every single parking space)
36898 I-5, Federal Way, WA 98003
wed22may2024:
- Maytown Rest Area (I-5, Tenino, WA 98589) is great but packed
- decided not to return all the way to the north side of Seattle island like in Jeep last time; even though it has great/perfect vegan restaurants there (with free parking, unlike in the typical downtown clusterfucks), I remember no teammates met me there, and I don’t feel like re-sampling the foods I remember up there, as I’m still technically on a budget, albeit a more-flexible one now
(rd/phase2 of any place is, after all, the neutral/skip; I’ll return to these favorite eateries when my favorite hotties/babes are with me –and ensuring I have indefinite places to park and overnight near/in the skyscrapers, etc. –besides, they should be contacting/inviting and scheduling with Me, not me searching for or manifesting Them at this point)
Not there: Lewis County campgrounds (1121 Bunker Creek Rd, Chehalis, WA 98532
8-hr limit at Toutle River Safety Rest Area – South Bound (Castle Rock, WA 98611
Gee Cee’s truck stop, mem’ refresh, great for truckers, not for others (123 Foster Creek Rd, Toledo, WA 98591
thu23may just seconds after midnight, at Toutle River Safety Rest Area – South Bound: woken to lots of noise from exit-end of the parking lot, yelling/screaming, booms, thought it was fireworks, but a car was on fire, horn honking 4mins until stopped, vehicle basically exploding, pretty sure a repeat / time-travel thing (and odd that I don’t clearly remember this one; I perfectly remembered so many other less-severe events)
2024may23thurs at 1:45pm: McMenamins Kalama Harbor Lodge (215 N Hendrickson Dr, Kalama, WA 98625)
Pretty sure I stopped here years ago,
not sure if the dozen green-label/-lettering sheriff white SUVs/trucks spread across both ends of parking lot/s is also a repeat.
Black new big tall with-sidelamp suv unmarked drove in front of me from right to left, between my parking space and the slope down to the river.
All hideous deformed old-bag mutants/degenerates walking around
No healthy food or drinks
Big Fir RV campground: bad; cramped, full, fee, etc., and an hour or so from the campsites/trailheads north and east of there
Gee Creek Rest Area Southbound:
tolerable, away from hwy, some spaces limited to 8hr stay, most 1hr or 15min (same thing seen back up in/around Sea-Tac)
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into Gifford pinchot natl forest; for mt adams?
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Phase 3:
The forecast for my third long-term trip to this state includes endless perfect-10 babes; I’ll be staying with them this time, and enjoying all of Sea-Tac’s finest, most likely in several penthouses and other fine estates. The two Asian girls atop the Space Needle who asked me to take their picture come to mind, along with many, many others I spotted that 2nd time. That should free up my mercenary buddies and their families to relax in their houses without my quirky wizard-haired expedition ass lurking around in their basements and greenbelts; win-win. Fifty Shades of Grey was set here, I also note; good signs.
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Main Images:
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Sea-Tac:
My introduction to these two big cities merging together was when I was driven through them in the Jeep of my Marine friend, TJM, on our way to check out Vancouver during a “libo” weekend/break. I would later happen to be in the main airport out here for at least one layover. Then, I would end up driving through in my own vehicles, getting much more oriented to the whole urban expanse, and finally trying most of its vegan restaurants, rest stops, campsites, national forests, beaches, and so on.
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Mt. Rainier:
That same Marine friend of mine was the first to drive me up to the lodge and parking lot near the summit, and we hiked around a bit, I loving the greenery and little waterfalls. I must have returned years later on my own, but I have not yet summitted. I’m not sure I want to, either, not after what happened with Mt St Helens (which is just 20 miles SSW of Rainier).
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Eastern Badlands:
Like Colorado, a big region of Washington is not alpine, not mountainous at all, let alone blanketed in an evergreen forest; much of the eastern section of this state is “blonde” grassland on gently rolling hills from horizon to horizon. It might look a little bleak at first, but being able to see that far out in all directions has benefits. I’ve started enjoying driving through and flying over places like this –and I only called it “badlands” because it reminded me of The Badlands in the Dakotas.
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Best Hotels
Cedarbrook Lodge – Seattle:
(images to be linked)
Hyatt Regency Bellevue:
Northern Quest Resort & Casino – Airway Heights:
Red Lion Hotel on Fifth Avenue – Seattle:
Skamania Lodge – Stevenson:
Suncadia Resort – Cle Elum:
The Davenport Hotel and Tower – Spokane:
The Edgewater Hotel – Seattle:
The Goodstone Inn & Estate – Middleburg:
The Woodmark Hotel, Yacht Club, and Spa – Kirkland:
Willows Lodge – Woodinville:
more TBA…
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Vegan Restaurants and Shops:
Bang Bang Cafe
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Chu Minh Tofu and Vegan Deli
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Floret – near gate A1 in the Seattle airport (for their vegan mushroom French dip sandwich)
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Harvest Beat
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Kati Vegan Thai
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Lazy Cow Bakery
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Odd Burger (coming soon)
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Pi Vegan Pizzeria
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Plum Bistro
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The Endive Eatery (2 vegan menu items; scramble/skillet, and burrito –which is world-class)
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Veggie Grill
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Vital Creations vegan cafe
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Yaygit
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Ancient Ruins:
- Boulder Park; 2-story ones Randall Carlson explained got rolled there from other mountain ranges via a mega-flood during a cataclysm
–went there ~2017 in Jeep
–2024 May 12 Sunday morning decided not to go rest of way; rerouted (until I have my chosen teammates and airship, etc.; the means to properly/fully study those ruins) - cliff caves just N of/in Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park (tons of them visible from the approach highway on the other side of the river, especially from the scenic overlook before the drive downhill to the bridge across)
- mountain slope on N side of Snake river, N of Clarkson campsite island, in Moses, WA, area; distinct terraces, etc.
(have 3 pics from phone) - Mt. Adams
- Mt. Rainier may be another World Tree ruin/stump
- Twin Sisters Rock (two tall boulders) at mile-post (MP) 4.1, US-730, Kennewick, WA 99337; Muley-like boulder-size (possible building) blocks cliff just north of the Twin Sisters trail/landform
more TBA
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Other Sites:
Curiously, some of the best campsites I’ve found anywhere on Earth are free in a cluster in the SE.
- Pataha campground: (also) drive down winding gravel road, turn and continue past creek-edge trailers and cabins, turn into canyon grove, very secluded (thick greenbelt, remote, no homes in line-of-sight), 3 camp/tent spots (or 4, if counting the narrow vehicle trail to the fallen thick trunk), each with a campfire iron ring and picnic table, pre-staged firewood (big pile at the far/back spot), 1 outhouse, mosquitos until fire smoke makes them leave, bats over the pond, frogs croak after nightfall but not all night, rarely anyone there.
- Forest Boundary campground: hilltop, flat, wide open, several spots, all with firepit iron ring and picnic table, pre-staged dry pine-needles branches (but not always firewood chopped), horizon/sky views, paved road access, no mosquitos, ATV trails,
and this was where in the Jeep ~2017 I tried to tan but the komorebi was insufficient, so I just had a meal of tomato soup in a paper hotel cup, with Fritos, canned asparagus, and water (and I had it again this time, helping refresh that memory –and soften it; not stressed or sad this time). - Alder Thicket campground: down the great flat barely winding National Forest (NF) road a couple miles S of Forest Boundary, secluded, vast greenbelt, great horizon view near the entrance/exit loop, several picnic tables and firepits, lots of stacked pine-needles branches and man-portable logs (though not pre-staged normal-chopped firewood).
- Stockade Springs campground doesn’t exist; it’s on Google Maps, but there are no turnoffs there –so use the great-views turnoffs just before (north of) it
WTF: 2 creeps/fags in a pickup slowed down and both held their cell-phones up (rolled-down driver-side window) to take my picture ~3:10pm PST sat18may2024
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playlist: Foo Fighters are from here