Meeting an Icon

Thursday, 3 September 2009

Road Trip Day 15

Well, my time in Portland came to an end early today as I drove north. It also marked the end of 2 days in the hands of Marriott, one of the bigger corporate names in the hotel business. I was worried my stay with this industry giant might be faceless and dull, but the staff at the Fairfield Inn by Marriott in Portland were absolutely wonderful; so helpful, eager to greet and talk to their customers. It was a real pleasure to stay there.

Missed Opportunity

Over the course of my travels I have to keep reminding myself that I can't see everything. With that sad thought in mind I missed out on driving up the Columbia River Gorge to see the waterfalls and river in a huge U-shaped valley. On reflection, with the time I had today I could have fitted that detour in, but I was able to console myself by thinking that I will add this to my lest of things to see when I next visit the Pacific Northwest.

Washington State

I entered the 18th state of my American Adventure mere moments after leaving the hotel. Portland is a stone's throw from Washington and I officially entered the state halfway across a bridge spanning the Columbia River. It was an unremarkable sign and I was in the outside lane doing 55, so no photo of that sign sadly.

I won't be pestering Kate for Factoids for each of the states I enter, she's off duty now after all, so here's a couple courtesy of Wikipedia. The state flower is the Coast Rhododendron and the state vegetable is the Walla Walla Sweet Onion.

Inspiration

One of the biggest news stories of the year in 1980 was the eruption of Mount St. Helens. I was at a good age for this to form an impression and I'd put it down as one of the influences on my interest in Geology and Geography. Since 1980 I've watched a number of documentaries about the volcano and it was a common reference point in my studies. I can replay the famous composite video of the eruption and was pretty well versed in the mechanics of how it blew up so spectacularly.

With this in mind it was quite a trip to actually be there. Much like crater lake was, but with a more academic slant. It wasn't a tear-jerker, more of a case of viewing the shattered cone and being able to see the devastation first hand and give some kind of scale and proportion to the events that I knew so well.

One surprise though was to see steam rising from the small new cone growing in the broken, angular crater. It felt good to be in such an active volcanic area and made me want to see more. Maybe a quick excursion to Hawaii is in order?

Given the importance of this iconic volcano in my life, I decided to snap one of my few "...and here's me obscuring the view of..." photos.

More Hotel Booking Blues

With so much of Mount St Helens understandably off limits, there is not a great deal more to do once you have drunk in the view, watched the informational movies and read the exhibition. That meant I got to my hotel here in Castle Rock around mid-afternoon and had time on my hands.

It's as well that I did though as it took me 2 hours to find a hotel in Seattle. I guess the Labor Day weekend here in the US played a part in the problem, but it is excruciating trying to find a well reviewed, affordable, available place to stay that isn't so far from the centre of Seattle that I'd spend all my time travelling.

On the plus side though, this annoying experience galvanised me to find a place in Vancouver, Canada and I've booked that too so I am sorted for 4 nights now.

I look forward to more availability and lower prices as the summer holidays end.

I've finished my day with steak and shrimp followed by lemon meringue pie at the restaurant next to the motel and am now waiting for my laundry to finish in the dryer before bed.

Goodnight.

View Driving Day 15 in a larger map

Stats - Day Forty-One

Distance travelled - 152 Miles - Portland to Castle Rock, with an immediate trip to Mount St. Helens.

States entered - Washington

State count - 18 + DC

Room numbers stayed in - 203, 1, 148, 212, 205, 210, 246, 118, 3, 145, 229, 111