Taking Flight

Friday, 4 September 2009

Road Trip Day 16

As I unpacked at the motel in Castle Rock I realised something terrible. I'd left my dear little travelling companion behind. I've not mentioned Alice before. She's an unassuming little friend, not one to cause a fuss or seek the limelight, but she has appeared in some of my snaps... such this one.

Alice is a teddy bear. A teddy bear in a Colorado University cheerleaders dress. And I left her behind. I was horribly upset and rang the hotel at Portland first thing this morning. Happily, the housekeeper had found her and she was safe and well. She can be shipped on ahead of me and we should be reunited in Denver. In the meantime I feel like a terrible parent and am suitably ashamed of myself.

A Quick Stroll

With another city stay on the way I felt the need to get a nature fix first thing today, so drove the short distance to the Mount St. Helens Visitor Centre where I had noticed a short loop trail that I could walk. The one mile loop went out onto the marshland bordering Silver Lake which was very pretty on this warm late summer morning. In terms of wildlife spotting I saw very little. A possible spotting of a Blue Heron in flight and what I believe was a Black-capped Chickadee. Twitchers will be pleased to know that I bought a Field Guide to the Birds of North America at Powells in Portland.

Another State, Another Capitol

As I did in Oregon, I managed to squeeze in a trip to the state capital. Washington's capital is Olympia and the area around the modern Legislative Building is full of well manicured lawns, gardens, fountains, statues and memorials.

Also of note, according to my guidebook, is the old Capitol Building a short drive away. It's a far smaller, quirkier building with a very smart statue of George Washington outside.

With my sight-seeing done, I returned to The Beast and scoffed down the Bear Claw I'd grabbed from the breakfast selection at the Motel this morning and set off for Seattle.

Museum of Flight

In my research on Seattle I saw that the Museum of Flight was a few miles south of the city centre so, as I was approaching from that side I decided to make this my first stop before going to my hotel.

I'd been to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum when I was in Washington DC so there was some overlap between the two, but I still enjoyed wandering amongst the exhibits. It's always fun to wander around a building with real, full-size aircraft hanging above you. This museum has an old "Air Force One" and the Concorde which made the last commercial flight.

Interestingly the information board for the Concorde said that costs and lack of demand spelled the end for the only production supersonic aircraft and failed to mention anything about the one which crashed into a motel in Paris.

For me though, the most interesting hall in the museum was the area which chronicled World War II. It was an excellently put together exhibit, very well presented and respectful to the subject.

Mediocre

Now I'm back at my rather mundane hotel which is a pretty long way from the City, but the best compromise on this Labor Day weekend. I have the option to take the hotel shuttle to the nearby "Sea-Tac" (Seattle-Tacoma) airport where I can pick up public transport into the city or I might just drive in and pay for all-day parking. We'll see.

Goodnight.

View Castle Rock to Seattle via Olympia and Museum of Flight in a larger map

Stats - Day Forty-Two

Distance travelled - 119 Miles - Castle Rock to Seattle (area), via Olympia and the Museum of Flight.

States entered - Washington

State count - 18 + DC

Room numbers stayed in - 203, 1, 148, 212, 205, 210, 246, 118, 3, 145, 229, 111, 207