Trips on highways, journeys on byways, visits to cities and towns and villages, this is an exploration of Washington state with photos and blogs.
This blog post visits the fertile, peaceful Upper Wenatchee River Valley along US 2 and the orchards and farms, creeks and river and canals, piney hills and tall mountains that hold Peshastin and Dryden in a green embrace.
From Interstate 5 in western Washington to the eastern United States, US 2 runs and climbs and sinks and rambles across the northern states, the northern-most US highway across the country. In Washington state, the road passes through cities and villages, climbs the magnificent North Cascades, winds beside […]
This series of posts describes a journey from northwest Washington state to East Wenatchee, along the central Columbia River to Umatilla, Oregon, west to Portland, north to Olympia, onward to Port Townsend, a ferry ride back to Whidbey Island, and home again. This post will travel up and over the North Cascades at Stevens Pass, and down to Tumwater Canyon a few miles west of Leavenworth.
A journey from northwest Washington state to East Wenatchee, along the central Columbia River to Umatilla, Oregon, west to Portland, north to Olympia, onward to Port Townsend, a ferry ride back to Whidbey Island, and home again, this was my first post-Covid-19 shutdown overnighter. The first step, from Everson to Everett, is at Cascades, Columbia, Capital, and Cannons – 1.
I’ve been closed down, sequestered with my wife, for over a year because of the threat of a dread disease, Covid-19. Now, I feel free. I was vaccinated twice, late January and late February. My wife received her first shot at the beginning of April and her second in late April. So, I hit the road. This was a great opportunity to see some fascinating parts of Washington and Oregon. For my celebratory first trip in far too long, I covered a rough triangle in central and southern Washington and Oregon along the mighty Columbia.
State Route 530 runs northeast from Arlington, past the Oso Slide, to Darrington, where it turns north to Rockport. This post, the fourth in a series on SR 530, looks at the stretch from Darrington to Rockport.
This post follows the highway from the Cicero Bridge east to Darrington, home of one of the Hampton Lumber Mills, a distance of 20 miles. Along the way, SR 530 passes the community of Oso, the Oso Slide Memorial and the vanished community of Hazel, the ghost of Fortson Mill, the Darrington Rodeo Grounds, and the Darrington Bluegrass Park.
State Route 530 isn’t long, only 51 miles from Interstate 5, crossing State Route 9 that runs north to the Canadian border, past Arlington, Washington, east past Oso, through Darrington, then north to Rockport on the Skagit River. The first post in this series of posts about State […]
A journey around the state of Washington offers a traveler busy big cities, pleasant small towns, sandy ocean shores, dense green forests, magnificent mountains, fertile farms, and sweeping bridges. People working, people playing, people entertaining, people thinking. This post looks at some of the beauty and wonder of […]
Driving north from Seattle on I-5, a traveler will pass through Everett and Marysville. Ten miles north of the Marysville exit is State Route 530, the main exit for Arlington. Off the ramp, turning right, the road passes a truck stop on the right. Driving south from Bellingham or Mt Vernon, I-5 leaps across the Stillaguamish River, before reaching the SR 530 exit. If heading south on I-5, the traveler turns left at the bottom of the off ramp, and drives under the Interstate.
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