Cruising the Cascades

I have acrophobia.

When I drive over high, twisty, winding roads -- which the northwest mountain ranges are full of -- my palms sweat, my stomach welcomes flights of butterflies, and I literally  have to fight the urge to drive off the road into the gaping canyon below. So I creep around these S curves and switchbacks. Luckily, my friend Steve Wilson took over the motoring chores in the worst parts of the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier National Park. I sat in the...I hate this name...death seat, jaws clenched, looking straight ahead, wishing Steve would stop accelerating up to 20 mph.

Every once in a while, Steve would spot a spectacular view (Glacier National Park is check full of them) and call out, "Hey, look at that!", indicating some chasm so far below that the River Stxy could easily have been flowing through it. I'd have been focussing on some distant high peak; looking straight ahead or even higher up is supposed to help acrophobics. So I would glance over and down, snap a quick photo, pray that Steve did not intend to lurch over the edge to take the short way down, and my stomach would flip faster than eggs-over-easy.

But the cruise (HA!) through the Cascade Mountains in central Washington was different. I was on my own, dry mouth and all. Fortunately, I'd hooked up with a new friend -- Cliff Snell -- who volunteered to be the 'lead car' through the spectacular Cascade Range. We'd met by chance just north of Davenport in eastern Washington, enjoyed each other's company and freakish sense of humor (Cliff spent hours looking for a bumper sticker cheesy enough to put on his Jeep Cherokee), shared a motel room (of course, separate beds; need you ask??!!), viewed the Grand Coulee Dam's inner workings together, and then set out in our separate cars for points west. Cliff was heading toward his home in Vancouver, British Columbia. I was heading for...well, wherever whim would take me. So Cliff thoughtfully snaked us through the Cascades at what I considered to be perfectly reasonable speeds. Sometimes our cars were outrun by the many chipmunks that darted in and out of the rocks by the sides of the road.

Cliff and I were attracted to the same kinds of sightings as Steve and I were, so we stopped frequently to gaze in awe at what nature had thrust up before us. And to take pictures. Because there are so many wonderful scenes in the Cascades, I'll drop a few of the better ones here to give you a sense of the beauty surrounding us on our day-long drive. (The green water in the bottom photo is not an illusion; it is created by the many minerals that run off into this glacial lake.)

Cliff and I spent a long time on Rt. 20 over and through the Cascades and now that I'm down, I cherish every minute of it. Rt. 20 spills into a long flat stretch, and we determined that we would stop for the night at Mount Vernon (could there be a Washington with a Mount Vernon?). As we neared the only motel that seemed to have a light on (It was nearly 11:30 p.m.), Cliff stopped and said he thought he'd push on to Vancouver that night, as he could probably make it in an hour or so.

We went into the motel (I think it was a Worst Western, or the equivalent). The porcine lady on the desk said she was full, and so were all the other motels in Mount Vernon. I put on my best forlorn look, and said, "Haven't you anything??"

She thumbed through some papers, and said, "Well, we have one, maybe. The guy hasn't shown up, and the room isn't made up and I don't know if..." At which point a chipper young lady emerged from behind the curtain, and said, "I just made up the room. The sheets are clean, but I haven't vacuumed."

"Never mind," I said. "I left my white gloves back in New York."

I took the room, and asked if there were anywhere still open where we could get something to eat. We hadn't eaten since lunch, although we'd each bought a couple of pounds of cherries, and were happily munching them all the way through the mountains.

"You could try Shari's," the desk clerk yawned. "Maybe they're open." She told us how to find it.

Shari's (it turns out to be a chain) was open when we got there, a little after midnight. Besides us, the customers consisted of 1) a teenage boy and girl who had enough tattoos between them to decorate a heavy coffee table book, 2) a tableful of truckers who were loudly discussing the mishaps in that night's baseball game between the Mariners and the Angels, 3) a couple who looked as if they'd spent a lively couple of hours at the Worst Western and were cooling off before they went to their respective homes, and 4) a lady of a certain age with determined black hair who had a dish of jello in front of her when we arrived and still had it in front of her when we left.

Back at the motel, I hauled out my computer and began making notes for the day, many of which have found their way into this report. Cliff asked if he could nap for half an hour before hauling off to Vancouver, and he did. Last I saw of him, his taillights were disappearing in the distance up Rt. 5.

PS Cliff did get his cheesy bumper sticker, after all.

Comments

[Kay Dennison]

What gorgeous photos -- as always!!!!!

And I'm like you -- driving in mountains scares the heck outta me! The last time I did that was when my son was a senior and we had to go on a recruiting visit down in West-by-God Virginia. Trust me when I tell you we took a different, flatter route home.

[Shanna]

On my trip, I'll be looking for the roads close to the bottom of the mountains! Your photos are breathtaking - I know my hubby is gearing up all his camera equipment to take hundreds of photos of our "Westward Ho!" vacation so we'll probably end up with some really nice shots, too.

Guess we won't be calling you Mountain Man. Breathing a sigh of relief now?

[Judy Kroh]

Oh, how beautiful!! And your journal entry was....um....fun to read!! You do have a way with words!! I can picture each person you described in Shari's!!! I went to a graveside service Friday at the ND Veteran's Cemetary and met your friend Pam...you are right..she is a doll. I thought she looked familiar when I first saw her and as we visited, I realized where I'd seen her photo...on your blog! Happy travels!

[patti]

So glad you battled your fears long enough to get those great photos - ha! They really are fabulous, make me wish I could be there too, so much.

Take care and thanks for letting us all travel vicariously!

patti

[Alice]

We were through some of those places earlier in the summer. Scared me too! But your photos are awesome. Haven't been to the Cascades yet but your pictures make me want to plan a trip real soon. Look forward to seeing where you take us next.