It was only about a three hour trip from Dungeness CG to Belfair SP. The SP was gated, clean, partially wooded and paved sites. We arrived early, set up the camper and drove to Bremerton to catch the 3pm ferry to Seattle where Joy’s brother, Roy was waiting for us. The air was clear and the view of the Seattle skyline from the ferry was outstanding. Roy took us for a fantastic dinner of many different kinds of Sushi at the Japonessa restaurant. Afterward, we walked to the Chihuly Glass Garden.and the Space Needle. From atop the Space Needle, the 360º sunset view of the water on the west and Mt Rainier southeast was unusual because much of the time the needle is engulfed in clouds. Mt. Rainier appeared to be have a big light shining on the top of it. Then Roy drove the car on to the ferry and to the CG. In the camper we had a some very good Washington State red wine and late night reminiscing. The next morning it was back to the city for a breakfast at Macrina, milling with the crowd at Pike’s Market, put some gum on the gum wall and another great meal at the Pink Door. We parted about 2pm to prepare for the next leg of our journey, the Ohanapecosh CG in Mount Rainier NP.

This CG was open, reasonably level and under a canopy of large Douglas Fir trees. There were no on-site services. Our first visit from here was to Mount St. Helens, about 40 miles to the southwest. From the parking lot vista, you can see the crater left by explosion and lahars (volcanic mudflows) The initial volcanic explosion reduced everything in the direct line of sight to a wasteland. A landslide, occurred almost simultaneous with the explosion, raised the water level of Spirit Lake over 200 feet. Driving back to the CG, we saw the top of Mt. Rainer. The next day, we drove up the road to Paradise, but the clouds obscured the upper part of the mountain. Paradise receives about 650 inches of snow in the winter. The next day we left Mt Rainier and headed east and south. towards southwest Idaho. The forest fires in eastern Washington were north of our planned route and did not affect our travels. We crossed the Columbia River, near Richland, back into Oregon. Our next CG was Hilgard Junction SP, OR.