By Shelby
After doing laundry Sunday morning, we decided to move on from Spokane. Neither of us really cared for Spokane. It seemed kind of dirty and the Planet Fitnesses weren’t very nice. We drove a couple of hours to the smaller city of Yakima ahead of schedule. Along the way, we stopped at a scenic overlook of the Columbia River. This area was surprisingly dry and rocky for what we were expecting in Washington.
On the road into Yakima, we got a nice view of Mt. Adams and Mt. Rainier. It seemed out of place to see two snow-covered mountains looming over us since we were in a desert. Yakima seemed nicer than Spokane. It seemed very unique as well, since it was located in a valley in a desert surrounded by mountains. Neither of us knew that Washington had deserts like that. One unfortunate part of Yakima was how hot it was. The whole week that we were there, it was 90-100 degrees every day with barely any clouds. We were pretty worried about the car getting too hot and overworking the fridge, so we parked in the shade when we could and used the window covers to reflect back the sun. We also had a small propane tank in the back that isn’t supposed to be stored at over 120 degrees, so we also worried about that. At one point the car got to 134 degrees.
On Monday, we worked from the Yakima Central Library. Before it opened at 9AM, Spencer worked at a table in Planet Fitness. The library was nice, but parking was crowded. Also, I wasn’t able to get the WiFi to work, so I used my hotspot on my phone to work. Spencer had a special week-long training for work this week, so he would be working from 6AM-2PM every day. I worked from 8AM-2PM. After work Monday, we went to Randall Park, a park in the city, to try and stay cool in the shade. There were very few places in the area with trees large enough for parking under. That night, we decided to try the other Planet Fitness in Yakima to see if it would be any quieter. The first Planet Fitness we tried was located right off a busy road, so it was pretty loud. The other Planet Fitness unfortunately was also right off a busy road, but it seemed nicer than the other. We went to bed early since Spencer was waking up at 5 AM.
Tuesday morning, Spencer worked from Planet Fitness again until the Richard E. Ostrander West Valley Community Library opened at 9AM. I liked this library better than the central library. It was smaller and parking was better. We were able to park in a location where we could see the car from where we worked inside and leave the windows open to help keep it a little cooler. There was even a show put on by a magician. I still couldn’t get the WiFi to work, however. Tuesday afternoon, we went to the Valley Mall to escape from the heat for a bit. We were luckily able to find some shade to park the car in. We stopped at a jewelry store to check out some wedding bands and figure out what we liked. After walking around the mall, we returned to the car and moved to an even shadier spot. We played one of our favorite video games, BattleBlock Theater, for a while before eating leftover ratatouille for dinner.
We worked from the same library Wednesday. It was close to Planet Fitness, so that was nice. After I finished work, I worked on planning out our upcoming trip to Olympic National Park. It’s a lot of work to plan visits to national parks! First, you have to research any road closures in the park, then you have to figure out which entrance is best to go into the park, you have to figure out what the best trails and stops are, and then you have to figure out where you’re staying the night. Often, there is limited cell service in national parks, so it is best to plan all of this out in advance. Plus, you have to figure out the best method to beat the crowds. If you don’t wake up early enough, parking for popular areas fills up fast.
When Spencer finished work, we took the Prius to the car wash. It was very dusty from the gravel roads in Montana. Also, the front was covered in bugs just from driving so much. We were worried that the rain guards on the windows would be damaged by an automatic car wash, so we took it to a manual car wash. We spent $10 to wash, rinse, and wax the car. We found it to be a success. It looked much cleaner and shiny again.
After washing the car, we drove to the Cowiche Canyon trailhead out in the desert to get the car all dusty again. This trail was very neat and luckily there was a breeze so we didn’t get too hot. The trail followed along a small river in the canyon for a while. Then we climbed up onto a ridge and walked through the desert. We got a nice view of the surrounding area. We saw Mt. Adams, the desert mountains surrounding Yakima, and some small farms and vineyards. Along the trail, we even heard and saw a rattlesnake. I would have taken a picture, but I didn’t want to spook it. After finishing our 3-mile hike, we returned to Planet Fitness to go to bed.
Thursday, we worked from the same library again. When we finished work, we drove an hour to Mt. Rainier National Park. The drive was interesting. It started out in the desert and gradually there were more and more trees and the mountains got bigger. The temperature also dropped significantly. It was pretty crazy how the environment was so different with just an hour of traveling.
The road through the park was amazing. It ran along a ridge on the side of a mountain. It’s very impressive that people were able to build it. The views from the road were very nice. Along the road, we stopped at Lake Tipsoo for some pictures. After that, we continued on to Sunrise Point Lookout. From there, we could see Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams in the distance, and many other mountains.
We continued on to the Sourdough Ridge trailhead. This trail followed along a ridge on the side of a mountain with sweeping views of Mt. Rainier. There was more snow on the trail than we had expected, so we had to step carefully. At one point on the trail, a couple of people pointed out some polar bears to us. We re-identified them as mountain goats. We also spotted a very friendly chipmunk that walked right up to us.
At the end of the trail, we reached Frozen Lake, a small alpine lake. From there, we decided to make the trail into a loop and take a different route back to the trailhead. Unfortunately, this trail had a lot more snow than the other. The trail also had beautiful wildflowers. By the time we reached the end, our shoes were soaked. From there, we drove back to Yakima to sleep.
Friday, we worked in the morning before going grocery shopping. After that, we headed back to Mt. Rainier. Along the way, we stopped at the Clear Creek Falls Overlook to check out the waterfall. In the park, we stopped at the Reflection Lakes to take a picture with Mt. Rainier.
We continued on to Paradise, my favorite area of the national park. I had been there a couple of years ago and loved the area. I actually had a picture of myself there on a specific rock that I wanted to replicate, but first we had to find the rock. It would be difficult because there was a lot more snow this time than when I was there last. I was pretty sure that the rock was a short hike up the skyline trail, so we decided to try to find it.
The skyline trail was very snowy and steep, but the views were amazing. We compared every rock we could find with my picture, but were unsuccessful. We eventually went so far along the trail that we decided to just keep hiking instead of returning to the parking lot. Our original plan was to do the hike Saturday, but doing it Friday would free up some time Saturday. We continued along the trail to Glacier Vista, a viewpoint where we could see a glacier. Along the way, we saw a couple of mountain goats and a lot of marmots.
When we got to Glacier Vista, the sun was starting to get low, so we decided to head back down to the car. I had a lot of fun sliding through the snow. It kind of felt like skiing. Our shoes got soaked again. That night, our plan was to stay at a small primitive campsite near the park entrance. Unfortunately, it was late when we got there and all the spots were taken. We drove to a small turnoff on the road and stayed there instead.
Saturday morning, we headed toward Seattle since we didn’t have to get up early and hike. We were going to visit Seattle after work that week, but decided to go Saturday instead since we had the time. Along the way, we stopped at a Planet Fitness in a suburb of Tacoma to shower. Driving into the city was a pain. There was so much traffic and it took a long time to get into the parking garage. Our first stop was Pike Place Market, an iconic farmers market in the city center near the waterfront. It was big, but there were so many people it was hard to enjoy it.
Our next stop was the Space Needle. We decided to walk since it was only about a mile away. It was a nice walk along the waterfront. We watched a long line of people waiting to get on a massive cruise ship. We also saw Bainbridge Island and the ferry. When we got to the Space Needle, we took a few pictures from the base, but decided not to go up in it.
After that, we continued walking another mile to Kerry Park, which had an amazing view of the Seattle skyline. The best part was that it was free! We walked back to the car along the water again. It was a pain to get out of the parking garage since it seemed that everyone else was leaving too. It took us over an hour to get from our parking spot to the exit of the garage. It was pretty ridiculous. We decided to avoid driving in large city centers in the future.
That evening, we drove to Lacey, a town near Olympia. It was nice to get away from the hectic traffic of Seattle. We went to Woodland Creek Community Park to make dinner. We hard-boiled some eggs to go with our salads. It was pretty late by the time we ate, so we went right to Planet Fitness to get ready for bed after. The next morning, we did laundry and went back to Woodland Creek Community Park to relax and work on the website. Next week, we plan on staying in Olympia and then visiting Olympic National Park.
Fun Facts from Week 12:
- Yakima Valley in Washington harvests 75% of the United States’ hops.
- Mt. Rainier is an active volcano that last erupted between 1820 and 1850.
