Northern Cascades

Seattle WA =  we were rewarded with an upgrade at Avis from the Chrysler he had reserved when they had no Chrysler for us.  They offered us a Ford!  Imagine that!  We ended up with an upgrade to this way cool Cadillac.  It really is a very pretty car.  Although I had to continuously Google how to work the cruise control, how to open the gas tank, how to turn the radio on, how the turn the air conditioning on, how to turn the headlights on and even how to turn the car off.  Boy, rich people are really a lot smarter than we are!

We spent the first day on planes then driving to Hamilton WA.  Hamilton was no special thing

except that it had a Holiday Inn and you know we can't pass up a  good Holiday Inn!  We headed into the Northern Cascades (which must mean rainy and cloudy mountains in some old Indian language).  This is Mt. Baker, an old but still working volcano. I walked about a quarter mile on the hiking trail.  It was disappointing to me to not be able to hike further.  Most often the beautiful sights are just down the trail.

We did get to experience a great and wonderful dam at Lake Diablo.  Dams are second only to caves as far as vacation

experiences go for us.

1. This dam at Lake Diablo looked like it belonged in the 1920's with Gatsby's motorcar rolling over its dusky road.  It was in fact, built in 1917 as part of the hydroelectric power project on the Skagit River.  It was the tallest dam in the world.
2.  at the time. 

 Diablo Dam used a unique system of "scoops" that looked to me like the bucket on a grader.  There was a small crane that ran on rails built into the roadbed on the dam top.  



 Another dam was on the Baker  River that fed into the 23 mile long Ross Lake. We encountered a very successful fisherman who offered to let me
  document his trout catch.  The fishery had just released 100,000 trout into the lake and he was gonna catch him some!

The lake created a beautiful setting for a view of the Cascades.  You may be able to make out Mt. Baker there in the clouds.  A family of Canadian Geese were munching on the new grass shoots. 



Here is a better view of Mt. Baker.  the clouds cleared briefly to let me g a photo, then down the road it rained on us.  But we hung in there!

The water system is important because the 3 dams provide the majority of the power for Seattle City Lights. 

More later, like tomorrow.  I have a Doggy Birthday Party today for a long time dog client.

glen