First Roadtrip for the Season

We didn't really know where we were going yesterday, we got in the car and Dave says..."what direction?" and I said east. That's the way most of our day trips begin. I wanted to go to Black Diamond just because I hadn't been there and it is quite close. Didn't get any pictures there, don't know why. Being only about 5 miles from busy Auburn it was a delight to drive through and see the farms and stop for brunch. Then it was again which way? And I said east again. It was kind of agreed upon that we wouldn't go to Yakima this time, we didn't find much to look at last time.

We got a picture of Mt. Rainer from this same stop last year but it looked completely different this time with the cloud formations.

Just beyond Chinook Pass the snow got quite deep, but it didn't last for too long.

We intended (if anything is actually intended on this type of trip) to turn off at this point and head in another direction, but couldn't find the road, so we ended up going through Yakima anyway.

It was about 60 degrees near Chinook Pass, and 84 in Yakima.  We drove on through Yakima into Ellensburg.

Then through Leavenworth and on home down Highway 2. What I love about Washington is that you can go from snowy mountains to treeless hills and back in to farmland again, just ine one day.  We got home about 10:30 last night after 395 miles.  Next week the plan is to go to the ocean. 

Northwest Trek

We finally got away this weekend and went to Northwest Trek. We've been wanting to go there for the last few years but it was too far away. Now we're less than an hour's drive away. We went there one time when Carla and Skip were little and I don't think that Christy was even born. Needless to say it has changed drastically since then.

The tram ride tour was good and there was only one animal that we did not see, and that was the moose. But we had a very close encounter once at the Olympic game farm, so wasn't too worried about not experiencing it again. Dave got what we thought were going to be some real good pictures of the mountain lion, but weren't as good when we saw them up close. This one was pretty good though.
The Bison were breathtaking as usual. I never realized that the layer of hair on the front of the male is for their protection as they fight other Bison.

This mountain goat was quite photogenic.

It was rutting season and this male was keeping his female from rejoining the heard. The males have the pointy horns for fighting and the females have curved one so that they can nudge their young along with hurting them.

Even though this guy was pretty sleepy, he is by far my all time favorite, the black bear.
Clyle also really enjoyed the day and we are enjoying having him around and going places with us.