delicacies at Heldenplatz

The nice Waldviertel-Fest took place the last three days at Heldenplatz. We went there to meet friends as well as having delicious food and beers. What a nice goodbye to August!

summer theatre at Berndorf

Niavarani was funny. :-)

Washington State: Seattle

After another day on sea we had to say goodbye to our cruise ship and checked in at Seattle's Sheraton Hotel. In Seattle we did the classic sightseeing: Pike Street Market, Monorail and Space Needle. We also did the 'Ride the Ducks'-tour. Very funny. On our last evening in the United States we had delicious dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. At the airport we had a last scenic view on Mount Rainier. That was one of the greatest vacations I ever did.

Prince Rupert, Canada

Prince Rupert, Canada, was our next harbour. As the day before, when entering Canada the sun started to shine :-) . We had booked a boat trip for whale watching and ancient light houses. The search for the whales took some time but then we found one that was doing eskimo roll all the time (for us). Being in a delay we only visited one of the ancient light houses.

Skagway, Alaska & Yukon Territory, Canada

Our northmost harbour was Skagway. Skagway is a little (approx. 736 inhabitants) but scenic (never burnt down) town. Sabine had the 'best breakfast bagel ever' early in the morning. Now it was time to enter Canada. When entering Canada the sun started to shine and our excursion to Yukon Territory was really gorgeous. We had a delay when going down the White Pass with the railway but the cruise ship waited for us.

Juneau, Alaska

Today we arrived at Juneau. It is the capital city of Alaska and therefore another state capitol was on our schedule. In the morning a coach brought us to the Mendenhall Glacier where we also saw black bears eating salmons. It was heavy raining that day. Feeling cold we bought some tea with rum at a local pub. We enjoyed getting off our wet clothes in the early afternoon. The cruise ship brought us into a fjord where we came close to the Sawyer Glacier. We watched that from the beer garden ;-) .

Ketchikan, Alaska

Ketchikan was our first stop in Alaska. After a day on sea (Inside Passage) we arrived there early in the morning. The first thing we did was a flight to the Misty Fjords with an old de Havilland Otter we had booked in advance. Next we visited the scenic Creek Street. Very nice that rainy capital of the world. ;-)

Cruise: embarkment

Time for the cruise. We embarked on NCL's Norwegian Star in the early afternoon and enjoyed the farewell party at the 'Biergarten'.

Washington State: on the road

On our way to Seattle we did a 'shortcut' into the eastern and more arid part of Washington State. Very interesting but 'evergreen'? When heading west again we visited the Snoqualmie Falls (you might know them from TV drama Twin Peaks) and rushed into Seattle Friday afternoon rush hour. We visited the campus of the University of Washington and then it was time to say goodbye to our brave Ford Taurus. The light train brought us to downtown Seattle and we checked in at Warwick Hotel.

Mt. Rainier N.P.

We spent the next two nights at beautiful Alta Crystal Resort at Mount Rainier – the next cool mountain. We did a lot of trails in Mount Rainier N.P. We went up to Paradise and Sunrise and were a little bit surprised about the huge lots of snow up there in August. In the evening a meet-and-greet barbecue took place at our resort. Very nice.

Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

The next day the next mountain. We had excellent weather conditions for our scenic trip to Mount Saint Helens National Vulcanic Monument. We got lost in the Ape Caves for 90 minutes but this mountain is a special mountain. When it erupted in 1980 it destroyed a large area on its northern side. It lost also 401 metres (1316 feet) in height. You can see a lot of dead trees alongside the streets and the lake is also covered with them. Nevertheless the green is celebrating a successful comeback. I enjoyed that mountain.

Portland, Oregon

After our trip to Mount Hood we did some sightseeing in Portland. It's a very nice city with countless house breweries and excellent dishes. The next morning we visited the rose garden and the japanese garden. Unfortunately we couldn't see Mount Hood from Portland due to a cloudy sky.

Columbia River Gorge & Mt. Hood

We left Portland early in the morning and took the Columbia River Gorge Scenic Byway direction east. The gorge is really impressive and on the Oregon side are a lot of waterfalls. We swiched between Washington State and Oregon on toll bridges ($1 for crossing). It was a very windy day and countless sailboarders and kiteboarders were doing their hobby on the Columbia river. We stopped to watch them and there we saw Mount Hood for the first time. Cool Mountain! The road to Timberline Lodge brought us up the mountain. Even the skiing area was open. So we – as we Austrians do – had a delicious soup at the ski hut (the lodge).

Pacific coast

We spent the night at a small Inn at Pacific Beach. There we had the chance of taking pictures with a real Academy Award (!). Today was a coast day. We crossed the Columbia River and entered Oregon around midday. Our first stop in Oregon was Cannon Beach. This little town – also a colony of artists – is recognized by its well-known landmark called Haystack Rock. The igneous rock has an elevation of 235 feet and is often accessible at low tide. Through beautiful landscape we drove to Portland.

Washington State: Olympia & Olympic N.P.

After arriving at Seattle-Tacoma airport we received our rental car from Thrifty. A wonderful metallic blue Ford Taurus. We started our road trip in Olympia. That's the state capital of Washington State therefore we visited the state capitol. After buying two road maps (thumbs up) we headed forward to Port Angeles located at the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We spent the night at wonderful Inn at Rooster Hill. The next day we weren't allowed to ascend the road to Hurrican Ridge at Olympic N.P. (due to a bicycle race). What a pity! We drove along the lakes through the national park and visited the Hoh Rain Forest. At the coast we saw our first rocky needles.

Greenland by air

I've never been to the states before but there is a first time for everything. After booking a flight to Seattle (WA) and a cruise to Alaska we made a concept for a road trip through Washington State and northern Oregon. In other words: We went on holiday. The first highlight was the flight over Greenland. We had clear weather and therefore we took great pictures out of the airplane window.