Hwy 18 should be fine. You'll have a bit of a grade to go up about 2-3 miles from I-90 but there are slow-truck lanes on the right and big semi-trucks use this route regularly. Once over the pass it's a gentle grade down hill and easy after that. The only grade left to worry about is the uphill from Puyallup on SR 512 until the 90 deg bend. Not super bad but it's a uphill grade.

Woohoo. . . Graham. Exciting.

Tacoma is close by and they'll probably have a good fireworks display over Commencement Bay. Seattle also is having a display but I'm not sure which is the "best". As well as other cities in the area. Depends on what you're looking. But Tacoma would be the easiest to reach with one of the larger fireworks displays.

Get down on the water front, about where point "B" is on the google map. Expect crowds and traffic. Doug lives about 1-2 miles from there just up on the hill if you want to give him a buzz or something somehow.


As for things to see in the area. . . hm.

House boats can be found around Lake Union and Portage Bay in Seattle. They're easier to see from the water as a lot of the slips are gated off. I'm not sure there are other house boat enclaves.

It's further north but possibly exploring the San Juan Islands (Whidbey (Fort Casey is cool to explore), San Juan, Orcas, Bainbridge, Vashon). There's the Hoh Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula if you're in the mood for some hiking with your moss. Not sure there are many other rain forests in the continental U.S. From downtown Seattle you could do a float plane sight seeing flight on Kenmore Air taking off and landing from Seattle's urban Lake Union. Maybe doing a day trip or over nighter to Victoria B.C. (pretty quick by float plane).

It all depends a bit on what you're interested in seeing. I'm hoping Kevin can chime in, too.

Cool.
Yep - I'll come in later and give some thoughts (today is not a good day....)

TTYL....

OK, gotta admit that Leavenworth was better than we expected.

Really? Cool.

It can be good or bad depending on expectations. Taken for what it is it can be a fun little place to stop in, grab something to eat, maybe a beer at a German themed beer garden and then bug out.

Glad to hear....

If you're in Seattle this weekend...
Nice 'local' car shown just north of town

Greenwood Car Show
I'll be there (in the morning) with a fellow 2002 nut -

I went to the Greenwood car show a couple years ago. I was surprised how big it was. Both sides of a 10-12 block long stretch of road were shut down to traffic and lined with hundreds of wonderful cars.

Very cool.

Also, saw this in the local paper. It's up in Canada on Vancouver Island but could be fun for a couple day trip up there.

couldn't be for Greenwood, but we saw a steady stream of hot rods and old coupes driving north on 97 while we were heading south.

Seriously, must have seen 60 -70 cars, and many car trailers heading north

Which one -- the "road to Tofino" item?

I've been out to Tofino a couple times with my wife. The drive from Victoria to Tofino is 4+ hours. Great drive, great places to stop (Cathedral Grove is just one).

Tofino itself is very sleepy, but there are some very good B&B's, and its a great place to get away for a few days, go on walks, etc.

Although, the 2nd time we went there, I hit a baby deer with the rental car. We were very lucky that it didn't do any damage...

Where were a few postings that looked interesting along there. Can't remember which one exactly now.