A quick trip by pic (lots of pics)

We spent the first nine days of this month south of the border, in Washington and Oregon, where we got to experience our first U.S. 4th of July. Never saw so many flags as in some of the small towns we drove through.

Here are some pics:










Leaving Victoria on a beautiful morning on the Coho ferry to Port Angeles

















View of downtown Seattle from the Space Needle
Then, on to a boat tour of Elliot Bay with various Seattle landmarks pointed out:


























The very first Starbucks:




















We found snow on Mount Rainier, but it was still warm--about 70 degrees.

















Fireworks at Fort Dent on the 4th














Glass art at Tacoma














It was cloudy in Portland











Lincoln City on the Oregon coast--also where we found a decent outlet mall, to my daughter's delight. (no sales tax in Oregon)













Looking down on the Columbia River













The State Senate in Olympia, Washington. I was surprised to discover we could walk in and wander, even look into the Senate chamber, or go up into the viewing gallery in the Senate or the House--nobody even checked us for bombs or weapons...








Vietnam memorial at the State Capitol--they had something for each war, but I found this one somehow more... powerful than the others.





There were lots of other things, and I've posted a ton of pics on facebook if you're on it you can check. I may post some on my photobucket eventually--there's info elsewhere in past blog posts as to how you can access that.

One annoyance is the exchange rate--it was about 85 1/2 cents when we got home and now, a bit over two weeks later, our dollar has jumped to 92 1/2 against the U.S. buck.

Stupid fluctuations.