We think the Pacific Northwest is

so beautiful!

So we had no problem staying a couple of extra days

in Washington after our cruise -

This was mainly because our airfare was super high

if we wanted to fly home on Saturday or Sunday.

[A hotel for a couple of nights was cheaper - truth.]

When we disembarked and said farewell to our traveling buddies we got a taxi to the airport where we'd rented a car and drove North. [The last time we were out this way, we'd driven South, along the coast, to Portland, Oregon...]

Side Note: The Seattle traffic was as awful as we'd remembered...

but once we got out of town it was a very nice drive...

At first, our plan was to spend the night along the way then drive up and back to North Cascades in one day [it's only about 2.5 hours from SeaTac.] But we soon realized we were crashing fast and needed at least one sleep in day before our early morning flight on Monday - so our plans changed.

We googled Farm-to-Table and found The Sisters Restaurant.

It opened in 1983 [40 years!] and is located next to a farm co-op shop.

How fun is it that they use plastic animals as meal markers [instead of numbers!!]

My salad was DELICIOUS.

Everett, Washington is a sweet town about an hour out of Seattle, so we immediately decided to drive on up to the National Park and back to Everett to overnight...

It was a cloudy day [per Washington weather] and I wasn't sure how much of the mountain views we might see along the way.

But even with the clouds it was a beautiful area.

At first it reminded us of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park...

But as we got farther North [and some of the clouds lifted] it became [much] taller and rockier - and the streams along the way were such a pretty color!

We stopped in at the Visitor's Center, drove through the campgrounds, on up towards Diablo Dam and decided to head back to Everett to overnight.

[We knew beforehand that we would not have time to drive the loop.]

I found that the water is so beautiful due to suspended fine rock particles refracting sunlight. These particles are called glacial flour, and enter the lake when rock from the surrounding mountains erodes and flows into the water through the glacial streams. Pretty cool - and VERY pretty!

We got back to Everett in time to enjoy dinner before going to our hotel.

We stayed at the Inn at Port Gardner - Waterfront.

[A Comfort Inn property - so points - yay!]

We were right on the marina and it's a popular walking path

for those wanting a late afternoon [or early morning stroll.]

LOVED our room - my only suggestion would be that they glaze the bottom half of those windows for a bit more privacy - lol -

The weather was wonderful so we enjoyed a stroll

along the marina boardwalk as well!

It's interesting to look at a map and see how close

Victoria, BC is, just across the way...lol...

After breakfast the next day [delivered to our room in a basket!]

we decided to take the scenic route down to our hotel in SeaTac, so we set out for Snoqualmie Falls.

We stopped at a few thrifty stores in the small towns along the way - Craig was dilligent in helping me find the entire alphabet of these old printer stamps -