Randy's Sound Visit, December 6-10, 2001
  
 
Map of western Washington state...
 
Day 1 - Thursday, December 6
 
The good man arrives from North Carolina, delivers the gift of Texas Pete and enjoys a smoke at the Bellevue Tinderbox...
 
 
Day 2 - Friday, December 7
 
From my office in Redmond over to the Seattle waterfront...
 
         
 
Pike Place Market...
 
       
 
     
 
Around the waterfront...
         
 
I bought a Smith & Wesson folding knife at Federal Army & Navy during our walk around the waterfront...
 
Atop Queen Anne Hill...
 
The Freemont Troll..
 
The downtown monorail...
 
From above the Mount Baker Tunnel... Mt. Rainier to the south, Bellevue and Mercer Island to the east...
 
We were joined by John at the Issaquah Tinderbox for a gentlemanly gathering. That's my new Smith & Wesson folder on the table (just to the right of my Czech briar)...
 
     
 

 
Day 3 - Saturday, December 8
 
From Seattle to Bainbridge Island via ferry, then around the peninsula...
 
       
 
       
 
       
 
       
 
 
Looking back at the Hood Canal Bridge...
 
Crossing the Elwha River Gorge...
 
The Strait of Juan de Fuca...
 
         
 
We encountered the Pacific Ocean at Ruby Beach, about midway between Neah Bay and Aberdeen. With the last light of day we hiked a trail down the cliff to the surf. We had to cross over driftwood logs piled ten feet high in some places to reach the surf. There was a sheer cliff just to the north and a massive rock formation just off shore. The cold Pacific wind was blowing hard and wet. The mighty Pacific Ocean!  Unfortunately, it was a bit too dark for my camera at Ruby Beach...
 
Later in the evening, in Aberdeen, we watched (on TV) Kristi Yamaguchi win the Hallmark Skaters Championship from Washington, D.C...
 

 
Day 4 - Sunday, December 9
 
Out of Aberdeen...
       
 
 
 
The Pacific Beach area, north of Aberdeen...
 
       
 
   
 
A tad further north...
 
         
 
Back through Aberdeen and on across the plain toward Olympia...
 
     
 
To Mount Rainier...
 
         
 
Along the way, on SR-706... Recycled Spirits Of Iron...
       
 
   
 
Mount Rainier National Park... without chains we could not go very far into the park...
 
       
 
 
 
Just below the national park at Ashford...
  

 
Day 5 - Monday, December 10