Portland & Seattle

Aug 27-29, 2010
AC533 YYZ-PDX, AC8112 SEA-YVR, AC148 YVR-YYZ

This summer Air Canada started flying between Toronto and Portland.  We've been to Oregon before, but had not made it to Portland.  The flight in was spectacular, as we flew between Mount Hood and Rainier.  The city had a very cool vibe to it and we explored both in the car and on foot downtown.  They were setting up for the Saturday morning market so there were plenty of activities.  From there we drove to Mount Rainier National Park for a closer look at the mountain.  Having spent a lot of time in Seattle we've of course seen Rainier many times, but this was our first close up look.  It started out cloudy, but the peak did appear from the clouds a few times when we were south of the summit and when we drove further up the mountain from the north we had amazing weather.   There were lots of wildflowers and we also saw a few brown bears (from a safe distance).  We made it back to Seattle for the evening and walked around on Sunday before catching our flight home.    

Aug 27
Nonstop flight to Portland.

Aug 28
Portland to Rainier to Seattle  

View of Portland from above the port area

Portland Old Town on Saturday morning

Setup for Saturday market

Entrance to the market

Christine Falls in Mt. Rainier National Park

Carbon River Valley

Looking towards the cloud covered Mt. Rainier

On our hike from Paradise the clouds starts to clear

Narada Falls

Wild flowers still in bloom

Glaciers and the now visible peak

Looking south towards the Tatoosh Range

Nisqually Glacier

Nisqually Vista Trail hike

The clouds temporarily lift just before we head out

A different vantage point as we drive North East around the mountain

Shadow Lake hike for Sunrise Visitor Center

A cloud free view of the peak, looking south west

Emmons Glacier

Sunday morning in Seattle

Aug 29
Flight back to Toronto via Vancouver