Seattle

After getting through California and seeing the beautiful Redwood forests and seashores, we decided against driving the Oregon and Washington coasts and instead headed through the middle of the state.  Partially for time issues and also because we had a pretty significant problem with the 5'er that we needed to resolve.

Just about to have dinner outside

When we boondock (camp without water or electric hookups) we must use propane for the refrigerator and the water heater.  In the redwoods we had no hookups and the propane would not work for the water heater.  It fired up but wouldn't stay lit.

The problem was the circuit board that determines if the flame is lit went bad and we had to find a new one.  So until we got to Seattle, we called many RV parts and service places to locate the part.

We thought we'd have one by Portland but it was not easy to source.  Finally in Tacoma we found the part at a camping world and I installed it in the parking lot in case I broke anything while installing the circuit board.  The installation was fairly easy and we were on our way with a functional water heater once again.

We planned to take a couple days in Seattle to restock our supplies and see the town.  First thing on the list was to find a car wash for the truck.  Then we went downtown to Pike's Market and do some touring.

One very interesting tour was a walking tour of underground Seattle.  After a fire back in the 1800's, they rebuilt the town 20 feet higher than what it was.  The catch was it would take years to add 20-30 feet of fill dirt before building so they rebuilt the town and slowly started raising the levels of the dirt eventually closing off the first level of the town.  And many of those areas are still visible with sidewalks and doors and windows of the original town.  We even got to see one of the first flush toilets ever made.

The 19th century history of the town was pretty corrupt and not a place we'd like to live.  However one historic place we did stop and see was the original Starbucks.  Everywhere you look in this city people are walking around with coffee and seems to be a coffee shop on every corner.  I noticed our tour guide sipping two separate brands of coffee just before the tour began.  It's a way of life around here it seems.  Maybe that's why they recently legalized marijuana in Washington state.  To counteract all the caffeine buzz going around.

Tomorrow we'll be glad to get away from the Seattle traffic and head into Canada.  Finally starting to get somewhat close to the destination.  We hoped to do some more tours and go on a Ferry ride in Puget Sound but just not enough time.  Oh and while walking Pike's market we even noticed a sign "gateway to Alaska".

We did the last of our Trader Joe's shopping and stocked up on some new favorite items.  We'll miss that store.  And hit the last of those excellent vegetarian restaurants that the West Coast of the US is loaded with.