Big four ice caves

Date visited: 4/28/2007

The big four ice caves are a part of the Mt. Baker national forest, about 120 miles north of Redmond, WA. A parking pass is required to park at the ice caves trail head, available at the ranger station near the park entrance.
The parking lot is a heaven for bird lovers as there are a variety of birds to be seen here during summer. The caves form in July and when we went in April the trail was still covered with snow. We could hear the avalanches happening nearby.

Mt. Rainier National Park

Visited on: 5/12/2007

The visit was great as it was a sunny day and we could weather the cold on the mountain. The road to Paradise point had opened last week and all area around it was snow covered. It was a delight for my parents. Some pictures below.

Narada Falls

Florence and Sand Dunes, Oregon state

This labor day weekend 5/26/07, we travelled to Florence, OR from Seattle to spend the weekend at the beaches. The drive was quick as we covered about 325 miles ( 270 of those on I5) in 7 hours with a few rest breaks.

We had rented a beautiful 3 bedroom house right on the Heceata beach called "Sandpiper" and it turned out to be a real dream house with amazing views. The house was very well furnished and we did not have to take anything with us. For 350 a night it was a great rate for 9 people staying together. There are a lot of other beach houses available right on the beach for a lower rate with fewer bedrooms.

The day we reached we just spent some time relaxing on the beach and getting some supplies for the next two days. Florence is a small town, but has a Fred Meyers and Safeway and a few restaurants and we got all that we needed. The kitchen was well furnished too and we could cook a nice meal in no time.

The next day morning we went kit flying out on the beach. It was my first time flying a kite with two control string and it took me a while to learn how to control it. It was extremely windy and flying the kite was a lot of fun once I got the hang of it. In the afternoon we went on a buggy ride on the huge sand dunes that have naturally formed around the Oregon coast. The one hour ride was pretty good and was comfortable for our parents too. Seeing people ride ATVs on dunes that must have been at least 5 stories high got us excited and we wanted to try it out. However it was a little late and we postponed it to the next day.

That evening we went on a drive on highway 101 to Cape Perpetua which is supposed to have some of the most scenic views in Oregon. Devil's churn was a very scenic point with water splashing around like fireworks. On the way back to our house, we stopped at the Heceata head lighthouse to watch the sunset and it was really beautiful. Its .5 mile hike from the parking lot to the lighthouse and the view from above was totally worth the late hike. The are huge rocks jutting out of the ocean with a lot of birds sitting on them.
Sunday night, we had dinner at Thai Talley, a nice little Thai restaurant on Highway 101 in Florence. The food was pretty good except that we ordered it with medium spice which was too much to handle for us. If you are from India, I would recommend ordering mild and if you are a Caucasian, you should check if they have something lower than mild.

Monday morning was beautiful and sunny and we had another kite flying session. Then we left to do some ATV riding on the dunes which was a lot of fun. A long drive on the coast and then back to Seattle ended the weekend.