In the summer of 1996, we flew from Chicago to Seattle, where we rented
a car and began a tour of the Pacific Northwest. Be sure to visit the Pike's
Place market in downtown Seattle, home of the "fish throwers". Olympic
National Park is an awesome place to visit. We found camping near Port
Angelos at a campground called Hurricane Ridge. Even if you don't camp
there, it is recommended to drive to the top of the mountain to Hurricane
Ridge. The view up there is incredible. Also, don't miss the Hoh National
Forest on the west side of the park. It is the only rainforest in the continental
U.S. On the west side, you will begin seeing 'clearcuts'. I'm not sure
I've ever seen a place where humans have destroyed nature so much. The
timber companies have just wiped out entire forests and left the garbage
behind. And on the topic of destruction, Mt. St. Helens is about a 2 hour
drive south of Seattle. Portland is about 3 hours from Seattle. Following
are links to some of the places we visited along with a few more that we
would have liked to have seen.
