Be sure to read Part 1 for a trip overview.

Travel Dates: 4/24/11

Independence OR to Lynnwood WA
250 miles

Passed through Portland OR

I would normally stop in Portland but I’d been here several times and wanted to get to Seattle in time for dinner.

“Entering Washington” — Sales tax goes from none to outrageous, but you get to pump your own gas.

“GIGGITY”

Ohio-style bridge

The moment you cross into Washington, people forget how to drive. They forget that the left lane is for passing and people treat the speed limit like the word of god, doing 59 in a 60 even in the far left lane.

Boeing facility.

787 Dreamliner

Seattle

Lynnwood WA — When you approach this building, the lamp post gets in the way of the “L” in “Clocks” and appears to read “A House of Cocks”

David took the picture above. “COCK SALE”

Picked up my old friend David, who I’d known since the age of 9(?) and went to Ivar’s for dinner in Mukilteo

The ferry

I ordered clams and fish and chips.

David got a crustacean

Ian got crab cakes

It was OUTSTANDING. It had been years since I’d eaten seafood that good.

David worked in the petroleum industry for several years. He enlightened us on the cause of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Sadly, dinner was over and I needed to head to Spokane, Washington.

300 miles from Seattle to Spokane

Bellevue WA

Newton’s going ape shit for a dog treat.

Rainy. At least it wasn’t snowing.

The rain and clouds were eventually replaced by darkness. No wonder people up there are depressed.

A few hours later I arrived in Spokane, dreading the two weeks I’d have to spend in that dreary town.

PART 11: First week in Spokane WA