SUNDAY 24 OCTOBER - Seattle to Portland

Departed Seattle at 8.00 this morning for Portland via Mount Rainier National Park. Slight delay while we switched buses due to a fault. We were all relieved that the bus company had provided a coach today for a long journey after the local bus we have been travelling in for the first three days of the tour. Highly appropriate for an Ageing Services tour the aptly named Gray Line had provided a bus with continence problems, i.e. it leaked all over the passengers in the Seattle rain!

Mount Rainier, also aptly named as it certainly was rainier today than previous days, is a beautiful active volcanic mountain that is currently sleeping but is expected one day to blow like its neighbour Mount St Helens did back in 1980.


This is how the mountain looks on a clear day, majestically dominating the landscape of northern Washington State. However our visit coincided with that of the first snow of the winter so the view we had was as below.


We had to turn back some miles from the visitors centre because of the blizzard. However we did have the opportunity to allow the Chairman of IAHSA, Glenn Bunney from Queensland, Australia, to enjoy his first ever personal encounter with the white stuff.


On the journey up the mountain we stopped in the rain to admire the spectacular views and I was able to capture a short video interview with Ginger Nuessle, IAHSA's Executive Director.

This afternoon we crossed the state line into Oregon and are now established in the luxurious Heathman Hotel in Portland, which is to be home for the next three days.

Location:Portland, Oregon, USA