Holiday Inn Express Suites Westampton

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Day 3:
Continue south on 101 and stop at Kalaloch Beach, home to plump sunning sea lions and Kalaloch lodge, lunch!
Drive on to Mount Rainier National Park & do an afternoon hike.
Stay at the Paradise Inn

Day 4:
take Route 410 thru Rainier's eastern border and climb above the tree line at Chinook Pass (open may-Nov)

I pulled this itinerary from Shape magazine's April 2009 edition. I was immediately drawn the the picture of mountains and pine trees - seems like it could be a fun weekend away.

Friday:
From the hotel - walk to Quayside Marina and take the $4 ferry to Granville Island.
Go to Granville Island Public Market
Take the Passenger Ferry ($3) across the inlet to ...

... and then headed for the Mint which was only 2 blocks away.
Of course the mint was closed as it would have been a dry warm place we could go for an hour or so and I was also hoping to grab a official folder to put the state quarters into.......Online purchase for this too I guess.

We decided that we needed to head inside and out of the rain for a while........It was also blowing a gail outside and I'd estimate 32-36 F.

We found a small mall ...

... and the fact it wasn't allowed.

So from then on we had to make a move to fit everything in. 1st up was the Lincoln memorial. THe a jog for about 2kms to Arlington cemetry for some more pics.
Then it was a jog back to the Washington memorial. We actually got tix for this as we were there so early....Went up and snapped more pics before then running for the hotel and booking out to get the 12.00 bus back to Phili.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States tman7deuce

... and a small hat she was wearing.
Not a good thing to say about NY, but 9/11 has certainly got them running scared around the security checks......but to think that we can still jump on any subway out of the city and cruise straight into any Manhattan station with no questions asked........But wait there's more to follow...this was just the start of the day.

We boarded the ferry and headed across to the island and departed soon after landing. We headed into the area and Linda ...

Just a quick one to say hi to all my mates from another US city of the revolution (a couple of hundred years ago) now the city of Brotherly Love & soft cheese ! Have spent a few days eating and drinking and catching up with Andy's former life / acquaintances etc - lots of rowing talk and seemingly collecting specimens for a stacked boat at Henley 2010. Back to London on Monday night and work shortly thereafter yeuck.

... were playing a fantastically over-dramatic Spanish Soap Opera, and our adorable waitress was kind enough to indulge us and translate some of the story lines. She was so sweet. When we were done, we all were so full the only thing we could think of (besides "delicious!") was napping. Later that night I attempted one of the infamous Wawa milkshakes... it was cookie dough flavored and quite good.

I'm sad that I didn't get to explore ...

... easy and smooth. Once you get off the highways you start seeing huge sculptures along the side of the road. The signage is excellent (a rarity in New Jersey) but some people get confused because you do go though an industrial area. We paid to get in, our kids got "work sheets / treasure hunt" activities, they're a bit too young but it's perfect for school age kids. We started off at the visitor center where a very nice ...

... a beach theme, or a random theme, but we decided on the little mermaid and under the sea, so we drew Ariel and Flounder like i said, coloured them in and decorated the walls with fish and seaweed and stuff so it was fun to begin with then became a lets just get it done thing, but it worked out well. However, we realised we coloured Flounder in the wrong way but it didn't bother us...he's blue and yellow still anyway. But we ...

... in center city and eclipsed by most everything around it. The tallest of those buildings is the new Comcast building nearby that is still undergoing construction and will certainly add to the city's already imposing suite of steel structures. The museum itself lies in a straight line down picturesque Benjamin Franklin Parkway from City Hall. The easiest entry to this area from I-95 is onto I-676 which turns into Vine Street in the city. Nearby signs direct ...