As the scenery whizzed by....

The trip to Bellingham is a long one from here. We crossed about half of Oregon and pretty much all of Washington. Bellingham sits close to the border of British Columbia Canada.

We left on Friday afternoon and got caught in rush hour traffic in Portland. I had a nice meal all made to eat along the way. We were going to stop and have a picnic.

But that didn't happen - it was too late and too cold. We couldn't spare the time to sit down anywhere. So we pulled off in a rest area, popped the trunk and grabbed a snack standing up. A little bit of wine and some shrimp that I had all bagged up ready to enjoy along with a baggie of cocktail sauce, too. The computer in the box we were dining on was a delivery we were making to our nephew - he was in Seattle with another aunt at a Mariner's game and we were able to meet up afterwards. This was the only picture I took on the way north because it was dark most of the way.

On our return trip, we deviated from I-5 onto the Boeing Freeway to check out the planes - we are kind of into planes a bit. These are Boeing's 747 Dreamlifters - amazing to look at. They were built specifically by Boeing to carry 787 assemblies from other countries. We want to come back and spend more time here for sure.

We want to stop here next time - Boeing's Future of Flight aviation center. They give tours of the Boeing facility here in Everett/Mukilteo. Tramp 1's brother works here at a Boeing facility.

As we blew by on the freeway, I grabbed a few shots from the car. Of course, the Space Needle, always a Seattle attraction.

So many buildings in the downtown core. It is a beautiful place, Seattle.

Here is Qwest Stadium, home of the Seattle Seahawks football team.

This is Safeco Field, the home of the Seattle Mariners baseball team.

Once you pass these places, there isn't much that you would want to take pictures of. Just miles of freeway and the usual exits, traffic jams, etc. We got back home last night after driving close to 1000 miles round trip - all for the love of good BBQ!

And the fire here is all but out now. No more smoke, no more flames but a nagging fear, always a nagging fear...