Northwest (2)

Glacier National Park is another highlight of this trip. Located at 2,025 meters above sea level, Logan Pass is so popular that you can hardly find a parking spot even in the morning. Snow goats climb the walls, and with a little luck you can even spot a wolverine. Beyond the mountains, the vastness of Montana begins. An ideal location is Great Falls on the Missouri River with its waterfalls and Black Eagle Dam. From here you can easily explore Giant Springs Heritage State Park and First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park.

The next scheduled cities are Helena, the small capital of this huge state, and Missoula with the University of Montana. Before we leave the state, we stop by the Garden of One Thousand Buddhas in Arlee. The following National Bison Range is once again a must on this trip. The next three nights we spend in Spokane Valley, now back in the state of Washington.

Coeur d’Alene in Idaho’s panhandle is a picture-perfect town; public art, parks, trails, water – it’s all there. No less interesting is Spokane, the largest city between Seattle and Minneapolis. We follow US 2 west to the Grand Coulée Dam on the Columbia River, with an installed capacity of 6,800 MW the largest power station in the Western Hemisphere. Sun Lakes Dry Falls State Park is worth a detour; a huge canyon with incredible cliff edges. After a night in Wenatchee, we head to Leavenworth, the Bavarian city, unique in the USA: German street signs, Bavarian style houses, a McDonalds logo decorated with edelweiss and Bavarian souvenir shops. You just have to see it.

Next is Olympic National Park, which we reach via Stevens Pass and via ferry across Puget Sound. Port Townsend is rather functional, Port Angeles the gateway to the park’s attractions such as Marymere Falls, famous Hurricane Ridge or the Elwha River Restoration, the largest dam removal project in the world to date. Via Olympia and Tacoma – both old friends from our first trip to the Northwest – we return to Seattle. This time we take four days to explore the previously unknown corners of this fascinating city.