It was raining cats and dogs when we left the motel this morning - but this didn't stop us in our mission to find the hotel from the film 'The Shining'. Things didn't start off too well as the GPS sent us to a shopping mall instead of the hotel - so we had to rely on maps, locals and a our own guesswork to find it.
The weather was getting worse as the day went on and we began passing many road signs informing us to put snow chains on the car - thinking it would be ok as all the snow had gone by now we pressed on..............I wish we had turned back!
First signs of things getting bad were the endless twisting and turning roads along with thick fog/clouds and badass rain pelting down. The roads were no fun to drive on....
We finally found the turn off in the road towards the Timberline Lodge (or the Overlook hotel in the movie). We thought that was great as it would only be around the corner - well it wasn't - and now it started snowing its butt off. We drove for the next 30mins with our hearts in our mouths....
Finally, and I mean thank god finally! we made it. It was absolutely freezing and snowing like crazy. We both got out the car - took a couple of pictures and then jumped straight back in the car to once again have the 30min drive from hell....
The visit to the lodge could not have been more in tune with the mood of the movie it is famous for staring in. It was cold, moody and pretty scary. The weather was so bad the below picture, along with some editing is as good as I got. Still I think it fits the mood of the film quite well!
After carefully negotiating our way away from the lodge we decided not to bother with Mount Hood - as it was further up in the sky and we had seen enough snow for one day!
We set off towards Seattle with a stop off at Mount St Helens on the way. We did think about stopping off in Oregon City on the way - but thankfully the locals were pretty honest about the place so we drove straight past....
After driving 2 hours out of our way to visit an observatory that overlooked Mt St Helens - it was shut - doh! If only they had a sign at the start of the 40 mile road to tell you this!
Anyway we managed to stop many times on the long winding road to the observatory to take some pics, mostly as we were the only ones around!
Mt St Helens was a volcano that erupted in 1980 after a earthquake took place. It killed 57 people, reduced the mountains summit by over 1,200 feet and sent lava flowing far and wide.
The lava flow trail can still be seen in the valley....
Just to prove one of us was there!
That was quite enough for the day so we set up camp in a motel about an hour outside of Seattle. We may either go into Seattle tomorrow or go right up into the North West of Washington and visit the Olympic National Park.
omg all that snow and u without a shovel. lol I do hope the rest of your travels will be met with more pleasant weather. The pics were great as usual. Safe driving and stay warm. Love you both
ReplyDeleteAunt Marge