We have now moved on into Washington. We are in Chehalis for three weeks. Robert has work to catch up on and I have been trying to finish crochet projects I have going, so we are gonna try and keep our sightseeing to the weekends.
So far we have only drove over to Longview to check out the squirrel bridges. Yes you read that correct… the squirrel bridges. I guess back in the early 1960s, Amos Peters didn’t like the carnage happening outside his office window. He apparently had a front seat of sorts on the hit and run happening to the squirrels on the busy street. So Amos took it upon himself, along with a couple architects, to build a bridge for the squirrels and dubbed it “Nutty Narrows Bridge”. In 1963, the bridge was hoisted over the road between two trees. It’s 60 feet wide and fashioned from aluminum and a length of retired fire hose. It cost $1,000. This was a landmark for over 50 years. It underwent a major restoration in 1983. Mr. Peters died in 1984 but wasn’t forgotten. There is a large squirrel (acorn in hand) dedicated to him in the park. During the holidays, Longview adds a small Christmas tree with lights to the center of the bridge. Over the years more bridges have been added. We tracked down 4 other bridges. While finding the bridges… we also did some walking around some of the park that runs through the town. I have to say… I really liked Longview. There are some gorgeous neighborhoods and the park itself is amazing. So many different trees and shrubs and flowers in bloom. Made for a very nice day.
Over the weekend we took a drive up to Mount Rainier National Park. Mt. Rainier is the tallest mountain in Washington and is an active volcano. Snow had fallen up there recently so we could only go as far as the Visitors Center and then had to turn back. I know we missed seeing some very beautiful scenery, but what we did see was amazing. Lots of waterfalls and great overlooks with views for miles and miles. Again…. I soooo love our National Parks!!!
Tuesday was grocery shopping day and so we drove into Olympia. On the way we stopped at Tumwater Falls Park, which is a one-half mile scenic loop trail along the Deschutes River and three cascading waterfalls. Boy was it worth the look-see…. gorgeous! Then of course we trudged on to do our shopping.
Before we said goodbye to Chehalis, we made sure to go and see Mount Saint Helens. We had spent a day there last year seeing all we could, but the views were not good because of heavy smoke in the air from all the fires in the area. This time we had a beautiful clear view, but the visitor center was closed due to power outages. You just can’t win for losing… LOL. It was still enjoyable and what a sight it is. It seemed way bigger than before, I guess a clear view can make a big difference.