Snoqualmie Falls, Easton, Dry Falls, Steamboat Rock
Central Washington (May 2000)
Beautiful Snoqualmie Falls, on the way east about a half hour from our house. This is the waterfall that appeared at the beginning of each "Twin Peaks" episode.
Scott and Karen as entrants in the annual high stakes, high speed, high pressure Easton Memorial Day Lawnmower Race. Here's how it worked: I hopped on the lawnmower and was immediately blindfolded by the race officials, who checked for light leaks and such. Then, the officials put the mower in gear and I was off and racing the aerodynamic ground-effects high performance lawn mower, with Karen as "co-driver". She verbally guided me through the entire obstacle course while I responded to everything she said. Rules: she couldn't touch the mower, and I couldn't see where I was going. The course was timed, and penalties were deducted for run-ins with traffic cones. The race timer folks said that we had one of the top times for the day up to that point, but we didn't stay until the end to see if we placed or not. Hopefully someone is putting our trophy to good use!
Scott hiking with Karen off-trail through the terrain that was created millions of year ago when a mammoth flood started far away after a glacier dam broke and caused a huge lake to drain across all of central Washington. Part of the edge of Dry Falls can be seen off to the far right. So much water came hurtling over the edge of this long 3.5 mile ledge that the top edge of the waterfall had water 300 feet deep above it. Think about most waterfalls that have only a few inches of water or maybe a foot deep of water at the top edge of its cascade: this one was 300 feet deep across 3.5 miles! That's a lot of water!
Karen and I hiked to the top of Steamboat Rock and found this wonderful view of Banks Lake. By walking the perimeter of the huge rock's summit, there were different types of views in all directions. A weird summer thunderstorm hit us while on top, and I was shivering cold as we got pelted by hail, cold rain, and fast winds. But, it was very worth it!