Seattle Area, must see nature?

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by chris410

yes Sea-Tac. Plane lands at 11am. I am actually staying in Federal Way but probably wont check into the hotel until later in the day as check-in usually isn't until 3pm. How is the traffic on Sundays? We set the clocks back early Sunday so I should have an extra hour of daylight.

Okay, 12 o'clock to get started. I'd forget about driving through or around Seattle, even on a Sunday. How about a "loop" that will bring you back to Federal Way:

1. Drive from Sea-Tac to the Fauntleroy ferry terminal.

2. Catch the car ferry to Southworth on the Kitsap Peninsula.

3. Drive west via WA-160, WA-16, and WA-3 to Belfair, then via WA-106 to Skokomish on the lower elbow of Hood Canal.

4. Drive north to Hoodsport on US-101 to explore Hood Canal, then use either of these options to visit Olympic National Park.

4A. At Hoodsport, turn west on WA-119 to go to Lake Cushman in ONP.

4B. At Brinnon, turn west on the Dosewallips Road to explore the Dosewallips River into ONP.

5. Head back to Belfair, but turn south on WA-3, then east on WA-302 to Purdy, then south on WA-16 to Gig Harbor.

6. Take WA-16 across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (Toll) and continue east to I-5; take I-5 north to Federal Way.

[Hemlock140]

Sadly, I would avoid going anywhere near the mountains, with a big snowstorm predicted for tonight and tomorrow. The worst of the wind is supposed to be tomorrow afternoon, with gusts to 70mph so all roads are going to be nasty with ferry and bridges possibly closing. Hopefully your flight gets in on time but it could be a bumpy landing. I'm going ahead with my drive to Port Angeles, but will be prepared to drive around if the Hood Canal Bridge or ferries are shut down.

High Wind Warning in Northwest Washington

[TrueTimbers]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

Sadly, I would avoid going anywhere near the mountains, with a big snowstorm predicted for tonight and tomorrow. The worst of the wind is supposed to be tomorrow afternoon, with gusts to 70mph so all roads are going to be nasty with ferry and bridges possibly closing. Hopefully your flight gets in on time but it could be a bumpy landing. I'm going ahead with my drive to Port Angeles, but will be prepared to drive around if the Hood Canal Bridge or ferries are shut down.

High Wind Warning in Northwest Washington

Yes.. 100% agreement.

Take the warning seriously...

Likely most intense at the Admiralty inlet like the one on the 10th. Uggg.

[CrazyDonkey]

In which case, you might try something indoors. The Columbia Tower observation deck might be interesting. Another option would be the Flight Museum at Boeing Field.

[CrazyDonkey]

Looks like you might be able to escape some of the rain (not sure about the wind) by driving south.

120-mile range radar

[chris410]

I spent most of the day driving which was fine. I headed over to lake Cushman which was a beautiful drive even in the rain. The lake itself was also beautiful. There was some snow at the Western end of the lake which made for great scenery. Was also fun to drive in with my rental I explored the lake area for a while and then drove north and got a burger at fat Smitty's. Yum. And man that place is interesting. The drive up and the sound was also beautiful. The wind was whipping and power was down/ out in lots of spots.

Then I tried to return back to federal way but the hood canal bridge was closed so it was a longgg drive around 110-5 but all is good. Got to see alot of nature and it certainly is beautiful out here!

[Diana Holbrook]

You are certainly a good sport, arriving and going sight-seeing in that kind of weather! Good for you! Great pictures.

My idea of the ferry ride might have been a pretty wild ride yesterday, I wondered about you when I saw this:

Waves swamp cars on San Juan ferry