World United States Washington South Prairie

Northwest 2009

Yakima Valley Aug 16, 2009

The Yakima valley is on the east side of Mt Rainier - we are staying on the west. We decided to visit that area of Washington and weren’t disappointed. It was a beautiful drive with great views of Mt Rainier, other mountains, valleys, waterfalls, streams along the way. When we got to Yakima valley, there were many acres of apple and pear trees as well as mint, hops and several other plants and trees we couldn’t identify. We could smell the various crops as we passed by the fields. The offices by the fruit trees had hundreds of crates stacked up - harvest must not be too far away. The only hops museum in North America is located in that valley so we visited - it was more interesting than we expected showing different types of hops and how they are planted and harvested. It is normally hops harvest season now, but they are a little delayed this year so we didn’t get to see that. On the drive back we stopped for some more pictures of Rainier and then turned around to get into the Jeep and saw a herd of elk (about 9) part of the way up the mountain behind us! When we were in the town near the one we are staying at, we stopped to watch the fantastic sunset with Mt Rainier’s glaciers (in the east) reflecting the yellows and reds - it was breathtaking.

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