Great Western Road Trip: The Roads and Scenery of Washington State

We arrived in the state of Washington from Portland, Oregon on Interstate 5. As you head north towards Seattle, the scenery became very reminiscent of our native Oklahoma - low hills and rolling plains with occasional forests. There are slightly more hills and the forests off the roadside have quite a few more evergreens, but overall, the general landscape is very much the same. The one major difference is that you occasionally see a few massive mountains towering over the horizon.

The first major mountain to be seen from southern Washington is Mount St. Helens. The fact that the top of Mount St. Helens blew off in a volcanic eruption just a few short decades ago is still very obvious. There are a couple routes off the main road that you can take to drive around Mt. St. Helens, but I think they're probably about 100 miles for the whole loop. If you take Highway 504 east from Interstate 5, you can get to a visitor center for Mt. St. Helens in about 5 miles. At the visitor center there is a nice garden and trail with clear views of Mt. St. Helens as well as a museum (for a fee) about the volcano.

Having already seen several active volcanoes in Costa Rica, we weren't entirely interested in the less spectacular Mount St. Helens. However, it is still an active volcano and for anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to see one outside the US, you probably won't want to pass up your chance at getting nearer Mount St. Helens.

The landscape doesn't really change much as you enter into Seattle. However, the evergreen trees become more prominent and Mt. Rainier dominates any clear view of the horizon. Also, if you get a clear view towards the western horizon, you can see the Olympic Mountain range. Looking at them from across the Puget Sound (Seattle's bay area) makes for a very nice sight. If you have the time, a several hour detour to Olympic National Park is sure to impress with the best showcase of the United States' temperate rainforests.