Sunday, August 26, 2007
Day 11: Edmonds, Washington
Total Miles Traveled: 3,945
Black No. 1: 1
Deer: 0
Well, my grille guard paid for itself on Friday. After leaving Glacier National Park (more on that below) early on Friday morning, I was driving by lake McGregor in Montana. I was enjoying the scenery. The lake was beautiful and was reflecting the surrounding trees and mountains like a mirror. I had glanced in the direction of the lake on my left and as I turned back to the road:
D’oh.
A deer.
A female deer.
Three deer had run out in the highway. Without realizing it, I had tapped off the cruise control and tightly gripped the steering wheel. And then: BAM! I nailed Bambi doing 73 mph.
At this point it seemed as if time had slowed down. It seemed as if nothing happened for a few seconds and then a quick bump-bump, bump-bump. I look in the rearview mirror and see Bambi falling into the ditch to my right.
As old Black No. 1 seemed to be running fine, I drove on for about 30 minutes before pulling over to assess the situation. This is what I saw:
The grille guard itself appears to have no damage. On first look, there also appeared to be no damage to anything else, except a slight dent in the bumper around the license plate. However, later I noticed that my entire bumper is slightly bent. My wheel alignment appears fine, but I will definitely have it checked out when I have my tires rotated in the next few days. I will also have the bumper repaired, but probably not until I return to Houston. I would hate to think how bad the damage would’ve been if I did not have the grille guard.
What an experience. I would like to think that Bambi did not die in vain. Those other two deer learned a valuable lesson on Friday. That lesson: Look both ways before crossing the street.
Anyway, Glacier National Park is awesome. I’m already thinking about how I can get back there. I would like to spend several full days there on some of the hiking trails. The primary part of the park consists of the Going to the Sun Road. This road is essentially a small two lane road built onto the side of a mountain. It is approximately 50 miles long and runs east/west through the park. If you are acro- or claustrophobic, then this road is definitely not for you. However, it does provide for some amazing scenery. The pictures I posted the other day were all taken along this road.
I also spent some time in the Two Medicine and the Many Glacier areas of the park. I did one short hike in the Two Medicine area and actually saw two more bears on my way into Many Glacier. A mother Grizzly and her cub were swimming across a lake. I watched them swim and then eventually move into the forest.
Enjoy some more pictures from Glacier National Park:
Friday morning, I got an early start to head towards Seattle. As I had stayed in the Many Glacier Hotel on the eastern side of the park, I drove back across the Going to the Sun Road. Since it was pretty early, there were very few cars on the road. I saw about 15 bighorn sheep in the road. I didn’t hit them, though!
I had intended to spend Friday night in Spokane, Washington. However, it was only 2:00 in the afternoon when I got there and I felt great, so I continued on my way to the Grand Coulee Dam. My granddad had told me about one of his visits there, so I wanted to see it as well. The dam happens to be the largest concrete structure in the U.S. The area southwest of the dam, which was along my route, consisted of several lakes within some canyon walls and was beautiful.
As I still felt fine, I continued on my way toward Seattle, with the expectation that I would hit the wall and need to stop for the night. However, I never hit the wall and drove all the way into Seattle. I’m staying at my friend Liz’s parent’s house in Edmonds, which is just north of Seattle. My friend Liz is staying at here until she starts graduate school in a few weeks.
Today Liz and I went down into Seattle to do some sight-seeing. We first went to the Pike Place Market. Then, being the music lover that I am, we went to the Experience Music Project. The EMP is a museum bank rolled by Paul Allen that focuses on music. I loved it.
I’m having a good time with Liz and her family. It has been really nice to actually stay in the same place for a day and be able to sleep in the same bed two nights in a row.
Alas, I will be leaving again on Sunday. I will actually have to pause my adventure for several days and fly to the Chicago area for work. I will continue my adventure on Thursday and head over to Olympic National Park. I’m looking forward to it.
Black No. 1: 1
Deer: 0
Well, my grille guard paid for itself on Friday. After leaving Glacier National Park (more on that below) early on Friday morning, I was driving by lake McGregor in Montana. I was enjoying the scenery. The lake was beautiful and was reflecting the surrounding trees and mountains like a mirror. I had glanced in the direction of the lake on my left and as I turned back to the road:
D’oh.
A deer.
A female deer.
Three deer had run out in the highway. Without realizing it, I had tapped off the cruise control and tightly gripped the steering wheel. And then: BAM! I nailed Bambi doing 73 mph.
At this point it seemed as if time had slowed down. It seemed as if nothing happened for a few seconds and then a quick bump-bump, bump-bump. I look in the rearview mirror and see Bambi falling into the ditch to my right.
As old Black No. 1 seemed to be running fine, I drove on for about 30 minutes before pulling over to assess the situation. This is what I saw:
The grille guard itself appears to have no damage. On first look, there also appeared to be no damage to anything else, except a slight dent in the bumper around the license plate. However, later I noticed that my entire bumper is slightly bent. My wheel alignment appears fine, but I will definitely have it checked out when I have my tires rotated in the next few days. I will also have the bumper repaired, but probably not until I return to Houston. I would hate to think how bad the damage would’ve been if I did not have the grille guard.
What an experience. I would like to think that Bambi did not die in vain. Those other two deer learned a valuable lesson on Friday. That lesson: Look both ways before crossing the street.
Anyway, Glacier National Park is awesome. I’m already thinking about how I can get back there. I would like to spend several full days there on some of the hiking trails. The primary part of the park consists of the Going to the Sun Road. This road is essentially a small two lane road built onto the side of a mountain. It is approximately 50 miles long and runs east/west through the park. If you are acro- or claustrophobic, then this road is definitely not for you. However, it does provide for some amazing scenery. The pictures I posted the other day were all taken along this road.
I also spent some time in the Two Medicine and the Many Glacier areas of the park. I did one short hike in the Two Medicine area and actually saw two more bears on my way into Many Glacier. A mother Grizzly and her cub were swimming across a lake. I watched them swim and then eventually move into the forest.
Enjoy some more pictures from Glacier National Park:
Friday morning, I got an early start to head towards Seattle. As I had stayed in the Many Glacier Hotel on the eastern side of the park, I drove back across the Going to the Sun Road. Since it was pretty early, there were very few cars on the road. I saw about 15 bighorn sheep in the road. I didn’t hit them, though!
I had intended to spend Friday night in Spokane, Washington. However, it was only 2:00 in the afternoon when I got there and I felt great, so I continued on my way to the Grand Coulee Dam. My granddad had told me about one of his visits there, so I wanted to see it as well. The dam happens to be the largest concrete structure in the U.S. The area southwest of the dam, which was along my route, consisted of several lakes within some canyon walls and was beautiful.
As I still felt fine, I continued on my way toward Seattle, with the expectation that I would hit the wall and need to stop for the night. However, I never hit the wall and drove all the way into Seattle. I’m staying at my friend Liz’s parent’s house in Edmonds, which is just north of Seattle. My friend Liz is staying at here until she starts graduate school in a few weeks.
Today Liz and I went down into Seattle to do some sight-seeing. We first went to the Pike Place Market. Then, being the music lover that I am, we went to the Experience Music Project. The EMP is a museum bank rolled by Paul Allen that focuses on music. I loved it.
I’m having a good time with Liz and her family. It has been really nice to actually stay in the same place for a day and be able to sleep in the same bed two nights in a row.
Alas, I will be leaving again on Sunday. I will actually have to pause my adventure for several days and fly to the Chicago area for work. I will continue my adventure on Thursday and head over to Olympic National Park. I’m looking forward to it.
# posted by Marcus @ 10:34 AM 
