Another sight seeing day started with the sky gray and overcast...cloud ceiling at about 500 feet.  We drove north to Burlington, Washington on I-5 and turned east on state route 20.  The further we went the more the clouds lifted...By the time we reached Northern Cascade National Park, only the tops of the mountains were in the clouds.  The sky cleared and the rest of the day was beautiful.  We didn't know exactly what to expect of this National Park...but we found it to provide some truly amazingly beautiful scenry.  Snowy mountain peaks, the MOST glaciers of any park in the lower 48 states, cascading waterfalls, and turquois glacier lakes.   We also learned WHY glacial lakes and streams are the beautiful color...as glaciers move, they pulverize  the rock into flour powder substance, which stays suspended in the water...absorbing the red wave length of light and thus appearing turquoise! This powder stays suspended all the way to Puget Sound, before it settles out.   Enjoy!!

Skagkit River and our first glimpse of the Northern Cascades.

Skagit River

Northern Cascadian Organic Farm... we stopped for....

...coffee and delicious organic raspberries (bushes above).

Skagit River

New sign being built for NCNP...we think it will have cascading water flow down the rocky path.
You can tell that they are still putting the final touches on it...but it looks great.



Skagit Rier

Driving through the talll evergreen trees up HWY 20 to Northern Cascades NP

Looking Down River

Looking UP river

Snowy mountain top from HWY 20

Thimble Mountain

rapids on Skagit River

Diablo Hydroelectric Dam



Diablo Lake Hydroelectric Plant



Over the bridge at Diablo Lake

Diablo Lake West

Mountains above Diablo Lake

Diablo Lake South

Here's our POST CARD shot of the beautiful Diablo Lake.

Northern Cascade Mountains

close up of North Cascade Mts

Ross Lake

Ross Lake is long and narrow...it even extends across the Canadian border

Jack Peak (9066 feet) rising over Ross Lake east

Northern Cascade peaks

UPPER

Gorge Creek Falls

LOWER

Gorge Creek Falls

Various Falls in NCNP

Eldorado Peak (8868 ft) and Eldorado Glacier

Rapids in creek

Another falls

Beautiful falls along the roadside at Marblemount

High Cascade Snow Covered Mt

Another High Cascade Sbow Covered Mt

Driving home we zoomed through City Center of Seattle so John could get a look of the 50-year-old famous Seattle icon, the Space Needle from the 1962 World's Fair.  (John's Dad had sent a postcard of this picture to the Blasdel Family in 1962 when he had to be out in Seattle for work...so it only took 50 years for John, Jr.  to see it in person!)