We also visited Tacoma were we visited the glass museum.  Didn't know there was a museum dedicated to only glass art.

This is called the bridge of glass.  You can see the top of the museum on the right.  It is the cone shaped roof. 

As you walk across the glass bridge there are several ceilings with glass murals.  This is just one small square of a mural. 

Glass mural at the museum entrance.

While in the Seattle area we also visited the local botanical gardens.  There was also a display of bonsai trees from artists around the world.  Here are some of our favorites.

This is like a mini forest with several bonsai trees.

We visited the garden late in the season so many of the blooms had passed.  Below are a few we did see.

We did take time to visit Mount Rainier up close.

The drive in the park on 706 was interesting.  Lots of close trees, tight turns, and high bridges.

On the way to Paradise we stopped at this river bed to hike along the trails available. 

Mt Rainier up close

Paradise Falls

When we returned from Alaska we took some time to visit the Seattle area.  Because we weren't familiar with local public transportation we choose to just drive by downtown Seattle.

Seattle Skyline

Space Needle

Mt Rainier as seen from the Seattle area.  We were amazed at how often you could see Mt Rainier from many places around Seattle.

While in Alaska we also took a road trip down the Seward highway to the Alaska Wildlife Refuge.

The drive down the the Seward highway offers many scenic views.  This one shows one of the many glaciers you can see.

AWR Wildlife

 Grey Wolf

Lynx

Moose

Black Tail Deer

Brown Buffalo

Musk Ox

We also went up to flat top mountain to enjoy the many scenic views.  For the most part the weather cooperated and was clear.  However, we were not able to see Denali Mountain.

Downtown Anchorage from flat top.

While up at flat top we noticed several para sailors had jumped from flat top.  You can see two of them here.

While in Anchorage we did enjoy some of the local attractions and food.

Enjoyed some King Crab legs while in AK.

Enjoyed a carriage ride around downtown and Cook inlet. 

Once we reached Seattle Washington we parked our trailer and flew to Alaska.  While the weather was not very nice (rainy) we still enjoyed our stay.

Downtown Anchorage from Cook Inlet side

With the Chugiak mountains surrounding Anchorage you often see cloud formations like this.

Not a typical crossing sign

On the road to Washington state we saw lots of straight flat road in the middle of nowhere as we passed through Wyoming and Montana.  However here are a couple of interesting pictures we did see.

View as we approached the continental divide.  Ignore the road construction.  

 While the south and eastern parts of the US are dealing with floods from too much rain the northwest and western states are dealing with very dry to drought conditions.  Allowing for dirt devils to form in the wind like the one shown here.  Big ones can be seen for several miles down the road.  They resemble tornadoes only smaller.

Another local attraction in the Mount Rushmore area is the Reptile Gardens.  Here we stopped to what gator wrestling and to see their animal attractions.

Not a job I would apply for.  You can only see 4 - 6 gators in this picture but there are at least 30 in this pen with the wrestler. 

Not a guy I would like to see in the wild.  There we hundreds of snake species on exhibit from all over the world.  

You wouldn't want to pick up these frogs.  Luckily you need to go to the Amazon to find them.

This 45 years old tortoise moves quite well considering his size.

These little guys are cute.  Not sure what a prairie dog town has to do with reptiles though.

Another great place to visit while in western South Dakota is Bear Country USA.  This is an animal park offering both drive through and walking areas to view wildlife.  While we were here we were able to capture several of the animals while they were resting during the very hot day.

Walking Area Animals

Arctic Foxes resting in a hollow log.  They are so cute.

Wolves, one of our favorite animals.

Badgers, it was tough to catch this guy out of his hole.

Like domestic cats even mount lions like to sleep most of the time.  Here kitty kitty...

Black bear cubs.  The guy on top just finished liming down this tree and his friends came over to see what he was doing.

Rivers Otters, they had it made with the pool to keep cool in.

Driving Area animals

RAM Sheep 

Black Bear, it was exciting to be able to drive around with bears walking near your car.  This guy however was just sooo relaxed we didn't know how he didn't roll off these rocks.

Brown (Grizzly) Bear.  When you see these guys your happy their well fed.  Bring a whole new meaning to keeping your arms inside the vehicle during a ride.

When in South Dakota there are many sites to see.  One such site is Custer National park where you can drive around the park to see wildlife.  During our ride we saw the animals below.

Hawk

Wild turkeys.  There is a second one in the bush to the right.

Pronghorn - we saw several of these in different fields.  This one was right next to the road.

While it was great to see all of these animals in their natural habitats we were disappointed we didn't see any of the buffalo the park is known for.  But we still enjoyed a very nice day with many scenic views.