Thursday, Aug. 11th - Flying to the US and an Afternoon Near Seattle

After two years of planning and preparation the big day is here... we boarded the long flight from Israel via Frankfurt (Lufthansa).

We landed in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport around noon, and our flight to Alaska was scheduled for the next morning, so we had the afternoon free. After clearing through immigration and customs, we picked up a rental car reserved from Thrifty just for the day.

We didn't feel like touring the big city so decided to drive to Snoqualmie Falls which are  ~45-60 minutes drive east of Seattle, depending on traffic.

Snoqualmie Falls

The Snoqualmie Falls are tall, powerful and very impressive and the little park built around their top is very nice with many great vantage points on the falls. For those of you who remember, these are the falls that were used as background to the Twin Peaks TV show back in the 90s.

Snoqualmie Falls, from Upper Park

After spending some time there, we drove another 5 minutes to the Lower Park which provides access to the river as well as to more beautiful viewing points, this time to the bottom of the falls – highly recommended! There is also a walking trail that will take you from the upper to the lower park, but the climb back is very steep so we decided to pass.

View from the Lower Park

Snoqualmie River

Bottom of the Falls

From Snoqualmie, we drove back to the airport and checked in to the Sleep Inn hotel – an OK airport hotel, no more and no less. We picked is simply based on proximity and on the good rate we were able to get.Sharpe's Roasthouse, also very near the airport, which had excellent food, atmosphere and service (they specialize in wild salmon and in slow-roasted meats).

After dinner our fatigue from the long day of travel kicked in so we simply went back to the hotel for the night. Overall it was a very enjoyable afternoon and a great start to our Alaska adventure.