Road Trip, Part 4: Richland, Washington to Tacoma, WA

View from "our" patio

As I have mentioned before, Beez did a wonderful job of planning this trip and finding great hotels along the way. When we pulled into the Red Lion Hanford House in Richland, Washington, we had just driven for another long day that ended with a smoke-filled highway and backed-up traffic. There were some wildfires getting underway and that highway was closed not long after we passed through. The hotel looked nice enough, but the road in front of it was filled with traffic, it was hot, and we were tired.

Our room, however, was around back and, seemingly, in a far more peaceful world. It faced the Columbia River, which was a surprise to me, although not to that clever Beez, who always does his research. We had a private little patio of our own, the hotel bar supplied glasses and a bottle of wine, and we had a lovely time unwinding and looking out at the river.

Sunset over the Columbia...

...and sunrise the next morning.

The next day we traveled through the Cascades and it rained! We were fascinated to see that our windshield wipers actually functioned, especially since we hardly ever have a reason to turn them on in the desert. Once we arrived in Tacoma, the furthest point of our trip, we settled into a great room at the Hotel Murano. This was a special treat! The hotel itself is like an art gallery filled with glass treasures, with a different artist's work featured on each floor.  Here is the view of Tacoma at night from our room...

... and during the day. That's the Tacoma Dome over on the right. From here you can also see the Bridge of Glass, the Museum of Glass, and America's Car Museum. More about those in future posts.

And beautiful Mount Rainier came out for a while and obligingly floated above the city. When we lived in Washington, long ago, we could see the mountain from our back porch--when it was "out" which, as any Washingtonian will tell you, isn't every day!