Consolation Prizes

I was supposed to go on the Seattle Jaguar Club’s tour to Mt. Rainier today. Unfortunately a household emergency kept me here, and the car in the barn.

So instead I’ll show you some photos from another Consolation Prize trip. A few weeks ago I went up to the Vancouver area to participate in a JCNA slalom event. Unfortunately I never found it, despite driving around the Pitt Meadows and Coquitlam area for quite a while. Oh well. Instead I turned back south and since I had heard they’ve opened the road up to Artist’s Point between Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan I figured I’d drive up there. Gorgeous spot.

I crossed the border at Lynden and then pointed the car east towards the mountains. The road up to the Mt. Baker ski area was relatively clear of traffic and most folks pulled over to allow me to pass when they saw and heard the growling cat in their mirrors. What fun! The final bit is a hard, switch-backed hill climb up a very steep incline. I had the car really flying and having a ton of fun. It performed flawlessly, with no drama or even much tire squeal. It just held on and ran like it was on rails. Awesome.

At the top I opened the bonnet and let it cool down from the hard run. The Artist Point parking area was surrounded by a huge wall of snow, completely obliterating the views.

Above: Over there behind the snowbank is Mt. Baker… I think.

After the car cooled down I wandered down the road to about 750′ lower in altitude to soak in the views just a bit more as the snow was much less deep.

I dropped back down to the foothills, driving almost as hard down as I did up. That fun ended when I came up upon a slow moving Subaru, who just would not use a pull-out and allow me to pass… I resorted to pulling over myself and letting him get ahead, then roaring along until I came up to his lazy slow self again. Finally near the bottom of the hill where the road meets the river i was able to get around him. From there I wandered south on SR 9, home to a zillion motorcyclists every weekend for the run home. Nice day.

No such fun today though… I’m fixing a deck which is falling apart. =\