Tag Archives: views

Snoqualmie Falls

Our exploration of our new territory included a trip up into the foothills to see Snoqualmie Falls.  The town of Snoqualmie is quite a way from the top of the pass but it is still a nice increase in elevation from the more populated areas to the west.  The views are very nice from up there.  The water running off the mountains has already formed a pretty decent sized river by this time.

Because of the time of year, I was not expecting a very heavy flow over the Falls.  They provide a guide to when the flow is strong and when it is light and we were not visiting at a time of year when it is expected to cover much of the lip of the Falls.  However, some heavy rain in the preceding week had obviously resulted in some run off and things were actually looking pretty forceful.

We had lunch in the hotel overlooking the Falls and got a window seat that provided a great view.  Then we walked around the ridge to see the Falls from different angles before taking the trail down to the river level.  Things look very different when you are level with the base of the Falls and they feel far more powerful.  It was a warm day and the climb back up to the top made me feel rather toasty.  It was certainly worth it though.

Tokyo Views

wpid9464-AU0E0405.jpgI have talked about the Skytree in Tokyo so now it is time to show a little of what it looks like from up there. It was a very nice day when we visited but there was a certain amount of haze in the air. Seeing Mt Fuji was out of the question but there were still great views of the city itself. We restricted ourselves to the 350m viewing area. You can see an awful lot from that high. If this had been the only thing we were doing that day, I would have paid the extra to go as high as possible but it wasn’t a good plan to use up all of our time on one thing. Besides, when you are trying to get an experience of a city, looking down on it only tells you so much!

wpid9462-AU0E0397.jpgThere are actually several levels as you walk around the 350m area. The glass is leaning out so you can get quite a view downwards. Combine this with the structure gradually getting wider lower down and you can get an interesting perspective on where you are. Tokyo is a busy city with a combination of old and new buildings to be seen. You can see the parks including the Imperial Palace grounds as well as the many rail lines crossing the city.

wpid9454-AU0E0386.jpgThere is a lot of water. The big port area is easy to see as are the rivers that cut through everything. I didn’t know much about Tokyo when I got there (still don’t of course but I am slightly more aware) so this was very interesting to me. As with all high places these days, they have provided a place with a glass floor. We had to check this out. It was actually tower glass panels separated by a few feet so it felt a little more detached than some of these places but still pretty cool. After checking out the gift shop which had more Skytree themed items than would seem possible (but not the one I wanted), it was time to head off and see more of Tokyo.