Snoqualmie, Washington

This is a very nice place to drive to from Seattle or Redmond/Bellevue area. The I-90 is having one of the best stretches here. There are quite some areas with Severe side winds ahead warnings and you will really feel it on your steering. You will have to hold tight to stick to the lane. The waterfalls is quite beautiful and you can trek down to the bottom of the waterfall as well. It is a nice trek. See some of our photos of snowfall and the water fall in Snoqualmie here.

Then Snoqualmie has 2 skiing summits now. The central and west summit. We had 3 before and one got closed down after the heavy snowfall in Dec '2008. The central summit is a good place for beginners and I personally have learnt skiing very quickly in the central summit. We start with the bunny hill slope to learn the fundamentals and then go on to the beginners' lift and then we have even skied on the Blue slopes. If you are willing to take more risk and pay a little more and spend your weekends in the snow, please take a seasonal pass. You will continue till the Black Diamond. :) See some of our skiing pictures here. I took a 3 day training and I was able to ski really fast and the confidence levels grow exponentially. This place is another good place to visit. Skiing season would be usually January-March and can extend out till mid-April.

Enroute Snoqualmie from Seattle, you can visit the factory outlet shops in North Bend. You will get some good shopping deals on the famous brands. In my next post, let us go further East on the I-90. :)