Arrive To: Registration will begin in the hotel meeting space at 4:00 pm followed by dinner.

Dinner: Plated dinner at the hotel at 6:00 pm.

Evening: Introductions and orientation will follow dinner at 7:00 pm.

Lodging: Red Lion Seattle Airport

Meals Included: Dinner

Breakfast: At your leisure in the hotel breafast space.

Morning: Depart for Mt. Rainier National Park arriving late morning at Longmire inside the park. With the establishment of Mount Rainier National Park in 1899, Longmire became park headquarters. The site had previously served as James Longmire's homestead, lodging, and mineral springs resort. Although park headquarters are no longer at Longmire, the original headquarters building houses a museum that tells the story of the early days of the park. All of Longmire is now designated a national historic district.

Lunch: Picnic lunch en route.

Afternoon: Spend some time exploring Longmire and then head to Paradise. Paradise is famous for its glorious views and wildflower meadows with most flowers blooming in August. Fall color exists when the low growing cascade blueberries, yarrow and spirea turn from yellow to red with a few lingering flowers. When James Longmire's daughter-in-law, Martha, first saw this site, she exclaimed, "Oh, what a paradise!" Join a National Park ranger as he tells the story of Paradise Inn and the surrounding area followed by a visit to the Paradise Jackson Visitor Center.

Dinner: Enjoy dinner at your leisure in the Paradise Inn dining room.

Evening: Enjoy this historic lodge with its lovely lanterns and log beams. Tables along the upper floor provide spots to sit and visit. The lodge offers a lounge for those who want to enjoy a refreshing or hot drink.

Lodging: Paradise Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Note: Those not wanting to take the short hikes to view points may stay in the parking area to enjoy the wonderful vistas.

Breakfast: At your leisure in the Paradise Inn Dining Room

Morning: Explore the meadows above the lodge and wonder at the spectacular views of Mount Rainier and the Tatoosh Range. Mount Rainier looms above with magnificent views of its glaciers. Keep an eye out for marmots who love to spend their time nibbling in the meadows.

Lunch: Lunch at the National Park Inn.

Afternoon: Take a bus excursion through the southern portion of the park for magnificent views of Mt. Rainier, the Tatoosh Range from Ricksecker Point, Narada Falls, Reflection Lakes, Louise Lake, Bench Lake and Box Canyon taking occasional short hikes of 1/4 to 1/2 mile in length.

Dinner: Choose from the varied menu at the Paradise Inn dining room.

Evening: On your own to enjoy the ambience of the lodge. Read a book in front of the fire, borrow some games from the front desk and relax!

Lodging: Paradise Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Yakima Winery/John Clymer Museum of Art and Historic Ellensburg Guided Walk/Leavenworth

Note: Guided walk will be no more than a 3/4 mile in length.

Breakfast: At your leisure in the Paradise Inn dining room.

Morning: Depart for Yakima stopping at a local fruit stand along the way. Arrive in Yakima late morning for a visit to a winery tasting room followed by lunch.

Lunch: At a local winery.

Afternoon: We'll continue our journey as we stop in Ellensburg to visit the Clymer Museum of Art which showcases this painter and illustrator who provided a realistic portrayal of American frontier life as well as animals in their natural surroundings. Born in Ellensburg, and later moving to Connecticut, he illustrated 80 covers of the Saturday Evening Post, and was an illustrator for other magazines such as Women's Day and Field and Stream. Following the visit to the museum take a walking tour of the historic town of Ellensburg led by a local historian. We'll then depart for Leavenworth.

Dinner: Dinner and evening will be on your own to explore this Bavarian style town.

Lodging: Linderhof Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Nutcracker Museum/Aplet & Cotlet Factory/Chelan Dam/Guided Historic Walk in Chelan

Note: Walk will be no more than 1 mile in length.

Breakfast: At your leisure in the hotel breakfast room.

Morning: Visit the Nutcracker Museum. We will watch a 15 minute video giving a short history of the nutcrackers, then will participate in a hands on demonstration of unusual nutcrackers. Afterwards we will tour the museum which shows over 6,000 nutcrackers from over 40 countries, oldest dating back to Roman times.

We will depart for the Aplet Cotlet factory in Cashmere run by Liberty Orchards. Learn how the candies are made from hand and visit the sorting and packing facilities.

Lunch: Picnic Lunch at the Lake Chelan Dam

Afternoon: Visit the Rocky Reach Visitors Center and tour the dam facility with representative from the dam. The dam is the primary source of electricity, irrigation and drinking water for Chelan County homes and businesses. The fish viewing room, with five windows located on the west side of the fish ladder, allows visitors to watch salmon, steelhead, trout and other species continue their upstream migration to spawning areas. After our visit to the dam we will head into the town of Chelan to check into Campbells Resort followed by a historical walk through town.

Dinner: At the resort

Evening: Presentation by Road Scholar staff.

Lodging: Campbell's Resort

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Lake Chelan Boat to Stehekin/Rainbow Falls/National Park Visitor Center

Breakfast: At the resort

Morning: Depart at 8:30 AM on the Lady Express for a trip up the lake to Stehekin, WA. Lake Chelan is the largest lake in the state of Washington. The town of Stehekin is considered a gateway to North Cascades National Park and is not accessible by road. This trip will provide a chance to learn about the flora and fauna of the area.

Lunch: Picnic lunch from the Pastry Company in Stekehin.

Afternoon: Visit 312 foot Rainbow Falls which is truly a sight to see. Then take a short forest walk (3/8ths mile) on “Buckner Lane” following the century old hand-dug gravity fed irrigation ditch carrying water from Rainbow Falls. The ditch is still essential to the life of the orchard. Learn the story of the Buckner family who operated the orchard from the 1920’s until it was sold to the National Park Service in 1970. It is the only orchard producing “Common Delicious” apples in the United States today. On the National Register of Historic Places, it is recognized as one of the best maintained historic orchards in the nation.

Return to Stehekin Landing for a visit to the Golden West Visitor Center. Then take a leisurely return trip on the Lady of the Lake II.

Dinner: We will return to Chelan at 6:00 PM. You will have the evening on your own to enjoy one of the local restaurants at your leisure.

Lodging: Campbell's Resort

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Breakfast: At the resort.

Morning: Depart for Dry Falls State Park to learn about the cataclysmic floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the last ice age. These floods are thought to be the cause of the many unusual formations in the landscape of the area including the ancient riverbed of Grand Coulee where massive erosion cut through basalt deposits. This National Natural Landmark stretches for about sixty miles southwest from Grand Coulee Dam to Soap Lake, being bisected by Dry Falls into the Upper and Lower Grand Coulee. After our stop at the visitor's center we will travel to Grand Coulee Dam.

Lunch: Picnic lunch at North Dam Park where the folk art Gehrke Windmills are exhibited. These windmills constructed of castaway iron pieces painted in bright colors have been featured in national Geographic and Sunset magazines.

Afternoon: Visit the Grand Coulee Dam Welcome Center with a tour of the dam facility. Board a van to be taken to the Pump-Generating Plant. Highlights include a look at the large pumps used for transporting water from Lake Roosevelt to the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project concluding with a van ride across the top of the dam. Construction of Grand Coulee Dam began in 1933 and was completed in 1942. Grand Coulee Dam is the largest hydropower producer in the United States with a total generating capacity of 6,809 megawatts. As part of the Columbia Basin Project, it irrigates more than 600,000 acres, and is the cornerstone for water control on the Columbia River.

Dinner: Local restaurant.

Evening: Check into hotel and have remainder of evening to rest and relax.

Lodging: Cascade Inn

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Note: Several short hikes of 1/4 to 1/2 mile in length.

Breakfast: At hotel

Morning: Begin our adventure into North Cascades National Park with a stop at Washington Pass. The views from the top of the pass are exceptional. Continue into the park with stops at several sites including Ross Lake, Diablo Lake and Gorge Creek Falls overlooks. Explore an ancient forest on the Happy Creek Forest walk. View gorges, creeks and waterfalls as we make our way to the North Cascades National Park Visitor Center.

Lunch: Picnic lunch along the way.

Afternoon: At the park visitor center a park ranger will provide an intro to the park. The group will explore the exhibits and take a walk along the Rockshelter Trail to an archeological site and a trail to an old growth cedar glade.

Dinner: At hotel.

Evening: Presentation on the area by a local expert.

Lodging: Hampton Inn & Suites

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Deception Pass/Fort Casey/Admiralty Head Lighthouse/Ferry/Port Townsend/Lake Crescent

Note: Port Townsend exploration includes a walk of 1/3 mile.

Breakfast: At hotel.

Morning: Head for Deception Pass a strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island and is known for its turbulent currents. George Vancouver gave it the name "Deception" because it had misled him into thinking Whidbey Island was a peninsula.

We will take a walk onto the bridge and then head for Fort Casey State park for an exploration of its gun batteries and a guided visit to Admiralty Lighthouse. Built in 1861 and rebuilt in 1903, the lighthouse guided tall ships toward the Whidbey Island shore. It was the last brick lighthouse designed by renowned German architect Carl Leick - its walls 18 inches thick to withstand the earthquakes that shake western Washington. Admiralty Head's Fresnel lens was extinguished in 1922, but the lighthouse today continues to welcome visitors to the area.

Lunch: Picnic Lunch

Afternoon: After lunch glide across Puget Sound on a Washington State ferry from Coupeville to Port Townsend. Spend an hour in this interesting Victorian town. Visit the Rothschild House and Jefferson County Historical Museum to learn its early history.

Departing Port Townsend we will enter Olympic National Park for a stay at Lake Crescent Lodge. The guest rooms are modern, but the setting along the lake is magnificent. The historic lodge is a few steps from the guest rooms and has an antique-furnished lobby with a large stone fireplace with seating to enjoy the turn of the century ambiance. The lodge's cozy sun porch also offers chairs to enjoy the lovely view.

Dinner: At the lodge.

Lodging: Lake Crescent Lodge

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Note: Hike of up to one mile with 250 feet of elevation gain.

Breakfast: At the lodge.

Morning: Explore the area along Lake Crescent with a local expert while learning about the natural history of the area.

Lunch: Late morning we will head to Hurricane Ridge and will have a picnic lunch en route.

Afternoon: Our afternoon will be filled with a visit to Hurricane Ridge. This area is shaped by wind and snow and its gusts of over 75 miles per hour have given it its hurricane name. It receives 30-35 feet of snow annually and it often lingers into summer. This snow maintains the open meadows which allow for magnificent views of the Olympic mountains. Hikes will be approximately 1 mile in length with 250 feet of elevation gain maximum.

Dinner: Location to be determined.

Evening: Presentation to be determined.

Lodging: Lake Crescent Lodge

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Note: Boeing plant tour includes 21 steep steps.

Breakfast: At the Lodge.

Morning: Depart for the Kingston/Edmonds Ferry. Enjoy the views of Puget Sound as we cross towards Seattle.

Lunch: At a local restaurant.

Afternoon: Visit Boeing's Everett, Wash., facility which is home to the 747, 767, 777 and 787 Dreamliner production lines. During the tour of the world's largest building by volume (472,000,000 cubic feet or 13,385,378 cubic meters), you will see airplanes being built for their worldwide base of airline customers. Tours last 90 mins and include 21 steep stairs and a one third mile walk.

Following our visit we will head south towards Seattle and our hotel for the evening.

Dinner: Farewell Dinner at hotel.

Lodging: Red Lion Seattle Airport

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: At the hotel.

Morning: Program wrap up and goodbyes!

Meals Included: Breakfast