You know, it does help to live in a place with mountains on all sides, like we do in Western Washington.  To the West are the Olympic Mountains.

This photo was taken years ago, from the deck of a Washington State Ferry, just shy of the Kingston Ferry dock on Puget Sound.

To the East are the Cascade Mountains.  Just north of us is the North Cascades National Park.  Washington Pass, at 5,477 feet, is the highest pass over the Cascades.

Here are Colonial and Pyramid Peaks, from our favorite Diablo Lake Overlook.  The dams on the Skagit River form Diablo Lake and Ross Lake, and provide hydroelectric power for Western Washington.

A few miles farther on Highway 20, you come to Washington Pass, and Liberty Bell Mountain.

In the southern Cascades, you find all the “famous” mountains, including Mount Rainier.

And what is left of Mount St. Helens, which erupted in 1980, literally blowing off its top.

Just East of the Cascades, there’s the Stuart Range, seen here from near Ellensburg in Interstate 90.

Mount Index is only about 45 minutes of our house!

On vacations, we have been to the Rockies a few times, and they are never the same way twice.

I have always loved Glacier National Park, since I first went there in 1971 on my way to grad school in Minnesota.

On our recent trip to Colorado, we saw new vistas of the Rockies.

We love our mountains.

Here’s the Link to Amy’s Original Post for this week.  And Tina’s too!  We have some of the same places in our posts this week.