One of my favorite places on earth is Mount Rainier, otherwise known as Tahoma, “mother of waters.” It is majestic and beautiful and timeless and humbling and peaceful and powerful, and one of the reasons I have chosen to live a public-transit-based life. I love to go camping on Mount Rainier — yes, folks, bus chicks can survive in the wild — but unfortunately, the bus doesn’t go there. (Believe me, I checked. I even looked into hitching a ride on a tour bus.)

Lucky for me, Flexcar recently launched a weekend rental option. Instead of paying Flexcar’s usual hourly rate, you can reserve one of the eligible vehicles from Friday at 5 p.m. until Monday at 8 a.m. for a flat rate of $100. On the weekend of the 8th, I tried it out, and it worked beautifully. We picked the car up on Friday evening; spent two days on the mountain enjoying the fresh air, strenuous hiking, and spectacular views; bought gas (on Flexcar) on the way back; and then spent Sunday evening running errands that are a challenge to accomplish on the bus. Monday morning, we dropped the car off where we got it, and that was that. No lines. No paperwork to fill out. No damage patrol by a clipboard-carrying employee.

The Skagit Valley is another place I love to visit — even more because you don’t need a car to get there. I’ve taken Amtrak through the valley on the way to Vancouver, but I didn’t know you could take public transportation until last Friday, when a group of Sound Transit employees, on their own time and of their own volition, decided to test the integration of the Sounder commuter train with one of Skagit Transit’s newest bus routes, and were kind enough to invite me along.

First, we took the Sounder from King Street Station to Everett. We spent the hour-long ride kicking back, enjoying the views of hills and trees and water and mountains. At Everett Station we transferred to the Everett Connector, an express bus from Everett to Mount Vernon operated by Skagit Transit. The ride to Mount Vernon’s Skagit Station took about 50 minutes and, considering that most of it took place on the freeway, had a decent number of great views.

In Mount Vernon, we ate dinner at Skagit River Brewery, which is half a block from the train station. After some strong beer, way too much barbecue, and some delicious Snickers pie, we caught the southbound Amtrak right from the Mount Vernon station. The train, which was coming from Vancouver, was crowded by the time we got on, so to keep the group together, we sat in the bar car. We watched the sun set behind the water while drinking Merlot from plastic cups and talking about our public transit adventures. Not bad for a car-free Friday night.