Our town of Puyallup literally sits in the shadow of Mount Rainier. On a sunny day, this massive mountain TOWERS over our town in such an impressive way that it's almost intimidating (remember that this mountain is really just a sleeping volcano that I hope never awakes). So, it's really quite pathetic and almost a shame that we have never driven down to explore her national park in the three years that we have lived here. As a result, we made it a goal to make some camping reservations this summer and do just that! So, we spent Friday and Saturday night of this past weekend "famping" in the Cougar Rock campground which is found in the southwest corner of the Mount Rainier National Park. We lucked out with the weather and had a wonderful time enjoying the fresh outdoors, views of the mountains, and endless meadows of wildflowers in bloom. Here are some pics of our weekend with Rainier...
A glimpse we caught of the mother mountain on the 1.5 hour drive south! Impressive, isn't it?
Since Lia is now a jumping maniac, she thoroughly enjoyed jumping off of the rocks located behind our tent all weekend long.
We spent Saturday morning cruising around on our cruisers. Here are papa and baby posing for a pic in the midst of our campground tour.
Being cheeky in our campsite before lunch!
After lunch and nap, we spent the afternoon at "Paradise" which is one of the more popular destinations in the park
and starting point for the die-hard hikers who want to summit the mountain. We enjoyed exploring the famous Paradise Inn (really a lodge) built in 1916 when we first arrived on the scene.
The main lodge with its impressive maze of crisscrossing logs in the ceiling above.
After inspecting the lodge, we took one of the short trails found right off of the parking lot in order to enjoy some of the wildflowers in full bloom. Lia actually hiked a .6 round trip hike with us to see Myrtle Falls. Here she is picking a flower...shhhh, don't tell anyone!
Family photo on the trail.
Myrtle Falls in all her glory.
This was the best "smile" Lia would give us from a top the falls.
Lia and Ron hiking back down to Paradise with the inn and the Cascades in the background. It sure was beautiful up there!
The apple of my eye back at our campsite.
After doing dishes from dinner, I returned to our site to find Ron and Lia reading around the campfire. I thought it was so cute that I had to join in!
Although Rainier hid from us all day Saturday, we did find her poking out of the clouds on Sunday as we checked out of the campground. This is the view that startled us on our drive out! She is something. Can't wait to return this fall with my mother to explore the autumn colors...
A glimpse we caught of the mother mountain on the 1.5 hour drive south! Impressive, isn't it?
Since Lia is now a jumping maniac, she thoroughly enjoyed jumping off of the rocks located behind our tent all weekend long.
We spent Saturday morning cruising around on our cruisers. Here are papa and baby posing for a pic in the midst of our campground tour.
Being cheeky in our campsite before lunch!
After lunch and nap, we spent the afternoon at "Paradise" which is one of the more popular destinations in the park and starting point for the die-hard hikers who want to summit the mountain. We enjoyed exploring the famous Paradise Inn (really a lodge) built in 1916 when we first arrived on the scene.
The main lodge with its impressive maze of crisscrossing logs in the ceiling above.
After inspecting the lodge, we took one of the short trails found right off of the parking lot in order to enjoy some of the wildflowers in full bloom. Lia actually hiked a .6 round trip hike with us to see Myrtle Falls. Here she is picking a flower...shhhh, don't tell anyone!
Family photo on the trail.
Myrtle Falls in all her glory.
This was the best "smile" Lia would give us from a top the falls.
Lia and Ron hiking back down to Paradise with the inn and the Cascades in the background. It sure was beautiful up there!
The apple of my eye back at our campsite.
After doing dishes from dinner, I returned to our site to find Ron and Lia reading around the campfire. I thought it was so cute that I had to join in!
I know this has nothing to do with Mt Ranier, (you already know how I feel about nature;) but when did you go so blonde?!
ReplyDeleteI have a couple more things.....but remember when Supergirl got mad, picked up a mountain and threw it into the middle of the city? That's what Ms Ranier reminds mr of. Provo feels the same way to me.
ReplyDeleteAlso- I can't remember if I ever answered you about the header pic. We went on a bike tour of Paris and my friend took it while we were riding figure eights in the courtyard of the Louvre. I no longer wonder why Parisians hate Americans....it became pretty clear after about 70 of us ascended on the city via beach crusisers.