September 3...Mt. Rainier National Park (Day 4)

(Kim's Perspective)
We were excited to be able to see Rainier while at the park today. SO AMAZING. The view just never got old. I think we may have said "wow" or made a "that's unbelievable" sound every time we came around a corner and the mountain loomed in front of us.




This park is now in my Top 3 list. It's definitely on the To-Do Again (and probably again, and again, and again) list.

Feeling better and ready for a hike, we decided on one that wouldn't kill me, but one where any pain suffered would at least be worthwhile and rewarding. So, we chose to hike along the alpine meadows by the visitor center and use the trail system to hike to Glacier Vista. Incredible. I can't describe how beautiful this place is.

For most of the hike, Mom was on my mind. Everywhere I looked, I was reminded of her and thinking about what she would be saying and how much she would love to see this place. It wasn't that I could just imagine what she would be saying, I could even hear the intonation and expression in her voice. The only thing that makes me feel better is that she's now far more experienced with witnessing incredible, beautiful things than I and no matter how much I wish I could be showing her all this, I know, as beautiful as it is, it can't compare to her current surroundings.

As we hiked, we could see Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood, and Mt. Saint Helens.





I was able to glimpse Bill doing an impression of Julie Andrews and was fortunate enough to capture it for others. (Sorry, Babe, but this is too good not to share.) ;P


We also passed a guided adventure tour group who was happily snapping pictures and carrying their tiny little day packs while their guide carried all their gear.


I'm sorry, I don't care if part of their job is to carry my crap or not, there is NO WAY I could let this dude carry MY crap up the mountain. He had to have had a couple hundred pounds on his back. It irritates me. I told Bill it's like those "adventurers" who proudly boast of bagging the summit of Everest but conveniently leave out the fact that they did so only because a bunch of poor villagers carried all their gear for them. Yeah, you bagged Everest - but so did the sherpas who were laden with hundreds of pounds of YOUR stuff. Oh, and they did so while wearing flipflops and rags. Pshaaaa. Bill told the guy if anyone tried to make him carry all their junk like that, he would beat them with a stick. The guy replied "I have two right here" and Bill responded "exactly". The suggested beatings must have occurred farther up the mountain because we were never witness to any of it. Of course, the "adventurers" were always some distance away from their pack mule, I mean, guide. We actually heard one of the guys shout "should we stay back there with you and keep you company?". Wow. Really? I felt like saying "No, you should go back there, retrieve your gear, and carry your own freakin' tent, sleeping pad and bag you sissy mary girl".

Anywho...The hike was steep and the air lacked oxygen. Stupid altitude. It's hard to imagine that, from the vista point, the mountain looms another 8,000 feet above you.

Since pictures can speak a thousand words (and I apparently have a tendency to be critical of perfect strangers), I'll just shut up and let the pictures do the talking.




























BTW - This is what John Muir thought of its beauty.


We headed back to the campground and played stick with the Boys at the campsite. I went in at 4:45 to lay down awhile – the hike kicked by butt - or my side as it were. I slept till 6, woke up, fell back asleep, woke up at 6:40, fell back asleep, woke up at 7:00 and yelled “Come save me from the sleep monster!”.

Bill came in (he had been sitting outside reading) and we took the Monkeys for a walk. We came back, had dinner and then Bill read while I transferred the pics from the last few days over to the computer. It was a pretty good day. :)

September 2...Mt. Rainier National Park (Day 3)

(Kim's Perspective)
We spent the day in Seattle. Well, we spent a few hours in Seattle and the rest of the day driving back and forth.

En route, we got our very first glimpse of Rainier.


Unbelievable. No matter where we were, it was almost always visible. How can it not be? It's UBERNORMOUS and in your face and majestic and ice covered and a bunch of other stuff that's hard to describe.





Imagine seeing this as you commute back and forth to work.





Pretty incredible. Minus the potential for the mountain to explode and spew debris and lava that will destroy you and all you love. ;P

Since the initial planning stages of this trip, I have been looking forward to going to the Flagship REI store in Seattle. Space Needle, Pike Place Market, Seattle Aquarium anyone? Nah...my primary objective was to visit the REI.

Most people just don't understand. REI to me is like taking an Elvis fan to Graceland, a road racer to the Tour de France or a terrorist Muslim to a suicide training camp. Ohhhh…...a little bit of heaven, right on earth. Well, except for the terrorist Muslim.

A "Motherlode of gear" is an understatement. This place has it all - right down to the NPS/USFS Ranger Station in the middle of the store. Nuuuhhh-uhhhhhh?!!!

We spent several hours there and didn't even get through the whole place. This is probably good considering they carry gear and gadgets not found at the other REI's and I felt compelled to buy it - even stuff I don't need or know how to use. I think I need a mountaineering compass, crampons, and an ice pick. I'm not sure why, but they're on sale and they're cool. :)

I buy pretty much all of my gear and a fair amount of my clothes (technical and casual) at REI. We earn a lot of cash back every year with our REI Visa. It is a wonderful place. :) I think my mouth was open and my head on a swivel the majority of the time I was there. Looook!!! WWWHHHOOOAA, check THIS out!...Awwww, beloved REI store, how I love your beautiful displays and hordes of outdoor gear.

At one point, I was accidentally shopping in the "extended sizes" section. A store employee walked over to me to point this out. I said "Oh. I'm from Maryland. None of the REI's in the area carry extended sizes". I was proud of this response because what initially went through my head pre-filter was "fat girls can't buy clothes at REI back home". Who said I'm not tactful?

After our REI experience, we walked around a bit and stumbled on a street with vendors from the Pike Place Farmer’s Market. We bought some peaches and ate them while we walked around. Yum!

Since time was of the essence (we were going to have to deal with rush hour traffic to get back), we got an early dinner at Mad Pizza right across from the lot where we were parked. We left at 5pm and wrestled with traffic. Signage is awful if you don't know where you're going, so we had to, uh, "squeeze in" to a line of traffic so we didn't miss our turn. We got the horn. Hello! Read the tags people, we're not from around here. Can you just be kind and give us a break? I guess the "people are friendlier out here" motto doesn't apply to the city folk. Not surprising. City folk, regardless of which coast, just aren't very nice. Or so it seems.

We stopped at a mall in Puyallup to get a pillow wedge to help me sleep better. Haven’t slept well in nearly two weeks. Makes for a grumpy camper in the mornings. Just ask Bill. In my defense, it's hard to be chipper when I wake up hurting every day and have rested very little. There. I whined.

We bought a pillow thingy, picked up the next few seasons of SG1 that we found on sale (this falls under the entertainment budget and is a welcomed low-key time suck with our current level of inactivity). As we were leaving, we saw the Orange Julius in the food court. Humpf. Didn't know they still existed. A large Strawberry Julius for me, please. Mmmmm....just as tasty as I remember.

We drove the rest of the way "home" and were graced with witnessing yet another phenomenal sunset. Why can't the sky look like this in Maryland???


It was a long day for the Boys, but after a few laps around the campground, they seemed content to come back and settle in for the night. They're such good dogs. :)

September 1...Mt. Rainier National Park (Day 2)

(Kim's Perspective)

We headed towards the park today to get the lay of the land and get a glimpse of Rainier. Fail. The mountain was having no part of being seen.

There were some amusing things to see prior to getting into the NP. First, was the sign reminding us that at any given moment, we could be torched by lava, crushed by flying boulders, asphyxiated by toxic fumes, or drowned by a lahar. Hey - this place is fun.


The second sign was hysterical, but in order to appreciate it, you have to understand the lay of the land. The road leading to the park passed by this church. Within the park, the visitor center and other touristy things are located at a place called Paradise, so...



Ha ha ha hahah. Witty Baptists. I love it. :P

We went to the visitor center and spent a fair amount of time there reading about the mountain and the flora and fauna.

We drove throughout the park and did the obligatory pullouts even though there was little to be seen. Well, that’s not true. There were lots of cool things to see, just not Rainier.







At one pulloff, you can see the remnants of a recent mudslide. Walking by it gave me the heebie jeebies. I was just waiting for the rest of it to come down on my head.




We haven’t seen it yet, but I’m pretty certain Mt. Rainier is going to be amazing. I just have a feeling that this NP
!!!!!

We headed back to the trailer and took the Boys for a walk, had soup for dinner, and then watched some SG1 before heading to bed. A pretty low key day, but I’m still recovering and overdid it the last couple of days so low key will be in my immediate future. Don’t count on any exciting blog reports for awhile. SIGH.

Status Update

We're still alive, just staying places where signal is as rare as spotting Sasquatch.

We spent a few days at North Cascades NP. Wow. Beautiful park.

Now we're at Mt. Rainier NP and trying to make plans for how we'll deal with the weekend warrior wannabes for the holiday weekend. Yes, I'm being a jerk about it, but how dare those folks reserve campsites when we're on the other side of the country and need a place to stay. heee heee heee. Actually, I'm sure we'll manage just fine. There's tons of National Forest campgrounds around here and most weekend warriors don't like to get dirty and they require ridiculous child friendly amenities so camping in a primitive area won't appeal to them.

I'll try to update the blog when time and signal allow.

August 31...Our 14th Wedding Anniversary...En Route to Mt. Rainier NP

(Kim's Perspective)
Today was our 14th wedding anniversary. Congratulate us - 14 years of putting up with each other deserves some kudos I think. ;)

It was raining when we woke up. It's very dark here under this thick canopy of trees. Dark and wet. Dark and wet and cold. SOOO... we decided to leave and head for better weather and another park.

We packed up and left around 10 am. By 10:15, we were already pulled over for our first stop. Normally, stopping after 15 minutes in the car would be unacceptable. It is hard for me to break free of being the Mileage Nazi when we have miles to cover and a destination in mind. When it's time to drive, it's time to drive. This time, I was happy to stop after 15 minutes on the road. Let me explain.

On our travels back and forth, we had noticed an organic fruit stand but hadn’t stopped. Between the fog and navigating unfamiliar roads, we hadn't noticed that it was....gasp....a CASCADIAN FARM fruit stand. No WAY! I buy all their stuff. Then, it hit us...Ohhh…CASCADian Farm…now I get it. If you don't get it, just give it some time to sink in... :)


I got an organic mocha and Bill got an organic hot chocolate. We also bought a half flat of organic, fresh picked blueberries. Wow were they good. I walked around the farm awhile looking at the biggest, prettiest and fullest blueberry bushes I've ever seen and snapped off a few pics to commemorate the event. Hey...it might be weird, but I'm part of the organic revolution remember? At least I have a t-shirt that says so.

We ate blueberries, drove, ate more blueberries, and drove some more. We drove through Seattle on the 405 in the rain and fog. How fun. Funny thing about the fog - you can't really see much.





The road leading toward Rainier was cool and would have been perfect had we been on the bikes in dry, sunny weather. Unfortunately, we were in the truck pulling a 31 foot, seven thousand pound trailer in the rain and fog. Not nearly as much fun I gotta tell ya'.


Along the way, we stopped at a pulloff to check the view. I don't remember the view - I was too entertained by this tag...


Remember Fuzzy Wuzzy, Sis? Wonder what he's up to these days? :)

We finally found a campsite at the Rocky Point Rec Area around 6 pm. Electric and Water site. Wooohooo. Thank you, Tacoma Power.

Since it was still early, we unhitched and drove towards the park.


We wanted to check out the NP's campgrounds despite their warnings that the campgrounds could not accommodate RVs over 27 foot. We have found that these warnings or restrictions don't generally apply to us. It's kind of like the recommended safe speed for a turn. Those warnings are generally for unskilled drivers. Bill is not an unskilled driver. In fact, he's gotten incredibly adept at maneuvering this beast through some pretty hairy places. We assumed the NP's warnings were meant for the bad drivers. We were wrong. Humpf.

The light was fading quickly and we wanted to make dinner before the local restaurants rolled up the carpets on a sleepy Tuesday night. In order to save ourselves some time and potential aggravation, we had dinner at the National Park Inn. Like all restaurants at the NPs we’ve been to, the meals are slightly mediocre and the price is on the high side. No matter. It was our anniversary dinner so we weren't going to be scrooges about it. Some occasions are exempt from the budgetary mandates. :) Seafood linguine for Bill, pot roast, wild rice and broccoli for me. Not extravagant mind you, but again, it's a NP restaurant. Extravagant is not usually on the menu, just slightly extravagant pricing. :)

The Boys, who had been sleeping in the truck while we were at dinner, were very interested in my pot roast leftovers. They got a piece. They wanted more. They learned that you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need. And they only needed one piece. :)

We headed back to the trailer in the dark and, you guessed it, in the rain. I suppose we can't have perfect weather for the ENTIRE trip. No complaints though. Hard to complain when you've spent your summer flitting about the country and now you're spending your wedding anniversary camping in your travel trailer at the base of one of the coolest mountains in the world. :)