Our home in the Seattle suburb of Kent was the dog friendly Comfort Inn. We used this as our base for the next three days. Our list to see included Mount Rainier National Park, Mount St. Helens National Monument, and the city of Seattle.
Couldn't resist the latte and the muffin top...yum!
The old trains and town before arriving at the park
Tunnel of trees...the fragrance was divine.
We entered the park at the southwest, Nisqually Entrance and followed the road to the Paradise, Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center.
On our way to the top were many beautiful sights shrouded in fog.
Incredibly green and lush
The fog and mist build as we ascend.
Viewing area and meadow - In late spring and summer, there are endless fields and meadows of wild flowers.
Alpine wildflowers - Below inscribed on the stairs to a meadow is how John Muir described the alpine gardens.
"...the most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain top wanderings."
~John Muir, conservationist, 1889
Our view of Mount Rainier was foggy and white. One of the brochures described this view "as experiencing the park in it's most frequent guise, cloaked in moisture and hooded by snow." Moisture laden weather systems move off the Pacific Ocean, batter the sides of Mount Rainier and drop record setting quantities of snow. The total precipitation is between 87 inches to 126 inches. Mount Rainier is one of the world's most massive volcanoes, nearly three miles in height. It is the tallest peak in the Cascade Range at 14,410 feet. There are 26 glaciers that cap the mountain. This was the same view Tom experienced several years ago on his first visit to the park. Maybe the third visit will be the charm.
The view on a sunny day!
Tom pointing to the model of mount Rainier. This will have to do!
Visitors' Center
Our view as we left the viewing area!
No mountain view...but many beautiful sights on the way down.
Glacier flow...you can see how wide the flow is during the spring melt.
On to Mount St. Helens...
Top of the muffin to you!
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