We'd been watching the weather forecasts for weeks and it was consistently promising for today. The boys and I headed out early for Mt. Rainier, about a 2 hour drive from our hotel. I'd checked the website and message forums the night before and all looked great.
When we got to the park gate, it really was the perfect day. The ranger told us there might be some brief delays and road closures due to hazard tree removal. Sure enough, not far into the park, we were stopped on the road. We got out and explored a bit:
TWO HOURS LATER, we were finally on our way to the visitor center and the main areas of the park! Yikes! It was a tough wait, but I'm so glad we didn't give up. The weather was gorgeous and the mountain is just stunning. (I was crazy-camera-happy...just prepare yourself!)
The delay was because they were blowing up trees. Crazy:
We stopped at Longmire and talked to a ranger. He recommended several hikes at Paradise, just up the mountain a bit. Our first stop was at the Nisqually River:
...where we found more rocks for climbing!
A few clouds rolled in, but they didn't stay long
We moved up the road a bit to another falls...
...and made a few stops along the way to take in the views...
I can't believe my eyes are closed!
This one cracks me up. We have a feature on the camera where you hold the shutter and rotate the camera to get a panoramic view. When Brady tried it, Rudy kept jumping up and putting his fingers in front of the lens. He was being a total nervit, but the picture makes me laugh!
When we got up to Paradise, we were amazed at the fall colors! All of the red in the pictures are blueberry bushes.
This is looking away from the mountain at the other peaks:
The second highlight? Playing in the snow and ice! Here, they were slipping and sliding down the ice patches on the path.
Lots more snow!
We went back to the car to head over to do one more hike, when Rudy spotted these guys. Although adorable, they were heartbreakingly unafraid of people. They walked right up to our car and sat down with these enormous sad eyes. It was so hard not to feed them, but we resisted the urge!
The next, and last hike, was the Nisqually Glacier Vista Trail. We saw a bit more wildlife:
And (obviously) some good views of one of the 26 glaciers on the mountain:
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