Once Upon a Time We Went to Rainier!

Well, it's been a while, but once upon a time we went to Rainier. It was so fun to go because we could see Mt. Rainier from our house, 100 miles away. We both took Friday off of work and went out for a nice long weekend. I was getting pretty nervous though because the weather forecast wasn't that great, it was supposed to be foggy. It wouldn't be that big of a deal but a huge reason (ok the biggest reason) that we went out there was to see the view of Rainier! If it was foggy we wouldn't be able to see it. Nevertheless, we decided to go on and just hope for the best. We didn't make reservations for our camping spot, and as we learned before in Leavenworth, they are quite hard to come by. So when we found this little gem we were quite pleased :)

Although we took Friday off, we spent part of the day on Friday in the city so we didn't get to Rainier until the evening. When we got there we explored around the area and the set up camp, had s'mores, talked, looked at the stars, all the usual stuff. The next day, we set off for Rainier!

As we were driving up toward Rainier, we couldn't believe it but it wasn't foggy! I got so excited I started taking pictures of everything because I didn't know if it was going to be covered up in an hour haha. The views really were gorgeous. I know I say that about everything this summer, but honestly this place was beautiful.

This is the first look-out and view of Mt. Rainier! Again, at this point we were just so happy to be able to see it at all. We had no idea the incredible things we would get to see later on that day.

Close up shot of the mountain. Rising 14,000 feet up in the air, this thing really is magnificent. It is the highest mountain in Washington and the highest in the Cascade Range. But it's not just a mountain, it's a strato-volcano! The last time it erupted was 1894... so I was feeling it was about time for it to happen again! Luckily, it didn't :)

First, we drove to the top where there is a lodge and the closest view to the summit. 

We explored and hiked around in a few different areas and saw the views of other mountains in the Cascade Range.

Then it was time for lunch! We couldn't have picked a better spot or a better view. We had our peanut butter and jelly sandwiches here, but they always seems to taste better when you're out hiking around outside.

After hiking around a bit, we decided the best plan of action would be to drive around the park so we could see the majority of it. Then we had one epic hike planned for the end: the best there was, or so we heard. So we started driving around seeing all the views.

Then it was time for our hike! I was so excited because everyone told us this was the best hike to do in the park, and that the view from the top was unbelievable! The hike started out well, we saw some pretty things...

but then, to our surprise, we saw this:

and this.

Needless to say, our hike got cut short. There had been an avalanche on this trail so we weren't able to get up past the waterfall. Although it was disappointing to have to turn around, I thought it was still pretty cool that there had been an avalanche. 

Sunday we went through Enumclaw and Rusty showed me where he lived as a missionary. Then on our drive home we stopped by the Black Diamond Bakery. This place has delicious food, and also a really, really old oven. It was built in 1902 and is still in use today. Generally they don't use it, but it still functions. Pretty cool, eh? The food was delicious and they let you go back and see the oven!