A Trip to Mount Rainier, Part 1

Being retired together means we can now take "spur of the moment" excursions whenever we feel like changing up the daily routine.  Last week, we decided it would be fun to take a quick overnight road trip so we took out the map to see what looked interesting.  We chose a trip to Mount Rainier National Park.  Established in 1899 the national park is the fifth oldest National Park in the country and only a few hours drive away.  Thinking about how close it actually, is we were amazed to think that we had only been there once before many years ago. It didn't take long to pack up the car, call the kids to let them know and hit the road for an adventure.  

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Taking our time, we arrived in the town of Enumclaw, WA late in the afternoon.  The old historic community is a busy little crossroads with highways heading in several different directions. Situated just a few miles from the base of the mountain it was the perfect place to spend the night.  There are only two hotels in the town.  The place we chose had this pretty little court yard filled with hydrangeas.  

After settling into our room we found a place for dinner and then took a walk around the town.   Across the street from our room was the Logging Legacy Memorial Park.  This amazing bronze statue of two oxen pulling a log to the river was placed here to commemorate the logging history of the state.  It weights over 15,000 pounds! 

As we looked through the windows of the closed shops we could see that many of them were decorated for the fall.  This one was especially cute.

 

Next door was a music store with old pianos outside on the sidewalks where people on the street could stop and play a tune.

The late setting sun was casting reflections on the windows but we could still see in to enjoy these blown glass pumpkins.

After our nice walk around the town and through the park we settled into our room for the night.  We wanted to get an early start to the mountain in the morning.

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Our first stop of the day was up 6,400 feet to Sunrise, the highest place in the park that you can drive to.  We discovered the lodge had closed for the season the week before.  There was scaffolding up all along the outside as workers were busy repairing and winterizing the buildings   In another few weeks the roads will be closed for the winter.  There was no snow here yet but the air was chilly and we were glad for our warm jackets.  The visitor center was still open though and we could walk along the roads and trails in the area.  We had been expecting sunshine but the clouds had rolled in obscuring the mountain.  Even so, the views were still beautiful.

     
Those poles you see at this lookout are used to measure the snowfall up here.  The park gets hundreds of inches of snow every year. 

There were so many trails to try but we weren't prepared or ready to take a long hike.  Perhaps another time.  Meanwhile, we needed to get back on the road if we were going to make it to our next stop.  We will save that for another day.  Next time I will share pictures of  our walk through the Grove of the Patriarchs and visit to Paradise.  I hope you have enjoyed our little trip so far.