Waking up in my own bed today, listening to the rain on the roof was absolute heaven. Especially since Friday night involved sleeping three hours on an airplane and another two hours on the floor at the Cleveland airport. Today will be a day of unpacking from our trip to the Pacific Northwest, laundry, grocery shopping, and reliving the trip through our photos. We put over a thousand miles on the rental car and managed to hit the top spots on everyone’s wish list for sights…
I was ten when Mount St. Helens erupted and remember saving my money for weeks to buy a big book about the eruption at our local bookstore. The photos in the book were great; in person, the mountain is absolutely spectacular.
If you stand amid these trees very quietly and listen, you can hear elk bugling.
The Quinault Rainforest is a mossy, magical place with enormous spruce and maple trees and fabulous giant slugs.
(E just walked into the room and said, “Hey! What’s my hand doing on your blog?”)
From the rainforest, we headed to Pacific Beach State Park.
But my favorite experience of the trip was our hike from the Paradise Visitor Center at Mount Rainier National Park. On the way there, I told the kids, “We might even be able to hike on a little snow if we climb high enough.” It was the understatement of the trip. Here’s the family, at the beginning of our 2.5 mile hike…
With record snowfall this year, the meadows and trails were still under 4-8 feet of snow. On the trail to Glacier Vista, though, we still managed to find some wildflowers emerging where the snow had melted.
It took us over an hour to climb to this viewpoint. Getting down was much faster.
Who knew that sledding without a sled could be so much fun?
Great photos!
Beautiful view! (gotta love the slug!)
great photos
I went to/near Mt St Helens in the min 80’s
I was amazed at the the devestation and the miles and miles of seedlings — each one surrounded with a chicke -wire type fence.
Looks like you all had a FUN! trip.
::happy sigh::
You went to some of my favorite places, including #1, Paradise. Aptly named, isn’t it?
Love the body-sledding! Wonder if we’ll see that on the next XGames 😉
Gorgeous pics — and what a fun way to go downhill. As for the slug? Ewww — your kid is brave. 🙂
Hahaha! Love the sledding! You’re crazy! 🙂
Thanks! And congrats on your request from the agent!
The slug was beautiful, which might seem like a strange thing to say about a slug, but it was.
Re: great photos
St. Helens was really amazing – I so wish I could have seen it when it was more active a couple years ago.
Paradise is a perfect name for that ridge. Just perfect.
Hmm…I’m not sure I’d be much of a contender, since I kept tipping over.
The slug was actually really cool. And pretty, if you like that sort of thing. :^)
We had a fantastic day – and the sledding was worth every snow/ice scrape that now decorates my legs.
Sigh — I remember seeing Mt. Saint Helens — it was gorgeous.
I would’ve been there looking at it really close, saying “Ew” and NOT touching it. 🙂 I am fascinated from afar. Like how I was staring at the huge snail on my sidewalk today, shuddering at the thought of touching it while being completely fascinated by it.
I know, I’m a total wimp. 🙂
I love the sledding in shorts! The slug? Ummm. Ewww.. Not so much.
Your photos are so great – and the sledding looks fun, if cold. But E is my hero for holding that ginormous monoped.
Kate, your pictures are amazing (as I’ve come to expect)… The first and sixth are especially breathtakingly beautiful. And the last one is very entertaining!
Lovely scenery. :>)
That slug…ummm…is gross.
I’m already wishing I could go back – there’s so much more I’d like to see.
I forget sometimes that not everyone likes slugs and spiders and things. :^)
Thanks – E is my hero, too, for that and other reasons.
Thanks- it sure was fun!
Thanks!
It was actually really cool and pretty, in a sluggy sort of way.
I’m not a creepy-crawly sort of guy, which is rather embarassing when my 3 y.o. daughter picks worms out of the dirt and rolls them around between her fingers.