Mount Rainier National Park

Our first night in this area was the Fourth of July. While we initially had plans of watching fireworks, the driving through twisty mountain roads with elk crossing signs had us worried about wildlife encounters at night. We opted to skip it, although I had plenty of guilt as Henry rushed to the hotel window each time he heard a bang.

Knowing the park would be busy on a holiday, we got going as early as we could. On our first trail, The Trail of Shadows, we only encountered one other hiker. This trail showed remains of what was first established on this land in the 1880s; a hot spring. Next we climbed the mountain more, now clearly seeing the giant Mount Rainier. We hiked a nice paved trail that still had some snow cover. Henry was delighted and made sure to hit a few of us with snowballs. Then we out the visitors center and did another hike to a waterfall. We continued our journey east through the park, checking out Reflection Lakes, having a picnic lunch, and doing one last hike at the Grove of the Patriarchs Trail.

Our dinner the night before was a major bust, so we were so delighted to find a nice coffee shop that had scrumptious food! We dug into a platter of nachos and a dish called “healthy bowl” filled with rice, beans, and super flavorful veggies! Games at the table gave me a chance to finally teach my kids how to play checkers.

All in all, not a National Park stop that’s the top of our lists, but the massive giant was quite impressive to take in!