North Cascades National Park

After being on the road for two straight days, our trip officially began when we arrived in Winthrop, a little old west town providing a step back in time. We grabbed burgers and did a little window shopping. Couldn’t stop without an ice cream treat at the cutest outdoor cafe.

The next morning we began our journey through North Cascades National Park. First stop was the Washington Pass overlook. Our breath was taken away with the beautiful mountain views. Olivia had some jitters being up so high and near edges, but she proved to be a trooper. 

We continued our journey with a hike. We thought it was the Rainy Lake trail, but wasn’t well marked, so we aren’t really sure. At a check-in board we saw someone made note of sighting a bear from one of the trails. Hard not to be a little on edge after seeing that! Highlights include tons of wildflowers, huge Cedar trees and mountain views. (Also, we ran into a lovely woman and her dog. She looked familiar, but it wasn’t till much later that I made the connection. I swear we had a nice chat with Lyla from Schitt's Creek!)

Then we checked out the Diablo Lake overlook. The water is an amazing aqua blue which gets the color from the glaciers. Henry is a magnet to water, so we had to find access to the water to explore. Kids had a blast in it, even if it was feet numbing cold!

Trail of Cedars was an easy hike that was also educational. It’s also where the kids worked on their Junior Ranger books the most. To finish the day, we checked out the Gorge Dam which uses the glacier waters to create hydropower.

The following morning we stopped by the visitors’ center to have the kids sworn in as junior rangers. A sweet young park ranger swore them in and they earned their badges. Then began the seven hour journey to our next park!