Coast2coast: Catch Up

The post just ahead of this was the one when I encountered trouble with reception. So in the meantime, we arrived At Mt. Rainier National Park in rain and low clouds like fog and camped inside the park at Cougar Rock Campground which we had to back out of, it was so tight. So we moved the next morning to a campground just outside the entrance to the park. This day was gloomy also and visibility was so low we couldn't begin to see the top of Mt. Rainier. We made the best of the situation and had a nice big breakfast at the National Park Inn. If you are interested in staying there, it is $230 for 2 people if you want a private bath. The breakfast was very good.....eggs with spinach & feta, hashbrowns, a scone with Marian berry butter. We toured that area which is called Longmire then drove closer to the base of Mt. Rainier at Paradise and spent some time in the inn there which is quite beautiful. Our timing was off, however, and so we didn't stay for dinner there even though the menu read quite nicely and the prices were not out of line.
We were very disappointed that we had been able to see so little and decided that we would hit the road the next morning and head toward the coast of Washington. However as we were getting ready, the sky turned blue and the sun popped out and we took off up the mountain again. This time we were able to see and get some good shots of Mt. Rainier. It was an awesome sight. We were so grateful for the opportunity. Just before noon check-out we returned to camp, hooked up and headed west again.

This is the biker I told you about in the last post as he was heading out on a new day. He has a "sweetheart" in Vancouver whose parents live in Wisconsin. He had visited her parents on this bike trip without her and said if he survived that he could probably survive anything. We gave him a banana and an orange as he left.

Arriving at Mt. Rainier on a rainy day

After our nice breakfast

Tom & Beau beside one of the big trees in the park

In the lobby of Paradise Inn near the base of Mt. Rainier.

A river running down from the base of Mt. Rainier.

Narada Falls in Mt. Rainier Nat'l Park.

By walking down to the bottom of the falls (which we did not do), you can see the entire 168 feet of the falls. I'm sure it would have been gorgeous to see. It was from our point of view as well.