Snowy Sabbath

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Sabbath morning was spent visiting the ‘Breath of Life’ church in Seattle, where one of our previous Pastors in London is now the resident Pastor. He was unaware that we were travelling out to Seattle, so had quite a shock when entering the church to see us both sitting there! Enjoyed the morning visiting this very welcoming church, but due to time schedules we were unable to linger and enjoy ‘pot luck’ and catch up with Pastor as we would have liked to.

Grabbed a bite to eat before heading out to Kim’s house, to pick her up for our drive to Mt. Rainier. It took roughly an hour to drive there through some very beautiful scenery. We chose to enter Mt Rainier National Park through Paradise, as the other entrance into the park was still closed due to snow. As it was late afternoon, we were the only car heading up the road, whereas there were several snow covered cars leaving. Seemed like rather a lot of snow had recently fallen! Must have been that torrential downpour we drove through. Not too far into the park we came across a warning sign stating that only cars with snow chains or 4 x 4’s with snow tires were allowed beyond that point. Having specifically rented a 4 x 4 for travel in the mountains, we decided to proceed with caution and test out the road as I’m sure we didn’t have special snow tires on the car. As long as we don’t careen into a snow bank all would be fine!

It didn’t take long for the snow to make an appearance, and it rapidly increased in depth as we gently climbed in elevation. We were hoping to spot some wildlife, but alas all the critters were playing camera shy, so instead we enjoyed the stunning scenery surrounding us. It wasn’t long before the clouds started to look rather sinister and foreboding, and we could tell there would be another fresh dumping of snow very soon. The tarmac below us quickly disappeared and was replaced by a thick covering of snow, which gave a very surreal appearance to the surroundings. Time to see how the car would handle in 4 x 4 mode. Very nicely indeed! No slipping or sliding. Ahead was a scenic pull over, so before turning around and heading down the mountain, we stopped to take some fun pictures of us.

Then the snow came. Quite gently at first, but as we neared the lower part, it began to fall rather heavily. The worst part came as we left the park. The intensity and flake size increased, making driving quite dangerous, particularly as it was difficult to see where one was going and where the road was!

Stopped at the ‘Outback’ for dinner and had a ‘Blooming Onion’ and some other starters for dinner. We stopped at Kim’s for a while, and were able to upload some photos to the site, as it was taking eons at the hotel due to the dial up connection. Said our farewells to Kim about 1am before heading back to the hotel.

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