http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from North America , United States , Washington , Mt Rainier en-us Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:01:56 BST Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:01:56 BST Have left Mt. Rainier National Park. Lots of hiking 100 miles in the past 4 days more or less. Camping and backpacking. Lots of great camping meals. Okay some good meals some mediocre meals. Since some of you are interested in the menus the past few have included taco salad made with TVP textured vegetable protein real cheese salsa made from a dehydrated packet I added fresh garlic a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-203216.html Wersquove been contacted by the Department of Gnomeland Security regarding the suspicious activities of one Homey bin Gnomey. We disavowed any knowledge of such a personage but then we discovered that we had unwittingly been transporting Gnomages across state lines. Somebody set us up and wersquore in no little amount of trouble. If the DGS finds out about our aiding and abetting fugitive Gn http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-202151.html We decided to join my parents for a day trip to Mt. Rainier. We went to Paradise which is where we have gone several times before. We packed a picnic lunch and ate as soon as we reached Paradise. We were so hungry we just camped out on the hillside right where we had parkednot even bothering to find a picnic area. After lunch we decided to hike up the trail to see the glacier. It was bea http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-200186.html We took a short hike to an overlook in the campground at Riverside Park over the Spokane River. We got on Route 90 and headed west. We were surprised at how flat eastern WA state was. We saw a beautiful wind farm in the hills. Then we came to a scenic overlook and saw the beautiful and wide Columbia River. The interstate bridge over the river looked like the cape cod canal bridges. Coming ov http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-197733.html Today we decided to sleep in a little not remembering that the sun actually rises around 445am and our curtains were not quite drawn tight enough. We got ourselves up and ready and packed our bags. We rented our car with Budget and they came and picked us up at our hotel at 10am. After signing away my life and left arm on the rental agreement we were on our way south on I5. We quickly decided http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-178265.html At 545 a.m. Rachel woke up and rolled over to look out the window and check on the weather. Confronted with a majestic view of Mt. Rainier she couldnrsquot wait to get out on the trails. And neither could I. Yes I said majestic. I donrsquot care if it does sound cheesy because it WAS majestic. Check the pictures and then question my choice of words. We had prepurchased a packed trail lun http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-172958.html We didnrsquot expect to hike in the snow in early June but thatrsquos exactly what we found ourselves doing. The Paradise area of Mt. Rainier is billed in the travel books as an expansive meadow of wildflowers during the summer. But summer on Mt. Rainier starts late and the flowers are really in bloom in July and August. In June at least this June Paradise is still covered in snow. Of cour http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-172901.html At the end of July when the temperature in Thurston County exceeded 100 degrees the Oly Trio Paddy faithful wife Nan and faithful pooch Shaddy escaped for four nights to the Cougar Rock campground on the slopes of Mt. Rainier in the cool view of the nearby glaciers. The images in the blog can be viewed and are available for purchase at NW Exposures. Irsquom a wildscapes photographer livi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-113578.html Today we are off to Mt Rainier. Mt Rainier is a dormant volcano that is truly impressive in its size and height. We were really lucky to see it in a beautiful clear day. It is normally covered with clouds 200 days of the year. It was really breathtaking to look at this giant with its glaciers and crystal clear waters flowing down its flanks. We walked on trails around it and were almost more impre http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-89862.html What a day this was. Out of bed at 6am I started driving towards Mount Rainier. Mount Rainier on a clear day is visible from Seattle even though it is 54 miles southeast of the city. This day was clear blue skies all the way sunset to sundown and around 80 degrees.By the way Mount Rainier is a stratovolcano which has the highest peak 14111 feet in the Cascade Range httpen.wikipedia http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-83321.html Sabbath morning was spent visiting the lsquoBreath of Lifersquo 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 http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-53212.html It's time for the double post I'll keep it super short since Melissa has already posted a lengthy blog detailing our adventures and misadventures over the past couple of weeks. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-18229.html Well its all falling into place after spending the afternoon watching a volcano grow I am now in a truck stop rest station cooking supper Graeme is playing his newly acquired guitar. The last volcano I walked crawled up Ecuador I remember thinking ldquoonce is probably enoughrdquo but this was American style and all very civilised. Luckily the James disaster affect did not occur a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-15629.html I woke up at seven with Brea and we are playing SORRY on the computer. Everyone else got up around 9 and Roy made cheese omelets and bacon and we shared our breakfast muffins. We all had a chance to havce a hot shower which was awesome considering we hadn't showered since Friday night before we leftNikki fought with Dot over food and Dot wouldn't even come out to me if Nikki was by me. The http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-15221.html He who angers you conquers you.Elizabeth Kenny LINKSName TRAVEL TIPS Headings Heading Bold Text Bold Text Italic Text Italic TextJune 10 2005 Friday. We were off to hike the Grove of Old Patriarchs early. The old patriarchs of course are the magnificent old trees. Look up and see the canopied universe The Douglas Fir trees loom some 200 feet high and are 1000 years yes one http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-13520.html The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. Frank Lloyd Wright LINKSName TRAVEL TIPS June 9 2005 Thursday. We were awake early. It was very bright and our night clock indicated almost 7 am. So we got up to go for a walk and discovered we hadnrsquot adjusted the clock for Pacific Time. It was nearing 6 am. Well off we went to see Yakima. We walked and walked lsquotil we re http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-13519.html After one night good sleep we got up in the morning had a good breakfastfirst time for the past 5 months for Hansmy husbandwatched Olympic games for a while BTWCanada got its first Gold metal at the same day. Then we said Good bye to Wentao and Guan Jun and headed to the first destinationMount Rainier NP. It was raining on our way to the park actually it was only the beginning of the rai http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Washington/Mt-Rainier/blog-1215.html