Mt. Rainer National Park

We debated long and hard as to whether we should reroute and visit Mt. Rainier.   We had seen Mt. Rainier previously, albeit never up close and personal.  Since the weather was really nice and it was expected to remain as such for the upcoming days, we adjusted our jelly-like schedule and decided to go for it.  We found a site available in a Washington utility park called Taidnapam with only 30 amps.  We usually only do parks that have 50 amps, so we can run both air conditioners and I could use any necessary appliance without thinking about what I can and cannot use simultaneously.  We also would not have access to satellite tv as we were tucked in the woods under many trees.  However, it was not excessively hot and therefore didn’t really need to run both a/c’s and we agreed that we would survive without satellite access for a couple of days.  Jackson loved sniffing out all the neighboring deer.

We allowed ourselves one full day of exploration and the decision to be made was to either drive the southern route to Paradise or northeast to the Crystal Mountain Summit and ride the gondola.  Unfortunately, the road to Sunrise was closed and had yet to be cleared and since driving to Crystal Mountain would have made for an incredibly long day, we opted to drive to Paradise.

During the drive we made a stop at Narada Falls, where after a short hike, we were able to enjoy seeing a permanent rainbow at the bottom of the falls.

When the locals say the “Mountain is Out Today” it means the cloud conditions are such that they can view this 14,410′ behemoth, which is not a daily occurrence.  Whenever it is “out” however, it dwarfs everything else.  We were fortunate to have been favored by Mother Nature as our weather was spectacular.

We were glad we diverted our trip as it is not often the weather cooperates so marvelously.  We reluctantly pick up and continued on to our next destination.  Stay tuned!

 

 

 

Long Beach Peninsula, WA

We crossed into Washington via the Astoria Bridge and visited Long Beach.

Known for its boardwalk and incredibly long beach, 28 miles in extent, Long Beach claims to be the longest beach in the United States and the world’s longest drivable beach, although on the day we visited we did not see any vehicles.  We did take Jackson and he absolutely loved it!

We continued north and by happenstance arrived at Oysterville.  We stopped at the Oysterville Sea Farm which sits on the edge of Willapa Bay, where fresh oysters and clams abound and are available to take home or one could enjoy a glass of wine while sitting on its deck overlooking the serene area.

We came across and visited the Pacific Coast Cranberry Research Museum operated by the University of Washington and walked around their cranberry bogs on a self-guided tour.  The museum was very interesting and its gift shop contained items from soaps to juice all centered around cranberries but the best part was tasting its delicious cranberry ice cream.

Also, in their property we saw bumble bee farms with tons of very colorful heather bushes.  We must remember, no bees-no food.  We moved on from this area so stay tuned for the continued journey.