Month: August 2019

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Mount Rainier National Park

Amy Kline

We explored Mount Rainier National Park. Carson and I went for a walk around the campground in the morning and crossed over to the island in the middle of the river (found a place with stepping stones and no rapids). Ate delicious “mountain man hash” that Jeff made, and then headed up to Mount Rainier for a little hiking. It’s very striking in photos and has a lot of glaciers coming off all the sides. We ate lunch at the visitor center, used their WiFi for a bit, then hiked a paved trail loop for a couple miles. Very pretty flowers along the path and a gorgeous waterfall! Then we headed back to the campsite for dinner, some Yahtzee and relaxing.

  • The sand by the river. Very course, gray sand. Perhaps left from a long ago volcanic eruption?
  • Carson was very proud to find the stepping stone path to the island.
  • A creek enters the river here and you can see where the waters meet. The creek has extremely clear water, the river is very cloudy.
  • Tunnel! We always exclaim tunnel before we enter it. Road trip tradition!
  • Literally driving along the side of a cliff. Beautiful, but I am so glad Jeff likes to drive.
  • First glimpse of Mount Rainier.
  • The volcano towers over the other mountains in the area-none of them have snow on top.
  • The wildflower fields are amazing!
  • Jeff and Spencer usually walk faster than Carson and I on the trail. Notice the clouds in the background. We were above the clouds, so cool!
  • Carson and I stop to take photos a lot.
  • The wildflowers were all in bloom and just beautiful!
  • Another wildflower. The sun was shining so everything seemed so bright, including the blue sky, green plants, white snow.
  • As we drove through the clouds to get back down the hill (major drop off on the other side of the stone barrier).
  • We are so lucky the boys get along so well. They annoy each other at times, but love creating stories and acting them out at our campsites, particularly this one so far.
  • Carson loves “camping Mac and cheese”.
  • Myrtle Falls.
  • Camping Mac and cheese, coming up!
  • I just beat Carson at Yahtzee. Yes!
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Laundry and set up camp near White River

Amy Kline

We checked out of the hotel in Monroe (northwest of Seattle) and did our errands. Carson and I did all the laundry and Spencer and Jeff restocked groceries and stuff at Walmart. Then we drove up into the mountains (and no cell signal) to Silver Springs Campground in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, right on the edge of Mt. Rainier National Park land. It was a primary growth forest full of huge, huge trees right near the White River. Very large campsites with lots of rocks-Carson said it was the perfect Parkour campsite. The boys made up great stories as they played in the trees and we relaxed and read books.

  • Carson loved helping but doesn’t like all the dirty laundry. We got all the laundry into 3 washers and it could have gone into two of the big ones, but I didn’t realize that until it was too late.
  • The campground was on this river that I think starts at Mt. Rainier. The water was very white and cloudy.
  • Jeff walked across the fallen tree to the island in the middle of the river. The water looked pretty shallow but it was very fast moving (perhaps Class II rapids).
  • I attempted to get a photo of a whole tree, but it’s impossible.
  • The source of the little creek. Spring fed!
  • All the rocks at the river are a gray color. Pumice stone?
  • A cool mushroom at our campsite. It almost looks like a cartoon character, though I can’t remember which one. Pokemon?
  • The trees were so tall.
  • You could hear and see vehicles at the campsites by the road where we were. But could only hear the river if you got sites near the river. All the sites were great though.
  • Carson loves playing Yahtzee at night. He is becoming quite the player!
  • We didn’t reserve early enough to get a site by the river but the sites was amazing nonetheless.
  • Lots of trees for a hammock and really sturdy picnic tables. Spencer spent many hours reading in the hammock. This is also our organizational set up for utensils, dinnerware, and dry ingredients and snacks. It gets locked up in the back of the truck when we are not using it, so bears don’t come snooping around the campsite.
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Carson’s Birthday in Seattle

Amy Kline

Our exploration day in Seattle. For anyone who doesn’t know, Jeff loves all forms of mass transit, and loves the challenge of navigating through a big city. So today we drove to the end of a light commuter rail line, then took it in to the cityt to see Pike’s Place Public Market and the Gum Wall, then took the monorail to the Space Needle. We did a lot of walking and loved the Space Needle and The Market. And the Gum Wall was….disgusting yet intriguing? Carson, the birthday boy, thought the wall was hilarious so we had to take some photos there and also gave him some time to play in the huge fountain. A fun day!!

  • Carson got to choose to create his own big bag of candy as a birthday treat. In the end, we all got at least a small bag of candy for snacks when we go back on the road.
  • These are the guys behind the “FISH” philosophy (you choose your attitude and can have fun even if things are stinky).
  • Lots of veggie stands too
  • Many many flower stands with beautiful bright flowers. I could have stayed for hours just to take pictures!
  • The gum wall. Carson thought this pose was hilarious. Though he got a little too close for comfort!
  • Riding the monorail
  • They had a massive playground with some very unique rope structures and a really long slide.
  • No filter on this at all. We were standing under an awning while we waited to go into the Space Needle. I love how this turned out!
  • At the top of the Space Needle.
  • Once we were done looking around on the top floor, we took thee steps down a floor where There is a rotating glass floor. Very cool!
  • All around the base of the Space Needle, there are cool sculptures. This one looked really cool contrasting with the blue sky. It also looked cool from the top of the Needle too.
  • To get to the top, you have to take 30 second elevator ride.
  • We saw a very large fountain as we walked around after our tour. Carson went over to it to get his feet wet. Miraculously he managed not to get entirely wet, which was good because we had at least an hour travel over multiple modes of transportation, plus there was no more clean clothes for him back at the hotel.
  • The light rail train. We were only on it for a couple stops, but then we didn’t have to deal with parking in the city.
  • Candy store binge!! So many choices!
  • See the fish that is over the side? It is fake. The workers make it flap around and scare tourists who are leaning in to get pictures of frozen fish faces. Um….it works! I jumped a mile.
  • Stalls (and hordes of people) at Pike’s Market.
  • At Pike’s Market. Many different kinds of sausage meats.
  • The monorail. Just like the Space Needle, this was built for the World’s Fair in the 1960’s.
  • View from the Space Neede
  • The glass part of the floor rotates, while the carpet part does not. It used to be the first rotating restaurant ever made. Now they just have a little food stall at the top floor.
  • View from the Space Neede
  • Tickets for all the things we did today.