Mount Rainier National Park

Mount Rainier National Park was a special birthday park: Our visit fell on Julie's 40th birthday!

One of the less safe signs for picture taking that we've encountered

Mount Rainier is big. It can be seen from Seattle, 60 miles away. Driving up, we could see that it had snow on it, which as you know by now, excited our children!

We started at the visitors center, as we usually do. The area around this visitors center was a hub of activity. We quickly deduced from everyone's outfits that this was the staging ground for summitting hikes (which take 2-3 days). The visitors center itself was lightly trafficked.

The area around the visitors center was also covered in snow, multiple feet of it. That was a good sign for playing but a bad sign for open trails.

After picking the rangers' brains about things to do (and learning what was open), we set off on the skyline trail, which was right behind the visitors center. It was a short walk down that trail to a small waterfall.

There was still a wee bit of snow on the trail!

The hike was harder than it should have been owing to the snow, but it was pretty. Caleb had a marmot mosey right past him, paying him no mind whatsoever. This is not the first time such a thing has happened. We've decided he's the wildlife whisperer!

The falls are probably really pretty... but we couldn't tell. They were still covered in snow, with the water running underneath (such "snow bridges" can be quite dangerous if you don't know there is water underneath). The kids played a little bit in the snow, but we didn't linger too long. We filed this location away for later as a potential play place to end the day.

After the waterfall hike, we drove as much of the park road as we could before it was closed. We stopped at a few overlooks on the way, but that's about it. After the drive, we headed to a lunch spot recommended to Julie by one of the rangers. The ranger said it was a spot that the rangers themselves use and that it had the best view of the mountain from a picnic table in the entire park.

She wasn't lying!

The table was a bit out of the way, and we never would have found it were it not for the ranger's directions. We were immediately impressed upon arrival. It was 50 feet from a glacial river, and it had an unobstructed view of Mount Rainier.

We took our time with a lazy lunch, and Julie opened a few of her birthday presents.

After lunch we did a short trail around a meadow that contained bubbling springs. These weren't hot springs, but they were still considered to be medicinal back in the day, leading to a lodge (now gone) popping up near them.

After that trail, we visited a waterfall that was known for producing rainbows in the afternoon. It didn't disappoint, though I failed to capture a good picture.

With that, we had exhausted most of the park's open options. That meant it was time to go play in the snow. We headed back to the visitors center and turned the kids loose.

Asher and Caleb focused on building forts, using the partially melted areas around the bases of trees as starting points.

Jordan worked on her cartwheels.

Julie and I sat in the shadow of the mountain and enjoyed the spectacle of it all. 

Despite the snow, it was close to 70 degrees when the sun was out

Being Julie's birthday, we had to celebrate with a birthday dinner. Her first choice was the lodge within the park, but due to a shortage of staff, it was only open to guests. Her second choice was a Himalayan restaurant just outside the park. It was run by a Sherpa who used to guide at Everest. In fact, he once held the Guinness world record for fastest ascent. He now guides on Rainier.

Julie and I enjoyed our Himalayan food, and the kids enjoyed their burgers and fries; we know when not to push it with them!