More Bucketlist trip

Day 4 - July 11 continued:

So, here is a pic of the lodge we stayed in at Mt. Ranier.

Looks cool, I know. However, it cost us $190/night. It was NOT worth that much. 1.  Unless your room is on the third floor, you have to carry your stuff either up or down stairs. 2. The room was a little bigger than a closet and it was hot - with no way to cool it down. 3. The parking right next to the lodge was full so we had to park a block away. 4. The restaurant or cafeteria-type offerings were very expensive.

So, last night we drove to a little town called Packwood and bought groceries for our stay at Mt. Ranier. We actually saw a herd of elk on a lawn in the town - !!!. We then drove back to the park. We spent the evening playing Hand and Foot on the patio of the lodge. We were supposed to stay there another night. Read on to see what we did instead. :)

Day 5 - July 12:

Today was really wonderful. Kent decided that tomorrow's drive would be much more enjoyable if we stayed tonight somewhere closer to Mt. St. Helens. Fortunately, Paradise Inn allowed us to cancel our second night without cost.

Before leaving Mt. Ranier, we went on a short hike to Myrtle Falls. It was a lot of fun. About a third of the trail was still covered in snow. We slipped and slid our way along the trail and saw some beautiful scenery.

We stopped for lunch in this lovely spot. Then we played more Hand and Foot. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because Kent always beats me soundly in this game! :)

Finding another hotel room turned out to be more difficult than we had thought. We finally found one in a town called Longview. It wasn't a great place but it was big and available!!! The couple that runs it is from India and when I went into the office there were wonderful aromas. ;)

Day 6 - July 13:
Today was perfect. After checking out of our hotel we drove directly to Mt. St. Helens. What an experience that was! I remember when it erupted. We were living in Ann Arbor, MI and a few days after the explosion we had ash on our car!

We went to the Johnston observation center and watched a movie and then took pics and went on a very short walk. 

The next 2 photos show the total devastation that the eruption caused. After all these years it is still pretty stark.

These are some sights we saw on our walk

I asked the ranger if the clouds were just that - clouds - or if it was steam from the volcano. She said it was actually ash being blown by the wind up there. That wind picked up a LOT on our way back to the car. I was trying to make sandwiches while fighting the wind and grit. I was pretty grumpy by the time I finished and we got in the car to drive away. As we drove back down the mountain we had no view of the volcano. Our timing was very good.

We found a church to attend in a place called Toledo. It is quite amazing how much my attitude affected my enjoyment of the meeting. I struggled to stay awake and pay attention. Grumpiness doesn't welcome goodness. :(

I got over it as the day progressed. We finished our drive in Port Angeles.

Bucket list trip continued

Day 3 - July 10:
We stayed in Winthrop last night so that we could visit North Cascades National Park today. I was rather disappointed. We drove so many miles and it wasn't worth it. 95% of the park is wilderness area and can only be accessed by those backpacking in. We saw some lovely scenery as we drove around the outer edge of the park. 

There are lots of glaciers but no access. Most of the "lakes" are actually dams and reservoirs. 

It WAS beautiful and if you are in that area anyway then it is a nice park to visit and a lovely drive. But, not so much worth the hundreds of miles we drove to see it. Ah, well!!! Winthrop was worth it. :) Another mistake we made -- when we reserved our hotel rooms we didn't make sure that they were on the ground floor or that there was access to an elevator. So far we have had to carry 2 suitcases, a cooler, a box, and our backpack/purse either up or down stairs to our rooms. Not smart for people with bad knees and shoulders. 

We did like this road sign - 

Our stop the next day was Mt. Ranier and we got a glimpse of it this afternoon. A nice way to end a long and tedious drive.

Day 4 - July 11:
Today we drove into Mt. Ranier Park. We spent most of the day at Sunrise in the northern end of the park. It was so beautiful. These are some sights as we drove into the park on the way to Sunrise:

Our first easy hike was partially over snow.

 We picked up a flower booklet at the visitor's center and tried to identify them on our walks.

Unfortunately, we were swarmed by mosquitoes and had no bug spray! Poor Kent had huge red welts all over his neck and arms by the time we got back down. We ran straight to the little store there and bought some spray. End of problem. Well end of MORE problem. 

We had lunch at a picnic area in the park - thank you tax dollars - and then we went on a second hike. This one was to Emmons Glacier. It was amazing.

I knew that my friend, Yvonne Harrell, was doing a similar trip with all of her family. So, I texted her from Sunrise to see where they were and what they were doing. They were also at Mt. Ranier - but on the opposite side from us!! We had some fun texting back and forth but never got to see each other.
We had reservations on that other side -  at the Paradise Inn. So, we had a nice drive through the park to the lodge. Our last stop was at a place called the Grove of the Patriarchs. It was an old forest and was so beautiful that we found ourselves whispering as we walked through it.

 There was a sign before this bridge that said "One person at a time". Should we have been worried??

Here is what the inside of the lodge looks like. I'll tell you the rest tomorrow: