July 30 - Aug 5 Mount Rainier

We finally got away on our Mount Rainier, Pacific NW trip. A brief stop at Ron and Cindy's for wiener schnitzel and strudel, a rugged drive through bay area traffic and construction, temps hovering over 100 degrees, and driving on the weekend, we decided to do no sight seeing until we got to Mount Rainier.

The drive was well worth it. While it was over a 100+ degrees in nearby Seattle, it was in the mid seventies at Mount Rainier. Our first stop was Paradise, and since the wildflowers were still blooming, it was a paradise of colors.



Each view looked like a picture postcard that impressionistic artists such as Monet would have appreciated.

Cougar campground near Paradise.



Our next drive was to the other side of the mountain (Sunrise area). While strolling around in the late afternoon on Sourdough Ridge, we could see a blue wisp of cloud hovering over this side of the volcano. We couldn't tell if it was the beginning of the formation of the famous upside down saucer clouds that are legendary, or the effects of several forest fires that were raging nearby and were starting to cast a haze over the scenery. As luck would have it, the lighting always seemed to be wrong for taking pictures. As with the scene from the White River campground below, the light would not allow us to capture the striking layers of green and gray with Mount Rainier enshrouded in clouds in the background.



We also met two fellow Navion/View owners at Mount Rainier. A photographer who brought his family along with him on their shoots (he shot early in the morning so light was not a problem -- something I would know nothing about), and a newer Navion owner who had just survived surfing a rock slide that came crashing down on the road as he was driving around a bend. Jeff had also found an amazing number of hidden storage spaces in the rig that he exploited since he and his wife were full-timing it and working to boot. I was also amazed that he had rigged up the best system to staying connected to internet on the road.