Diary of a Nomad: Mt Rainier

Please forgive the length of this post but I couldn't just say a couple words and slap up a couple pictures, I wanted to try to convey the experience I had, for those who care to know.

First we drove to Mt. St. Helens. We stopped at the visitor center and learned most of the road was closed due to snow and ice. And because it was cloudy we couldn't see the mountain :(

So we dried our tears and headed to Mt Rainier National Park. We drove as far into the park as we could before the road was closed due to winter conditions. We got to within a couple miles of Mt. Rainier but never got a good view of it because of the clouds. I can't wait to go back in the summer when all the roads are open and hopefully the weather is better. Julian and I still loved it up there though. It's in my top 3 all-time favorite places, and keep in mind we saw very little of the park due to the weather conditions. If you ever get the chance to go, you must.

We stayed at the National Park Inn. Being off-season, there were a total of 4 guests besides us staying there. We pretty much had the dining room all to ourselves when we ate dinner. There were no phones (except a payphone in the lobby), no cell phone reception, no TV's, no radios, no Wi-Fi, etc. There was a lounge that consisted of a nice sitting area with a big wood-burning fireplace with books on the mantle and a table stacked with tons of board games and puzzles. Of course we had the lounge to ourselves and we played the Who Wants to be a Millionaire trivia game (I won). It was actually pretty fun.

I'll admit it was a little scary being cut off from the outside world like that. You had the feeling that a blizzard could come through any minute and you'd be trapped there forever (which wouldn't be such a bad thing come to think of it...). Earlier in the day, as we were driving up the mountain, the weather was getting worse and worse as clouds moved in and it started to snow. We were driving a little Ford Focus with no tire chains, up a slippery, winding mountain road. There were no phones on the side of the road and we had no cell phone reception. Had we gotten into trouble we would have had to wait in our car until a Park Ranger came along. Scary but exhillarating. At one point we referenced the movie "Alive" and threatened to eat one another other if it came down to it. I know, we have a sick sense of humor.

All-in-all, our stay at Mt. Ranier was very memorable. It was one of my last evenings ever with Julian and I will always cherish it. Now onto the pictures. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, then here's about 20k. Enjoy.