7-1-17

This morning we woke to foggy skies. We packed quickly because we had a full day ahead of us. We were on the road by about 7:15 heading towards Mt Ranier. We had a clear view of it yesterday but I was not hopeful for the day based on our morning drive. Around every turn we wondered where the mountain was. We arrived at the park gate a few minutes after 9:00 and stopped at the Longmire visitor center to get our stamp and pick up a junior ranger book. Then we headed for Paradise because the warming signs all said the parking lot could get really full. A beautiful drive in started when all of a sudden the sky opened and we had great views of the mountain, sometimes with a little cloud, sometimes without. We stopped a Narada Falls and took the short trek down to the water fall. Back in the car we stopped at nearly every overlook.  Finally we arrived at Paradise, found a place to park in the nearly full lot and headed in to the visitor center. The snow was still thick on all of the trails around Paradise. We walked a little ways up one but were not prepared with good shoes and hiking sticks. Neither of us slipped but I wasn't going to try the higher and deeper snow. I heard a ranger say that just last week there was snow still piled in the parking lot. Today was the 100th anniversary of the Paradise Inn and the park superintendent gave a speech and they had cake so we partook. All told we spent about 2 hours in Paradise. Like the rest of Washington, I could have used more time but back down the mountain we went. We were so lucky to get a beautiful clear day in the mid 50's. 

We had about a 2 hour drive to Olympia to visit the state Capitol. I haven't done much interstate driving, we've mostly been on two lane highways so it was nice to fly on the interstate a little. The senate and house chambers of the Capitol were closed which was a disappointment. The building itself was not much after the great impressions we had in Kansas and Utah. We didn't stay long but nice to get our 41st state out of the way. 

On the road south and east again heading towards Mt St Helen's. This has been declared a National Volcano Monument but is operated by the Forest Service instead of the park. We could see the mountain from the highway and were excited to get close. We stopped to see Bigfoot and an A frame house still filled with mud from the 1980 eruption then took the winding 504 up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory. And guess what, a park stamp and a junior ranger badge program awaited us as we spent the last hour they were open exploring the movie, listening to a ranger and checking out the exhibits. 

They closed at 6:00 which meant we were driving until 9:00 to get to our campground in Astoria, OR. I'm writing this from the laundry room. Luckily we get to sleep in a little tomorrow before rolling towards Crater Lake for two nights.