Mt. Rainier

August 27, 2016

Today we thought we would take a day trip up to Mt. Rainier National Park to check it out.  

After we entered the park we found a place to stop and have a picnic lunch.

We enjoyed the plums that we picked off of Dan and Katie's tree.

As we were driving we saw a sign for Louise Lake.  We had to stop and see it, so, we found a pull off to be able to check it out.  Ever since we visited the McKenzie river last year Makayla wanted to go and see her river.  There isn't a Makayla river, but we told her that some day we would take her to Lake Louise.  We had no idea that there was Louise Lake in Mt. Rainier National Park.  Her wish came true earlier than we thought it would happen.

We were excited to get to see Louise Lake.  Grammy held on tight to us, since, it was along way down.

We had to get a family picture with Makayla in front of her lake!

I was just overjoyed at getting to see a lake named after me or at least that is what I think!

Ta-da here it is!  Louise Lake.

There were tons of wild flowers blooming at Louise lake.

We found some places to park.  The parking was crazy at Mt. Rainier today.  Not only was it a Saturday, but it was a free national park day, which, made it even busier.

The day started out very cloudy and you couldn't see any of Mt. Rainier, but as we were walking to the visitor center the clouds started to clear some.  We stopped for some pictures in case the clouds came back and this was our only photo oppertunity.

Nothing but smiles.  The mountain was sure amazing to see.

There were still some clouds covering it, but at least you were able to get a good glimpse of it.

Granpy and I found a bench to hangout on while we waited for everyone to use the bathroom.

We headed into the visitor center to stamp our national parks passport books.

I got to stamp mine too.  We are excited that our books are starting to fill up.

We also got our Junior Ranger books so we could fill them out and turn them in to get our badge.

Up at Paradise visitor center they have about five or six historic building that they use for a hotel, visitor center, restaurant.

We headed up the trail to go on a little hike to see a waterfall.  Here is a view from the trail.

Look mom added me to the photo.  

We saw some different animals along the trail.  Here are a couple of deer that were lying around.

I found a log to sit on and rest.

McKenzie and Daddy joined me on the log.

Then we got mom in the photo to make it a family photo.

I had fun hiking up the trail with Grammy and Granpy.

We made it to Myrtle falls.

We stopped for a little bit to see it and take a couple of pictures before continuing on the trail.

Myrtle falls.

This is the stream that flows above and will become Myrtle falls in just a little bit.

We crossed over the bridge that takes you over the top of the water fall.

Since the hike up to Myrtle falls wasn't very long we thought we would continue on for a little bit further.

There were some nice views from the trail.

We enjoyed the hike together.

A picture with Grammy and Granpy with a nice view in the background.

A family photo!

We sure enjoyed the beauty of God's creation today while we were at Mt. Rainier.

Mom got me in the picture!

There was a marmot that was just hanging out and taking in the people and scenery.  

It was sure green and lush up there.

We had a great time looking at all the wildflowers.  There were signs by some of the flowers so we were able to identify them.  This is a Rosy Spirea.

This tree grew just perfectly for me to sit on.

In fact there was enough room for the both of us.

We have seen lots of Indian paintbrush in our lives, but never have we seen Magenta Paintbrush.  If you think Indian paintbrush is pretty this is even better!

This cool looking flower, from what looks like a Dr. Seuss book, is a Western Anemone

We decided to head back down the trail to our car.  This is the view on the way back.

As we headed back to the cars we got an even clearer view of Mt. Rainier.  Of course mom stopped to take some pictures.

We tried to get one with Grammy and Granpy and us with Mt. Rainier, but mom did not do a very good job.

It was sure fun to get to see Mt. Rainier today!

We tried for another family picture, but Makayla wasn't up for it.  

This is mom's favorite picture of the day.  In fact she liked it enough that she blew it up and hung it on the wall.  We had a great time up at Mt. Rainier today.  Thanks Grammy and Granpy for all the fun we had while staying at your house!