August 31^st – Bon Voyage – NO COMPUTER OR PHONE FOR A WEEK!

 

August 30^th – We walked the outside perimeter (horse trail) this morning, had some coffee and headed to the Pickleball Courts. Bummer – half way there it started to rain – and rain it did – all morning and half the afternoon. At least we finished packing, had lunch – (a rack of baby back ribs that they already had cooked for less than eight bucks) and took Lexi to the sitter. I thought Linda was going to cry at the parting.

 

We stopped for a couple last minute things in Centralia and the 5:00 church before heading back to the campground.

 

August 29^th – We found some good trails and a big field to play with Lexi and then did Pilates – probably none of that this week. We talked to some of the people going on the cruise and then met some people in town for lunch, did a little shopping for some last minute stuff. Then we had an afternoon “planning session” with all the campers here that will be on the cruise – should be fun and funny. More packing, unpacking and repacking.

Slug - not sure what they are but they are here!!

 

August 28^th – We did our walk and then packed up to move. We got to the campground at Chehalis, WA about 12:30, set up camp and headed to Olympia for a meet and greet between Lexi and Brian who is taking care of her while we are on the cruise next week. We got back and had a late supper – ready for the lounger… no satellite here with the tall pines thought it should make it but not enough time to dink with it.

 

Glacier Lake 5.2 miles with 1000 ft elevation gain. UFDA!!

August 27^th – We took a shorter walk but found enough berries to bag some. We planned on hiking to Glacier Lake today. After five miles down a Forest Rd we found the next forest rd we were suppose to turn on was washed out. Since it was less than a mile to the trail head we decided to go anyway. It was a pretty steep climb at times with a 1000 foot elevation gain in 3 miles. It was better coming down but there were several valleys to climb out of. It was very quiet at times and yet the creek we dropped down to was almost deafening at times. We were a little disappointed with the lake from the description in the hike info but it was still a neat hike. We were hot and tired by the time we got back to the car.

Now that's a BIG leaf

Roots of a thousand year old tree

August 26^th – We are becoming accustomed to this walk, pick & eat.

 

Decision was made to head back to Mt. Rainer after reading about one hike we skipped yesterday. And what a good decision it was. We went to the Grove of the Patriarchs. Some of these trees were 500 years old when Columbus came to America – think about it…

Like driving through a tunnel

 

We stood between two trees over 10 feet wide and over 200 feet tall. If that doesn’t impress you nothing ever will. It was another day where descriptions and pictures will do no justice to the awesome sights that we witnessed. The butterfly landing on me after I asked for him to hold still for a picture down by the Ohanapecosh River – pronunciation is up to you, gave me as much of a shiver as the cold glacier water would have.

Standing between two one thousand year old trees makes you feel young!

 

August 25^th – Where to Start??? Absolutely fantastic day. Shorter walk this morning – distance that is… Lots of Blackberries to eat along the way.

 

We went to Paradise!

 

The weather has been near perfect on this trip so far – more 80 degree days and 50 degree nights than anything else. Great for our sightseeing and hiking

 

 

We headed out for a day at Mt. Rainer National Park. Wow and WOW!! When we got there the mountain was clear from all angles but it didn’t take long before clouds covered some parts on the west side. I guess we were fortunate because sometimes it is not visible for days or even weeks. They say it makes its own weather. From several (22 named on the map) Glacier fields on top above 14,400 to almost tropical rainforest with 90+ inches of rain.

 

We did several hikes to see waterfalls and glaciers and were not disappointed but glad to see the car after the last one – another day with a cumulative close to 8 miles. I will let the pictures do the talking but even the good ones don’t do justice to the vastness and beauty we saw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are truly blessed to see the canvass God has painted for us here.

 

August 24^th – Wonderful day - doing nothing! Well we did our walk and picked more berries but no travel or sightseeing. We are saving our energy for tomorrow – going to Mt. Rainer.  So we are sitting outside shaded by the awning on an afternoon with sunny skies and 0% chance of rain when a lot of that 0% came down on us. Somewhere over an inch later it was done.

We have been looking for the Elk that go through the campground every morning but have yet to spot anything but the tracks through the meadow or the other “evidence”!!