Mt. Rainier/Leavenworth

So the ultimate mountain attraction in the WA area is Mt. Rainier. On my way to work, on clear days, I have a fantastic view of the mountain in all its glory. The weather has been decently warm and clear. So, of course, I'm thinking that is going to be the case when we go there. But nooooo, it has to be sunny with clouds which means that the higher we go, the less of a view there is. We wanted to go to this less populated hike on the far side of Mt. Rainier to be able to hike to see a glacier. Well, we got a late start and then Dasha wanted to go to the Northwest Trek which is like a wildlife refuge. We saw bears, wildcats, birds, mountain goats, bison and all sorts of wild animals. From there, we drove to the trailhead to the glacier. We got to the end of the trail and then went a little further to get a better view of the glacier. It was definitely colder but unfortunately, there was low cloud cover such that we could only see the bottom tip of the glacier. Dasha had never seen a glacier before and I think she was expecting something more spectacular. We saw people hiking down with skies and we could see trails coming down the glacier. People were actually camping at the top, in what was probably low 40 degree weather during the day.

From there, we drove to Leavenworth, a quaint Bavarian town, with cute little shops and wine tasting. We went into a store that had a lot of different kinds of cheese and salami. After tasting it, I bought this porter ale cheese and Italian salami, again I'm bringing it to my family. It's in central WA which is part of the vast wine producing area. So, of course, I had to taste a little of the local culture! We had a Bavarian lunch, including sauerkraut and pork served by men in their liederhosen. It was much hotter and sunnier there than the mountains and the coast, usually being 15-20 deg F hotter. As we were driving back towards Tacoma, we could tell the weather was getting cooler and more overcast. Another successful and amazing adventure!