The Mountain!

Every clear day in the Puget Sound area the weather is neither sunny, nor cloudy. I mean technically it is in meteorological terms but to us natives the weather is judged great if "the Mountain is out". This, in the south Sound anyway, is of course Mt. Rainier. Any time I have my kids in the car and I can see the mountain I shout out "The Mountain!".

After the first several times of no response eventually my 7 year old Jennifer responded letting us know that she both heard me and was somewhat tired of me saying it by repeating my exclamation in a very bored tone as if I had just told a very cheesy joke, the kind our high school history teachers would tell.

Jennifer's middle name is Eden which meaning is translated as something meaning Paradise. When Jennifer sounded bored with my exclamation of The Mountain, I decided I needed to instill some excitement and memories of the beauty and majesty of Mt. Rainier in her and my other children. The main visitors center, located at 5400 feet is at the location on the mountain called Paradise. When I told Jennifer this and that I was going to take her there she was suddenly excited at the prospect of going to the place that represents the meaning of her name.

So after planning and scheduling we finally went up the mountain this week. My parents & brother Chris came along in their vehicle as well. It had been hot & muggy all week and this was a nice break from the heat of the house & was a little cooler at the higher elevation or so at least it felt that way. Entrance was $15 for our car and $10 lifetime pass for any National Park now that he's of qualifying age. We drove to Kautz creek where there was a hiking trail, picnic tables made of recycled material, and overly smelly "bathrooms". I didn't go in as I could smell it as I drew near the door. It was 1pm by this time and everyone was hungry so we stopped here for a picnic lunch that we had packed.

We drove on 3 miles up the road and stopped at Longmire which is about 7 miles from the Nisqually park entrance at the southwest corner of the park. We heard on the parks AM broadcast station that there was a free tram that ran every 30 minutes on the weekend that would take passengers from Longmire to Paradise with a stop in between at Cougar Rock. We all boarded the next bus which saved both our vehicles 22 miles worth of gas round trip. Good thing too as the Paradise parking log sign said "Full" when we got there.

We were dropped off right in front of the Henry M. Jackson visitors center. I explained to Jennifer that this is where I proposed to her mom almost exactly 10 years ago at the very top observation deck while she was on one of the center benches relaxing. It is also the building where my dad proposed to my Mom.

There was a bucket of snow right inside that was put there for people to touch. As I started exploring the visitors center, I found that what I had hoped to share with Jennifer was noticeably absent. She had been to a couple free presentations at the library having to do with stuff they can experience outside like watershed areas, insects, etc. I figured since she enjoyed that, she would love the displays of the animals and wildlife they had at the visitors center.

To my dismay the displays I remembered from the last time I was there a few years ago had been changed as part of a centenial celebration and the theater exhibit was entirely closed in preparation for being moved to the new visitors center opening this fall.

At least we got to view people at Camp Muir with my Dad's optical toy he brought along.

I didn't know there was going to be a new visitors center but there's a poster about it downstairs and how the new building will be extremely more energy effecient and able to withstand all the snowfall, melting the snow on the roof, keeping the place warm, etc. The existing Henry M. Jackson building was opened in 1966 and will be torn down next spring which I was dissapointed to find out as I will never get to share those memories with my daughters but at least we got to visit it one last time before it's gone forever.

It is The Mountain and I got a collectors patch that I'll put on my backpack and a Mount Rainier National Park spinning keychain to add to my growing collection of keychains from places I've visited (and some I haven't from my brother like Germany and Iceland). We'll try to return again in Feb. when the beautiful snow should be covering the area and then visit the new visitors center and recently redecorated Paradise Inn lodge.