Vacay Part C: Camping at Mt. Rainier

One of the things we wanted our boys to experience while we were in Washington State was Mt. Rainier National Park and it's Grove of the Patriarchs...a stand of virgin timber that was never reached by the logging industry.

These trees are Washington's answer to the Giant Redwoods of Northern California.

To get there, we had to wend our way from the Puget Sound up through the foothills to Mt. Rainier.

Along the way, we stop at this quaint roadside Inn.



They are known for their delectable blackberry pies and "Blackberry Pie in a Bottle" syrups. Mmmmm.

Blackberries play a central role in many recollections of my childhood summers.

That first burst of a sweet and tangy berry in my mouth instantly transport me back to the countless hours spent picking blackberries...of playing in the woods and happening upon a patch of berries and staining our fingers with their juice (and probably our clothing) as we ate our fill...and then eating blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream...putting up preserves nearly every summer for the year's supply of toast, pancakes and waffles and last but not least, making tarts and pies with mom.

Did I already say MMmmmmm?

Another thing kind of special about this particular Inn is that my grandma used to work there back in the early 1930's. Back then it was called Kings.

She was just a young girl of about 16 then and had moved quite far from home for this job which was quite adventuresome for her day.

I like to look up at those windows above the restaurant and imagine that maybe she changed bedding in those rooms, or perhaps even stayed in one herself, writing her letters home by the morning light.

Here, we finally arrived at the trail head leading to the Grove of the Patriarchs. Judah is looking longingly at the river, wishing he could go wading because it was uncharacteristically hot for Western Washington. In fact, they were in the midst of heatwave with record-breaking temperatures for that part of the country.



The boys pointed out that this tree looked like an elephant.



Here was the cool suspension bridge that we got to cross one or two at a time to get over the river.



The glacial water is amazingly clear and you can see all the way to the bottom of the riverbed.





Jericho and Judah again look longingly at the cool water, wishing we'd relent and allow them to dip their feet in.



But we were mean parents and said they must wait until after our hike. Something about not wanting complaints about wet, squishy shoes or chafing feet.

This was also a great bridge for big brother to rock and sway as much as possible to scare thrill his younger brother who was running along behind him.



All through the woods around Mt. Rainier we spotted this plant with leaves larger than a dinner plate...more like a Turkey platter, really. Frumpgram, perhaps you can help me out with the proper name?



Here is one of the fallen trees in the grove. It had hundreds of rings, indicating that it was hundreds of years old when it toppled.



It would take about 8 of my mom, arms spread wide to encircle this particular tree. Here she is purposefully posing as my grandma would have done...as she did in nearly every picture.





Here is a fallen tree whose girth was higher than our heads. My great grandfather was a logger in the Pacific Northwest, and we have photographs floating around in the family of he and his entire family dressed in their Sunday best picnicking atop such logs.



Oh, and check out these gnarly roots! (Not mine...the trees!)



It was like the mouth of a cave in there.



Here was another fallen tree along the path.



This is the burled pattern of the wood where a branch broke free somewhere along the line.

It's kind of like clouds in that there are all kinds of interesting images that can be seen in the design.

I see a Rhino. And a Picasso-esque cow with a dark panther on it's head



This particular set of trees were gargantuan, looking like the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk had fallen and landed headfirst into the ground, his legs sticking up in the air.



Judah, who had seen us reading signs along the trail, stopped and told us what he thought this one said, "...And da guy taked his doggie on da bike and shooted his pisto at da bears..."



Finally, after our scorching hot hike we headed to Ohannapecosh campground and scouted out a site. After setting up camp, my mom took a nap to rest her sore arm while we went to play in the nearby river.

Jericho and Judah, moving adeptly as little mountain goats, managed to get to the water before dad and I made it down with the camera gear and towels.



We told them they couldn't touch the water until Judah had his life vest on.

That water was ICE COLD...coming straight off the the mountain top where there are both glaciers and snow.

Judah was first to plunge in and did remarkably well.



It had been so hot, I couldn't resist wading in fully clothed. Ahhhh...refreshing.



I think this was about the time that Judah began complaining about the top latch of his life vest "chokeen" him, and tiring of the water took on the challenge of climbing the nearby rock face.



We hiked a little further down the banks of the river and came across this beautiful scene.

This photo doesn't do it justice, as the evening sun was filtering down through the branches, making the place look...enchanted.



It was there that the hair on the back of my neck stood up...and I experienced that creeped out feeling like something was watching us from across the river.

And that was when I spotted it.

There, on a rock in the middle of the swirling glacial waters was this...creature.

"My preeeeecious..."



Climbing up the hillside to get back to camp, we ran into this little chipmunk, who chattered and waved at us as we were leaving. Or perhaps he was communicating his disgust that someone before us had left an empty water bottle near the entrance to his home. "You people coming along and cluttering up the place!"



Later, back and camp, Chef Jeff cooks up some of his famous steaks...some of the best ever. But then everything always tastes wonderful when you've been enjoying the great outdoors all day.



We visited Washington State during a record-temperature heatwave. However, our altitude on the mountain was such that the temperatures dropped significantly at night.

The boys all but put themselves to bed that night, nestling into their cozy bedding and falling off to sleep the moment they closed their eyes.



All that wonderful evergreen scented mountain air and being snuggled into down comforters made for positively blissful slumber...and another fabulous end to a fabulous day.