Mount Rainier National Park

For Labor Day weekend Mark and I hit the last big thing on our PNW summer wish list - Mt Rainier National Park. No group of people embrace the 3-day weekend like those in the PNW - the park was packed! Not surprising since on President's Day weekend back in February, every hotel in Oregon and Washington was booked. And this wasn't rainy, miserable February. It was beautiful, sunny September.

We spent two full days hiking some trails, marveling at the beautiful mountain meadows filled with wildflowers, and walking across glaciers. This mountain is HUGE - the biggest in the Cascades at well over 14,000 feet. Even up close it seemed like a giant.

{That's a very big volcano}

{Mark with the Cascades and Mt St Helen's in the background}

{Wildflowers at Paradise on the south side of Mt Rainier}

{our first Marmot}

{Us with lonely Mt Adams - the forgotten volcano of the Cascades}

{walking up a little glacier, slipping as I go}