Miles 4171-4386: Packwood, Mount Rainier, and Newberg
At the hotel, we ate breakfast and then started our drive to Mount Rainier National Park. Mount Rainier is one of the less celebrated national parks, but it was amazing. I can’t say it’s my favorite, because we went camping in Grand Teton, but it was definitely the most beautiful easily. It was a fifty minute drive to Paradise parking. The visitor’s center was closed, so we started our hike. We went up the Skyline Trail Loop. It was an amazing hike, up to a Panorama Point. It was a very steep incline, but was still really fun. The views were amazing, more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen. On one side, there was Mount Rainier, looming huge taking up the entire northwest sky. It was unreal; it was covered in glaciers and the ice was actually blue. On the other side, we could see the rest of the Cascade Range. Once we got high enough, we could see three peaks over the range in the distance: Mount St. Helens, Mount Adams, and Mount Hood.
It was a challenging hike, but not too much; it was enough to be fun, but not to make it overly tiring or frustrating. By the time we came back down, the visitor’s center was open. We got stickers, pins, and a deck of National Parks, Monuments, and Memorials cards. I’ve been wanting a deck, but couldn’t find one anywhere. We got in the car and started driving to new, outside of Portland. We stopped for lunch at a roadside place, where I got a grilled chicken burger with salad. The chicken breast was so big; I couldn’t believe I ate the whole thing!! After a long, hot car ride (the AC leaked and it was 85), we got to our Airbnb apartment. I was so excited to not have to share a room with Jackson. I got a room and bed to myself for two nights!! We watched TV, showered, and I journalled while Mom went shopping. We had a variety of food for dinner: soup, wings, salad, carrots, and chips and salsa. I had chicken-and-noodle soup, carrots with hummus, and two wings. It was pretty good, as far as grocery store meals go. After dinner, we split a chocolate-chip cookie that had been in a basket of goodies left by the owners, got ready for bed, and got in bed.
“The most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings.”