Mt. Rainier

Got my lovely “mountain fix” today! We drove to Mt. Rainier - to the highest place one can drive Sunrise visitor center, - it’s almost 100 miles and altho we thought we left after rush hour, there were traffic delays. Cloudy when we left Seattle, it was clear on the mountain when we got there but 1 hour later the clouds had come in —Still a lovely warm but not hot temperature. We did a hike to a peak (7000ft) where I intended to sit and have a snack and do some sketching , it had a 360 degree view!— but the pesky biting flies were swarming so we didn’t stay long! Not enough wind to blow them away. And my pen leaked all over my paper and hands and pants! There are still some wildflowers left and it looks greener than I would have thought for such a hot dry summer. This is our mountain - the highest in WA at 14,100 ft, thousands climb to the summit every year. Today we went maybe 4 miles and that was enough - not as easy as it used to be…. The drive home was much better - because we ate at a restaurant on the way to let the afternoon rush hour traffic disappear (which it did!) but I still think it’s too far to go for one day -have to stay there. However, we’re happy …and tired.

The set on flickr - includes the first view from the car with blue sky and cap cloud…