When we realized we wouldn't be able to pick Bug up at the end of the semester, we decided to go up to Washington for Memorial Day weekend to visit and pick up some of his stuff. And after a very long travel day, our first stop (after getting Bug, of course) was a delicious dinner at Iver's Salmon House.
Beautiful view of downtown and Lake Union from the back deck. It was too cold to eat outside, but we stepped out at the end to see.
And then, the next day, we went to Mt Rainier.
The mountain was out in all it's glory. It's actually common for it to be hidden in the clouds, so we were really happy to see it. There was still so much snow as we went up a little in the park--a lot of it is not really open yet.
We found a hike in the Longmire area, where there wasn't snow.
Some of us were more prepared for a hike than others--Daddy-o forgot his hiking shoes.
It was a beautiful hike.
A little rockier than we had expected from the trail description,
But we did get a view of a lovely waterfall--Carter falls.
And then carried on a little farther to see Madcap falls.
It was incredible hiking!
We spent a lot of time looking at the mountain.
It was a really great day.
We'll be back someday for some summer hiking.
We stopped by the hotel in Longmire for a few minutes rest,
and another short hike on a nature trail.
Found the ruins of the old hot springs.
The park is just full of beautiful little bits of nature, as well as the big vistas.
Sunday, we went to church with Bug, met some of his friends he's made this year, and then had a couple hours of downtime while Bug packed up some of the things in his room. And then, we went to check out Discovery Park, one of the local Seattle places that Bug had been wanting to see before he moves back home. Turns out there is legitimate hiking right in Seattle.
And we found a banana slug! I didn't realize that they lived so far north.
Found some cool mushrooms, too.
Did some silly hiking with the wildflowers.
And then made it down to the water.
Cute little lighthouse.
We hung out for awhile, even though the sunset was mostly hidden by clouds. After such a clear day the day before we were back to more typical weather. But it was all so gorgeous.
And then, Memorial Day, we loaded up what we could take of Bug's and then left for one last adventure: taking the Ferry to Anderson Island.
It was a nice ride, only about 20 minutes.
And we got to visit with our friends from Charlotte who moved here a few years ago. They are loving small town island life--including the quirky things, like playing the bagpipes at all the holiday events. We were able to hear him at the Memorial Day celebration.
After lunch, we took one last Washington hike through a small nature preserve down to a rocky beach.
We got to do a little tidepooling.
It was weird finding barnacles on in the small rocks along the beach.
Washington is just amazing.
We've loved our time there.
And then we had to get going to start the drive home.
We made it a few hours before we got a hotel. It made for a much nicer drive than the one going up when we had to do over 13 hours in one day. But even with all the car time and the short trip, it was so worth it to see our Bug and some new parts of the state.
