The Summit (Day 17)

Our last day at the Casita...definitely sad. We made the most of it and started the day with breakfast at John and Glenda's. She includes breakfast as part of the deal. The first night when she asked we told her it was ok and that we had things for breakfast, feeling kind of strange about her cooking for us. But, when I looked back at the site, I realized that this is meant to be a bed and breakfast. And, well, we did pay for our stay here so we figured we would take advantage. She can bring it to us in the casita but she asked if we'd like to have it at their house. I told her whatever is easier and she admitted that not schlepping everything across the yard was easier, so we came to her. She served us frittata, fresh fruit, bacon, french pressed coffee (for me), and sour dough pancakes for the kids. Everything was delicious! But the best part was chatting with John and Glenda as if they were old friends. It is such a fun experience being here.

After our breakfast, surely the most satisfying of the whole trip, we headed out towards Mt. Rainier again. This time, we were going up north a little more to the a different entrance that would take us up to the Sunshine Visitor's Center. We just are able to get a different view of the park this way. And, it was a good thing, too, because as we were making our way there, we turned a corner, turned to the left, and BAM: there was Rainier in all her glory, all clear and dazzling but for one small cloud in front. We pulled off the road as soon as was humanly possible for an incredible photo op (stay tuned for Christmas card...). It was awesome. I was so glad we were able to see the peak like this as the day was party cloudy and I had some doubts. 

From here, we went to the Sunshine Visitor's Center. It is smaller and less crowded than the one at Paradise. We ate a picnic lunch and walked a ways up a path that was heading up the side of a mountain. Eleanor lost steam pretty quickly, but Ethan and I had plans to hike to the top of Dege Peak. I had read about the hike in our guidebook and thought it was a good choice for us to be able to actually get to a summit. It is categorized as and easy hike and was about 3.8 round trip. We were able to take one way up and then go down a different way, with plans to meet Will and Eleanor in a smaller parking lot down the road from the Visitor's Center. 

The way up was a decent incline but most of the trail was wide enough for the both of us. Often, one side of the trail was meadow at about a 30 degree angle. There were also some parts where we had trees on both sides of us. During these times, I was admittedly a bit nervous about bears. We didn't have our bear whistle, and we had seen some poop a few times on the trail. I have no idea what bear poop looks like, but it was enough to make me take pause. But, we made it up to the summit without incident. The last .3 miles consists of several switchbacks until you are finally at the very top. We saw Rainier, or what we could see of her with clouds in the way, and also Mount Adams, I believe, and much of the Cascades. Down below, there were two beautifully green lakes. Our elevation was just under 7,000 ft. There were two men at the top who took our picture for us, and we took pictures of where we had come from as well as where we were headed on the way down. These guys did not think bears were a concern at all and didn't think any would be up so high, which made me feel better.

After a quick stop and snack at the summit, we made our way back down, choosing a new way down. This other way was a narrower trail, and I held on to Ethan with one hand for much of it. I was glad we did not have Eleanor with us! We made it down in about 40 minute at the exact time we told Will to meet us in the other parking lot. We could see them from higher up and they waved and looked at us through binoculars. At the bottom, Will told us two men had come down a bit earlier and said they saw a bear just off the trail! It was probably the two men who were sort of teasing me about being worried about seeing one - that'll show them! A local woman told us that a ranger told her that there haven't been bear attacks in Rainier in years and years and that they are not interested in humans. Good to know...

It was now four o'clock, and we knew it would be a good hour before we got back to the Casita, so we left for Packwood. We wanted time to make dinner, eat it, enjoy the hot tub, etc. Last night was so rushed. 

I had a dinner planned of spaghetti e olio with carrots and broccoli. I had the spaghetti in the boiling water for a bit and added the veggies. After a bit, I went to pull out some pasta to test it and noticed two small bugs in the slotted spoon. I thought this was odd and looked in the pot. There were tiny dead bugs EVERYWHERE. I have no idea what happened. I do not think it was in the pot because I surely would have noticed. The spaghetti looked fine on it's own. I didn't notice until after I added the veggies. The only thing I can figure is that the broccoli was infested with bugs. I didn't notice when I cut it, but maybe they were in the florets. I don't know. But I know that there were far too many to be ignored. We had to dump the whole thing. Luckily, I had sautéed some chicken to add to the pasta and that was separate. Plan B was to open 6 packages of Ramen noodles and boil those as our pasta. The pantry was stocked with them. I simply added the garlic flavored olive oil to the pasta and topped it with chicken. Problem saved. I did explain what happened to Glenda because I didn't want her to see the Ramen packages gone and wonder why we had gone on a college-esque bender. 

After ice cream for the kids, we put on our suits for another dip in the hot tub. Will prefers it on the outside, so he acted as photographer. I pretended it was a hot tub time machine and took us all back to Tuesday when we arrived here so that we could spend another three nights in heaven. Did I forget to mention that while I was fixing my dinner, before the bugs made an appearance, Glenda stopped by with sliced pork that John had smoked all day, sliced, fresh mozzarella, and crackers? Just because. Heaven. 

Tomorrow, we have to say goodbye. :( We plan to try to see Mt. St. Helens on our way to Portland. We are supposed to give our rental car back around 4 and we are staying at an airport hotel, as our flights out Saturday are at the crack of dawn again. One more day of adventuring, and then it's back home to reality. Usually, at this point I am ready, but I am actually a bit sad this trip is over. I am always homesick on trips, but I never felt that way here. Maybe because we moved from place to place. Don't get me wrong - I do miss many things about being home, and it will be great to sleep in my own bed drive in straight lines, and see friends and family. But I am glad we went through with this crazy long trip to the Pacific Northwest. We saw some incredible things and we know exactly where we would like to return someday.