Why unofficial? Because he says it doesn't count since he hasn't actually met his child yet. :) Official or not, we had a great day together.
We headed off to Mt. Rainier National Park - about 2 hours from our house. We meandered down (at 7 1/2 months pregnant meander is all you can do!) and enjoyed the sights, sounds and spectacular weather offered. Click here for a few photos of our adventure.
We entered the park at the Nisqually-Paradise entrance. Believe it or not, the other entrances were all closed because of snow or damage from last year's floods. We stopped at Longmire and wandered the trail that circles the meadow. It was 3/4 of a mile long and very easy to walk (parts were even ADA compliant) - and that's about my speed right now.
Apparently there used to be a wellness center on the mineral springs back in the early 1900s. People came for the healing powers of the water. I'm not sure I'd look to orange water (because of the high iron content) to heal me, but... There were also springs so filled with carbon dioxide that where the seeped up from the earth it sounded like a can of soda opening. You could see the ground bubbling and hear the steady "hissss" of the bubbles. It was pretty cool. We saw a few deer wandering through there, and enjoyed the cool, quiet of the forest.
We stopped at several scenic overlooks - including Christine Falls. Christine Falls is a beautiful waterfall that falls under a quaint looking (but quite sturdy) stone bridge. I remembered it from my previous trip to Rainier in the 90's. Since the snow isn't really melting yet (too cold of a spring) the falls were relatively small, but still quite impressive.
Our last stop was Paradise. Paradise is the highest point (about 5400 feet) accessible by car. There is a visitors center there, and some stunning views of the mountains. We wandered through there, then Dan threw the requisite snowball at me and we headed back home.
A very enjoyable, and exhausting, day. Happy First (unofficial) Father's Day, sweetie!
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