My summer in Washington was spent exploring new places, and making great new friends. That would have been more than enough to satisfy me. But on top of that, I was able to share my experience with a couple of people I'd known for a while: my dad, and my friend, Ali. Neither of them had been to Washington before, so it was a good opportunity to show the place off.
My first visitor was my friend, Ali, who I met in college. I picked her up at the airport in Seattle, before heading back to my place in the Park. That night, we kicked back around a campfire with some friends and stayed up late, hanging out with my roommate, Shenon. It was a good night, and it was great getting to hang out with Ali for the first time in a while. Let's not forget, though, there was also some exploring to be done!
Ali was only visiting for a couple of days, so I tried to make the most of her trip by showing her some unforgettable scenery. Unfortunately, during most of her visit, Rainier was cloud-covered. We didn't let that ruin her trip though, and the weather overall was actually decent.
Ali at Narada Falls:
Bridge karate:
Ali likes to sit down for photos.
I convinced her to stand up for a shot of both of us.
Later, she prepared herself for another photo by promptly taking a seat.
I took Ali to a place called Snow Lake. As we hiked back to the trailhead, we caught Ali her very first glimpse of Rainier. It was brief, but a welcome sight nonetheless.
Later, I took Ali on 'Trail of the Shadows'. This is a very short trail in Longmire with interpretive signs that talk about the old growth forest and the area's history. Here are some highlights from this cool little walk.
Beaver-chewed tree: 
Centipede:
Ali's interpretive forest pose:
When it was time to drive Ali back to the airport in Seattle, I decided to go the long way - out through the northeast side of the park, rather than the traditional route through the southwestern Nisqually Entrance. I had never taken this drive and thought a change of scenery would be nice, and might offer better views of Rainier on our way out of the Park. Because of the rain shadow effect, you can often get views of Rainier from the east, even when it's entirely socked in on the west side. It turned out to be a really nice day, and we got out of the car a couple of times to take photos of Rainier. Finally, Ali got the full view!
I was happy to host Ali for a couple of days, and wish that she could have stayed longer. Hopefully she had a memorable experience.
Ali loves to travel, and has now lived in several different countries. She's also an excellent writer, and operates a blog of her own. I encourage you to check it out here: The Foreign Traveler
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Just a couple of weeks after Ali visited me, my dad decided to come and check out Rainier, too. I had two full days to show him around. The first day, the weather forecast was slightly ominous. I decided that it would be a good day to head to Sunrise - the other side of the Mountain. I wasn't counting on great weather over there either, but we at least had a better chance of getting some views on that side. I didn't make it to the east side very often, so I was looking forward to the trip, regardless of what the weather might have in store.
On our way to Sunrise, we took a quick detour to Grove of the Patriarchs, which is highlighted by some huge old growth trees (see a detailed description of this area in my "Rainier Wrap-up" post).
My dad loves big trees, so I knew this would be a worthwhile stop.
When we arrived, the weather was surprisingly not too bad. It was cloudy and breezy, but nothing to prevent us from hiking. My dad is in really good shape, but his knees are pretty bad, so I knew we wouldn't be hiking too far. I decided that we'd wander the trails in search of good views until we had enough.
When we arrived, the views of Rainier were welcome.
Here are some pics from our Sunrise trip:
I was happy to see that there were still some nice wildflower displays to be found.
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The next day, the weather forecast sounded promising and I wanted to make the most of it. I worked out of the Jackson Visitor Center at Paradise, which I usually tried to avoid on my days off because of its touristy nature. However, the Paradise wildflower meadows, along with stunning views of Rainier and ease of trail access made it a no-brainer when deciding where to take my dad on the last day of his visit.
As I had hoped, it was a gorgeous day, with hardly a cloud in the sky. The previous day was fun, but I'm always slightly disappointed when the weather restricts what I can do. That wouldn't be happening on this day.
We started hiking up the Skyline Trail, with no real goal in mind. I knew we probably wouldn't be doing the full five mile loop because the climb would be hard on my dad's knees. Getting close-up views of Rainier combined with wildflower meadows would surely be good enough for him.
I'll let the pictures do the storytelling.
This was our turnaround point - Glacier Vista:
Nisqually Glacier close-up:
On the way back, we took a slight detour through the Dead Horse Creek Trail, which loops back to the visitor center. This area offers some of the best wildflowers in the Paradise area.
As we reached the parking lot, I took a photo of this John Muir quote that is etched into the stairs leading to the Paradise trail system:
It seemed especially fitting on such a gorgeous day spent with my dad - a day I'll never forget. As for my dad, it was a short visit, but I think he left feeling like he got the most of his trip. His knees were sore, but hopefully the soreness was satisfying.
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