The "trail" included a swinging bridge, which Bill braved without dropping to his knees (Bill doesn't like this sort of "fun"):
One of the more fascinating features of some of the fallen old trees is the burls you see. This one was a photo op:
We enjoyed the trail, but needed to move on. Back in the car, we wound around the winding roads until we turned a curve and came upon this breathtaking view of THE MOUNTAIN:
As we drove ahead, one turnout offered a view of a chasm where a creek flowed below a bridge across it that was over 180 feet down. This picture doesn't do it justice. Think of the sound:
And around the next few bends:
A mile or two farther, and we came upon the reflecting lakes. Sadly, the wind was just enough to rough up the water's surface and reduce the clear reflection:
Another bend and, ho-hum, another gorgeous sight! This has to be the classic picture of the mountain. It looks like a paint-by-the-numbers painting, but we were there:
While this looks like a closeup of the mountain, it is really a picture of a special fir tree, the Pacific Silver Fir. Notice how the cones grow straight up off the branches. Very unique:
As all good things must end, we had to end our tour of the Mount Rainier National Park and head to Bellingham. As we drove from Seattle north toward Bellingham, we had a nice view of Mount Baker, the prettiest mountain in the Cascade Range in Washington, in our opinion. Look way in the distance:
We got to Bellingham and checked in to our motel. Much to our delight, there was a Thai restaurant next door that specialized in gluten free offerings (many of you know of Bill's gluten intolerance), so we had a very delightful dinner to celebrate our arrival at our "land" part of our trip.
Tomorrow, we board our charter boat, "Grand Adventure!" Very appropriate!
