Hello, Mount Rainier!

As much as I tend to gripe about the gloomy weather here in Seattle, it is nice to get away sometimes from the rain and find the stunning mountains that are oftentimes covered by clouds. My husband and I both took the day off work yesterday to recharge our minds and take a hike southeast of the city. It's been a few months since we really enjoyed a day off and did something fun rather than finishing chores or projects around the house.

Our hikes together are always hilarious. Stressful at first, yet they always end in such joy. The drive to the mountains is usually long and uncomfortable in the Jeep. Rex tends to bark (very loudly) at anything that moves which gets old pretty fast after two hours on the road. After winding up and around the craziest switchbacks covered in ice, we finally made it to the trailhead that was covered in frozen snow. Someone had built a snowman in the parking area that greeted us and we made our way up the mountain.

On most clear days, it's pretty easy to see Mount Rainier from anywhere near our house. I've never taken a trip to see the mountain up close, but at the end of our hike, we had the most beautiful view of the mountain and could even see the Olympic range out in the distance. It was breathtaking. There was only one other person at the top with us. Peaceful and quiet.

It was soooo nice to see the sun and cool off in the snow after working up a sweat on the way up. I didn't want to leave, but I was happy to get some photos that (almost) captured the beauty of what we saw. Enjoy some of my favorite photos I took along the way. Let me know if you'd like to see more blog posts about the various hikes we take out here in the pacific northwest!