Sam had another action packed day planned for Tuesday, starting with the short drive up to the Mount Rainier Gondola – a tiny misnomer considering it actually climbs Crystal Mountain – which then affords a stunning view of Mt Rainier amongst others.
Bodhi had never been on a gondola before and he looked somewhat apprehensive as we set off but was soon waving at the oncoming (mostly empty) gondolas.
The vista at the top was breathtaking…. bright blue skies, a comfortable temperature in the low twenties and plenty of fellow tourists enjoying it all.
Rainier was of course the star but Sam pointed out many other peaks including the infamous Mount St Helens which erupted as recently as 1980 killing 57 people and then experienced continuous volcanic activity until 2008. It is expected to erupt again and geologists predict that future eruptions will be destructive.
We had a quick bite to eat before making the most of photo opportunities in all directions.
Bodhi was much braver on the gondola descent but somewhat less impressed with being loaded into the car again, fortunately it was only a short drive to the subalpine Tipsoo Lake set in a glacier-carved basin amid spectacular wildflower meadows.
This is really Washington with her best summer clothes on, such a contrast to my last visit. After completing the loop around the lake we headed for home and a planned early night.
I could not contain my excitement though when we had an unexpected visitor in the form of an American “trash panda” or to us Aussies, a cute raccoon π Seeing a live raccoon (as opposed to road kill) has been on my bucket list for awhile…
She first appeared peeking over the decking and then got more courageous until she was basically having a face off with Bodhi who was equally fascinated.
After dinner we went for a short stroll where we discovered the whole family including at least two ‘kits’ so I practiced trying to improve my new camera skills in low light with fast moving subjects!
The next morning whilst packing up we had some more local visitors who were more interested in checking out what we had put into the bin than the visiting humans.
On the road by nine we were back in Seattle in time for lunch after an action packed short break which only whetted our appetite for more mountain visits in the future!
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