We were packed up and officially out of the Hippie House by 10:00 AM. Once again, Denis loaded the kayaks onto the car by himself, with minimal help from Ryan. (God bless him!) It was a beautiful day. Our ultimate destination for the day was to be back home in Bothell, WA, but first we had to see Mt. Rainier. (Actually, Meg had wanted to take me to a place where the ruts of the old Oregon Trail are still visible, but it was going to take us quite a bit out of our way, and we were tired. We deep-sixed that.)
Mt. Rainier--the tallest mountain (volcano) of the Cascade Range-- is, like, 60 miles south of Seattle. It was a long and wind-y trip just to get that far from Portland to the south. Rainier is so very visible from many, many places in Washington, IF the weather cooperates. Any kind of cloudiness, haze in the distance, rain/mist will make the volcano disappear. Whether or not the "mountain is out" is totally dependent on atmospheric conditions, even up close. ('Tis the same with other mountains, as well, but one would think that something as big as Rainier would show up more.) Finally, we arrived at a place called Crystal Mountain. I think Crystal Mountain is actually a ski resort area that has cashed in on the fantastic views it has of Mount Rainier. At the base, there are small shops, a ticket booth for a lift up the mountain, etc. At the top, there is a restaurant, deck chairs for viewing, and (of course) the vista of all vistas: Mount Rainier.
Before I even left Indiana, Megan had asked me if I could handle riding on a gondola up the side of a mountain for a view of Rainier. I assured her that I could, although we both know that heights make me weak-kneed. And then, right here at Crystal Mountain, I took a look at how high up the gondolas go and got dizzy. Whoa! Still, we had made this trip just for me, so I swallowed my nervousness and up we went.
The ride up on the gondola is actually easier than the ride down, in my perception. The mountainside is steep and, as far as I could tell, the only thing between us and certain death was the cable that held the gondola up. There are no safety nets. Grandson Ryan, got lots of pleasure from looking down, commenting on the length of the fall, making remarks about snapping cables, thinking it would be a good idea to rock the gondola like a ferris wheel car, etc., all to torment his grandmother. At one point, he looked down and said, "I wonder what caused all of the broken branches on those trees." (There were no trees under the gondolas.) I quipped back, "They are probably from the bodies of falling children, pushed out of gondolas by their grandmothers." I think he got the point.
"Summit" means "highest point of a mountain", right? When we got to the top of Crystal Mountain, we were, indeed, on its summit. Which means we were on a ridge. True of most ridges, there wasn't a lot of space to mill around. The walkway from the gondola station to the Summit Restaurant area had rails. Beyond that, there were no rails--nothing between us and the bottom of the valley below. There was a row of lounge chairs facing Rainier, perched on the edge of the canyon with only a few inches of ground before the steep drop. People were in those chairs, soaking up the sunshine and the view of Mt. Rainier, and being entertained by a slew of ground squirrels that were too tame for their own good. All around were signs not to feed them, but that didn't stop the sitting people from doing so. Most (but not all) of the offenders were older kids whose parents did nothing to stop them. This enraged Robin. As we stood behind the chairs, Robin turned to her brother and said--quite loudly, for all to hear--"RYAN, DIDN'T YOU SEE THE SIGNS NOT TO FEED THE ANIMALS???" I don't think it deterred anyone, but it did show me that Robin can be bold!
As soon as we got to the summit, Denis had put our name in for a restaurant table. There was a wait, which is why we were outside enjoying the environs. When it was our turn, Denis noticed that the menu had changed since the last time he had been there a couple of years before. The Rainier Burger had been replaced by a Bison Burger, which put a crimp in a couple of appetites. Ryan was allowed to order from the children's menu, plus other things. The rest of us did the best we could. (They had their version of a Reuben sandwich, with sauerkraut and dressing, but the meat was "pork belly"--not corned beef. I had that. It was good.) Megan pointed out that the menu was deliberately limited because, as far as we could tell, the only way to get food products up the mountain was the same way we came--by gondola. Yup. Never thought of that.
As God would have it that day, the mountain was out. And what a gorgeous mountain Rainier is! Lots of snow on it. And oh, the surrounding countryside was fantastic, too! From the summit of Crystal Mountain, we could see five volcanoes in the Cascade Range: Glacier Peak, Mt. Adams, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens (all in Washington), and Mt. Hood (in Oregon). It was a five-volcano kinda day!
My mother used to use the expression, "All good things must come to an end". This vacation-within-a-vacation (our nine-day trek through Washington and Oregon) was a good thing. And yes, it had to come to an end. We backtracked down Crystal Mountain by gondola, found the car, and hit the road for Bothell and home. We pulled into the driveway by 7:00 PM, unloaded the car, greeted the cat, and headed for private corners of the house. We were tired, and all of the togetherness of the past nine days makes aloneness and privacy almost a gift.
There was one party in the family who didn't particularly crave aloneness that evening: Toffee the Cat. She was annoyingly happy to see us, so much so that when she was kicked out of Megan and Denis's bedroom, I was her second choice of humans to bug. She had been on her own for nine days, except for the fellow that came in to make sure she had food and water, and she was going to make sure that she got attention, come catnip or high clover! No amount of petting was enough. She wouldn't curl up next to me. She insisted that I pet her, even when I was sitting at my computer. She was in motion the whole time. I would pet her as she walked away. Then she would turn around and come back for more. And if there was a lull in the petting action, she would bite me in the leg. (The last time, she drew blood, the skunk!) Welcome home???
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