Last Day

8-3

On our last day in the park, we did a bit of packing up in the morning before sitting around and chatting for a good bit of time before, inevitably, completing the packing process. Kubes left just before noon and when they left, we headed up to the visitor's center at Paradise one more time. We stopped at Christine Falls on our way up. After a short visit, we headed back to the camper for a picnic lunch.

The best photo of the kids all together.

Besties!

This is literally one timer picture and it turned out GREAT!

Christine Falls

Mount Rainier from Paradise

Naturally, the focus is on the "big snowy mountain" as Alanna called it. However, there are some really pretty views looking the opposite direction as well! Behind Matt is the visitor's center at Paradise and some rocky peaks in the national park.

We found some huckleberries right along the path, so we did what anyone would do - we picked a few handfuls! They are so sweet.

After leaving the park, we stopped in Ashford to play at this playground. I saw a small section of it from the gas station down the block on our way through on Friday, but I just assumed it was a school playground. Turns out it was a county park that we had all to ourselves on Monday afternoon! The equipment was really nice and had some fun and different things for the kids to play on. And what tastes better than ice cream after getting hot and sweaty at the park?! There was a cute little coffee and ice cream shop where we sat on the covered patio and noshed on some pretty delicious ice cream. We ended up leaving Ashford at 4:30 and stopped for 75 minutes in Portland for supper and gas, arriving at home around 10:30. Traffic wasn't an issue and all and we flew through the city - sweet! That's how the drive should have gone on Friday... :/ Oh, well. It was worth the traffic battle to spend a fun-filled weekend with our friends in such a beautiful place. Thanks, Mountain Rainier (as Charlie calls it) National Park!