Our last full day began with an 8:30 breakfast of ham and asparagus quiche, and it is a credit to the owner’s cooking that she made one of my most hated vegetables palatable. We had a long drive ahead of us, so we left immediately after breakfast for a quick stop at the Astoria Column, a 1926 tower built to commemorate the history of the area. It was five dollars to park, so, determined to get his money’s worth, Jeff climbed the tower for views from the top. It was quite a view even from the ground, as we could see across the Columbia River to Washington. We got a good idea of what Lewis and Clark might have felt upon seeing the Pacific Ocean after such a long journey.

The rest of the day was dedicated to Mt. Rainier, as it was a three hour drive to get there. Along the way, we stopped in Morton for a burger and shake at a wayside drive in, which we ate at a local park, stretched our legs a little, and completed the drive. The most we were going to be able to do was a driving tour, but it was clear that the big draw of this national park is the hiking. Huge parking lots were full of hikers, and very few people were on the roads themselves. Quite a few portions of the road were washed out, and we were lucky that the route we wanted to take was actually open for the weekend. I don’t think some of the snow in this area ever melts completely — at the very least, the snow at the summit must be a year-round thing. The visitor center on Paradise Valley Rd. was built with an exterior set of walls that opened up in the summer. We figured these are shut during the winter to keep the snow from breaking the windows. These protective barriers must have been at least ten to twelve feet tall, so it’s no wonder that most of the national park is closed in the winter.

The area is absolutely beautiful. Between glacial scars, waterfalls, and tree-studded valleys, we had plenty of opportunities for dramatic views and pictures. Nevertheless, I kept in the back of my mind the relative proximity of Mt. St. Helen’s and the knowledge that Rainier is itself a volcano. All along the coast, we had seen tsunami evacuation route signs, and now we saw volcano evacuation signs. On the way to our last hotel of the trip, I decided that the weather and scenery might be awesome in the Pacific Northwest, but I don’t think I’d want to live there.