Words can’t express how excited we were to cross the Oregon/Washington border via the Astoria-Megler bridge. We kept saying to each other that we couldn’t believe we were here after over 4,700 miles, that this was now our home. We had two nights to spend somewhere scenic before our reservation at an RV Park in Issaquah, so we decided to visit Mt Rainier before it got busy during the peak month of July.

We were very fortunate to experience a visible Mt Rainier on our first day there, because it was obscured afterward. The picture above is taken from the Nisqually River, close to our campground. We sat for sometime in the evening sun, contemplating the scenery.

The next day (our only full day at the park), we hiked for 8+ miles, half uphill, half downhill (both hard!) along the Paradise River. It was both intense and beautiful, and the higher we went, we found ourselves hiking in snow-covered ground despite temperatures in the 60s! We ate lunch at Reflection Lakes, but Mt Rainier by then was disappearing into the overcast sky.

On the third day, we packed up our van to head for Issaquah, a small town that would serve as our base camp as we search for our new home in Redmond, WA. How fast time flies when you drive cross-country!