Mount Rainier

Me and the kids at Paradise.

Gabby and Gram at Christine Falls

Sam and Gram at the creek.

Sam loves the water.

Playing in the rain - something we haven't seen in a while out here.

We tried to escape the city heat on Wednesday by heading for the hills (like all good Tennessee people should do). We went up to Mount Rainier National Park, something we had not yet done since we moved here. We did visit it in 2005 when Gabby was about Sam's age. We drove the road along the south up to Paradise and back. We couldn't make the whole loop because a section of road was closed due to the flooding back in January. We ate a picnic, stopped at a couple of falls, and spent a good long while at Paradise due to the rain shower that started just as we got there. When we pulled into the lot it was still 80 degrees. It rained and the wind blew and the thunder and lightning flashed (fairly rare here at our house) and by the time we left it had cooled down to 65. It was heavenly. We should have put the blanket out in the back of the van and just spent the night there since it was 104 by the time we got home. And then that was the night with no power. At least the day was good!