Day 16
We had a great few days exploring the Seattle and Olympic National Park areas, but now it’s time to go to our next National Park! Any guesses?
We’ve arrived at Mount Rainier National Park!
As with any visit to a national park, we start off with a stop at the Visitor Center to learn more about Mount Rainier National Park. Luckily, we managed to catch the start of a ranger led tour. If you are ever in time for one, definitely do it. They are always so informative and interesting!
Unfortunately, Mount Rainier decided to hide in the clouds most of the morning. You can’t control nature, so go into your trip knowing this does happen often. We did see some beautiful neighboring peaks though.
It is the tallest mountain in the Cascade Range, which includes several other notable peaks that we’ll visit next, so its head will often be in the clouds. Apparently, it’s so tall that it creates its own weather climate up there and it’s usually snow-covered year-round. Don’t worry, we did get lucky and finally caught a quick glimpse later on in the day.
Next, we make a quick stop to see Mount St Helens. Do you remember when it erupted?
Mount St Helens is a volcanic peak in the Cascade Range in southwestern Washington. Its eruption on May 18, 1980 was one of the greatest volcanic explosions ever recorded in North America.
On our way our of town, we drove by Bigfoot HQs! At least that’s what they’re claiming… Regardless, you know we had to stop on! LoL
After a fun visit in the Pacific Northwest, it’s time to start heading back east. But, don’t worry, there are plenty of beautiful sites and National Parks to visit along the way.
The first one is the gorgeous Multnomah Falls waterfall along the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. It’s set against a serene woodsy background and is way taller in person than it does in these photos. Worth a quick stop if you’re ever driving by. It’s an easy short walk over to the viewing area at the base of the falls from the parking lot along the road. Then it’s up to you if you want to hike up to the bridge in the middle or even to the very top!
The drive along the Columbia River Gorge was so beautiful, gorgeous view after gorgeous view around every turn. We even caught an awesome sunset.
While driving along the Columbia River Gorge east out of Oregon, we stumbled upon this Indian food truck right off the exit in a small lot. Honestly, if I happened to just drive by without reading about it first and specifically looking for it, we probably would’ve skipped it or not even noticed it. But, while searching Google Maps in the area for dinner, I found this Indian place with really high ratings and great reviews about how delicious and authentic the food was, so we were sold.
I didn’t even realize at first it was a food truck, not that I’m opposed to food trucks, just FYI too when you’re looking for it. Took us a few turns to find them. It turns out they also have a small building in the lot with nice indoor seating to eat your food, TVs, a play area for the kids, and clean bathrooms. The family that owns it was super nice too. Always glad to support a local ‘mom & pop’ business. And yes, the food was indeed delicious!! I’m still craving more.
This was one of our favorite surprise finds on this trip! So, if you’re ever in the area, stop by! I’ve included their Maps listing in the pics.
Indian Curry & Kebabs in Wasco, Oregon.
Day 17
On this day, we drove through Idaho and stopped at Craters of the Moon National Monument, a property of the National Park Service. It felt like we were on the moon with the fields of volcanic rocks! In fact, some astronauts even trained there for that reason! What a cool, surprise hidden gem of a park. Check it out if you’re ever near this area too.
I wrote about this park as part of my last National Park Week series. Check out my Craters of the Moon park visit page if you want more details.
After this, we continue our drive across Idaho to our hotel at the West Entrance to Yellowstone National Park! We’re so excited to explore this park for the first time over the next few days. We’ve been trying to come visit this and Grand Teton National Park for a long time now. We’re finally here! More tomorrow!
Good night!
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Adventures By Anne 