Our Field Trip to Mt. Rainier

Our first field trip for this six month period was to the awe-inspiring Mount Rainier!!

 Mt Rainier

It was THEE PERFECT field trip for Gabe since he seems to have an obsession with any natural disaster. His latest birthday cake was actually a volcano and HE LOVED IT!!!

First we went to Crystal Mountain and took the gondola ride up the mountain, which was so beautiful. I was sad that we couldn't see Mt. Rainier until we got to the top of the mountain but I still really enjoyed it.

View from the gondola...and believe me, this picture doesn't do it justice!

Hannah checking out the view from the gondola.

Once out of the gondola, the view was simply amazing!! Not only could we see Mt Rainier, which is HUGE, but we could also see Mt. Adams and Mt. Saint Helen. 

Mt Adams

We ate at the diner on the top of the mountain, which boasted about being the highest restaurant in the US...very cool.  

Hannah at the "highest restaurant in the US" table overlooking Mt Rainier

There were adorable little chipmunks that would take food right out of our hands and there were also an overabundance of ladybugs. I never thought I could become annoyed by ladybugs BUT I was wrong!

Our little chipmunk friend

Our little annoying ladybug friends

I love this picture of Emma and Greg.
How can a girl not be thrilled when she's visiting Mt. Rainier?!?

The whole family in front of Mt. Rainier!

After coming back down on the gondola, we proceeded to our next stop, which was the Paradise Inn and Visitors Center, which I thought was very educational and a very nice facility. The 20 minute video we watched, while there, was chuck full of great facts about Mt. Rainier and it had the kids freaked out it was going to explode while we were driving home.  The kids thought it was cool to get to play with some snow that still hadn't melted beside the visitors center.

Me and my kids at Paradise Visitors Center with the majestic Mt. Rainier behind us!

We plan to redo this field trip when the twinners are a bit older, maybe next Spring, because we'd love to go on the hiking trials that they have for families to enjoy. The scenery was breathtaking and being so close to such an enormous active volcano was quite an experience. I would definitely recommend this to any family wanting a "one day get-away"!!

Helpful links:

• Paradise Visitors Center: http://www.rainiervisitorguide.com/visitorcenters.html
• Crystal Mountain Gondola Rides: http://www.crystalmountainresort.com/Summer-Activities/Scenic-Gondola-Rides

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