Exploring Washington Day #2.........Paradise

Where do I begin with this extraordinary and adventurous trip I experienced yesterday? Mt. Rainer is the second largest mountain in the united states. We got to experience a place they call paradise and that is sure a great name for it. Seems to fit perfectly. The beauty of it is like places I picture in my dreams.

So originally we were just looking for a few little hikes. We talked to some rangers to get some information. They said there was "a little" snow on the trails. I can laugh about now. Me, my husband and my mother start off hiking on the skyline trail. We thought we would just hike a portion of it but thought about the idea of doing the whole thing. I mean it was only 5 miles......how hard could that be? We made it to myrtle falls which was absolutely gorgeous.

After that we kept hiking and eventually ran into a little bit of snow. My mom and husband got very nervous as we started heading up and they said they wern't going to go. We turned around but very soon a couple of girls walking by my mom and they told her she should really consider because they have hiked it in tennis shoes before. Yes we all had the old tennis shoes on, a little water and no food. About as unprepared as you get. But now we all felt like we could do it. Working our way up the small patch of snow with only a few slips we made it to dry ground again. Enjoying our hike even further until small patches of snow turned into large ones.

I did get to see some beautiful wildflowers along the way. Now that was the reason I wanted to go to the mountain in the first place. My dream of wildflowers. They were not quite as nice yet but still nice enough for me.

During the trip every time we thought about turning back someone would tell us it gets better ahead and so we thought well lets just keep going. Before we knew it.....

Here comes the panic. I look over at my mom and she is frozen in the snow. Not moving anywhere and hyperventilating. I scream "Mom! Are you ok?" She said "No! I can't move!"........