Day 16 – Portland OR to Randle WA
The drive was easy, short, and very pretty, but we had to pass up Mt. St. Helens due to a mud slide that closed the whole place.
(Not our pic, but one with a
Creative Commons license.)
By the time we booked, we didn’t have any choices on our site, so of course we were in one of the ones with no shade. It’s also 30amp, so it was brutally hot because one AC can’t keep up in this kind of heat. We left to go to the town bar & grill and hung out there until after sunset. The bar was old and cool and the bartender and cook (from Colorado) were a delight. We returned to a much cooler rig.
Day 17 – Mount Rainier
“Go around your elbow to get to your thumb.”
My dad used that expression a lot. Getting to Mount Rainier was not direct or quick, but the drive sure was pretty.
When we got to Elbe, we needed a little break, but the only place with restrooms was a bar. We stopped in and wanted to support the place, so naturally, I (L) got a Rainier beer. We also checked out the menu. And, we played some pull tabs. They are a gambling game in Washington that costs $0.50 to $2.00 each. The odds are printed on the flyer for each one. We lost our $2 total on the three we played.
Next in our path was the Recycled Spirits of Iron, a large outdoor gallery of metal sculptures. They were amazing. We could have stayed longer, but it was brutally hot out in the sun. Check out the x-rated one in our pics! LOL!
Mount Rainier National Park was way bigger than I expected. And, there is some construction, so the one road has a section that is closed M-F. Still, we had a whole afternoon’s worth of stuff to see.
After the National Park, we went back to the same bar for dinner and chatted with the nicest 80 year old man and a younger guy who was headed up the mountain with a climbing group that included his ex-girlfriend. I think he was more anxious than excited.