So much snow at Mt. Rainier

 

We ended our memorable Washington trip with visiting Leavenworth and Mt. Rainier. 

We were able to eat more soup at the Liberty Cafe on the way to Leavenworth

 

Leavenworth, WA is a Baverian type town that has lots of Christmas activities and decorations.  It is VERY popular and although we had a good time, visiting it on a December Saturday would not have been my first choice.  It was so crowded!  We actually waited in line 1.5 hours at the Gingerbread Factory.  The gingerbread was really good!  It was a drizzly day, but we still had fun!

The cookies were pretty and tasted good too!

There were people singing throughout the day in the gazebo.  And the town was super lit up at night!

Several people were wearing these Christmas tree hats, but Dave said no!

On Sunday, we made our way to Ashford at the base of Mt. Ranier.  This is when we first started seeing snow.  

We ate lunch on the way at Trout Lodge Restaurant.  A cute place right on a river. 

Our drive took us through the mountains, past a ski slope and by a lake where people were ice fishing.

The ice fishing tent 

The last part of our drive was through a snow storm!  Really pretty!

As we were driving and enjoying the snow, we started looking at what kind of cabin we rented.  In the hot summer, when I was trying to save money, I rented a small cabin that had the private bathroom outside of the cabin.  I thought it was right beside our cabin, but it was 100 feet away.  And it was below freezing temps!  We were able to call and rebook a bigger cabin with an inside bathroom and a private hot tub.  It was definitely worth the upgrade!  The place we stayed was Copper Creek Inn at Mt. Rainier.  I would definitely go back there!  In addition to their cabins, they also had a restaurant.  And a good thing since not much was open in Ashford in the winter.   

The cabin was decorated for Christmas!  So cute!

After a snowy and cloudy Sunday, Monday morning was a clear, sunny, although still cold day.  We were able to rent snowshoes and snow chains in Ashford and drive to Mt. Rainier National Park.  In my mind we would be snowshoeing on a trail at the bottom of the mountain as I didn't think we could get far up the mountain with so much snow.  But I was wrong!  We were able to drive up to the Paradise area of Mt. Rainier and hike up the mountain.  Not to the top as that requires more skill and equipment than we will ever have, but it felt like we were near the top of the mountain.  It was so beautiful!  We snowshoed up in the trail that others had made.  People were either snowshoeing or cross-country skiing.  Some had snowboards on their back.  The skiers were then able to ski back down on perfect snow!  It was beautiful and amazing!  At the top, we could see Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens in addition to Mt. Hood in Oregon.  It was the perfect day to be out there.  If we had gone on Sunday, it we would not have been able to see anything.  

    

The bottom of the mountain did not have snow

The snow was already piling up on the sides of the road where they had plowed it

We had an all-wheel drive car and Dave said it never felt slippery.  They must treat the roads with good stuff!

The trail we followed up the mountain

The mountain seemed so close, but so far away!

I have never seen this much snow in one place!!

Mt. St. Helens is flat because of the eruption in 1980

The zig zag was the trail we followed 

Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood.  (Hood is hard to see)

They were clearer in real life, but this picture shows Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens

Even though it was below freezing, we both got hot during the hike.  Dave decided to take off his base layer because it was wet with sweat.  Crazy to be shirtless at the top of this snow-covered mountain!

We ended our last day in WA with a good dinner and a soak in the hot tub!  Our cozy cabin had been a super place to stay and a great way to end our trip to Washington State.  It was a truly memorable trip!

Halfway there with Washington state

 

I finally made it to the halfway point in this crazy quest of mine!  State #25 on December 7, 2024.  When I was thinking of the halfway point state, Dave said it should be a memorable one.  When I figured out that ASHA (speech and language national association) was having their convention in Seattle in December 2024, I found a race about 2.5 hours from Seattle.  So, a business trip combined with a race, and I would finish 25 by the end of the year.  Plus, Dave had been there before for a conference and really liked it and wanted to go again with me.  The race itself was a small race that would probably be made up of locals and it involved running a path 6 times to make 13.1 miles.  But we would have a great time with all our other plans in WA.  So super excited about the trip, even if the race was only so-so.

After attending my conference for 1.5 days and getting all the CE's I needed, we had a half a day in Seattle to explore.

Seattle Convention Center

I got to walk to the convention center in an underground passage that connected to other stores and hotels.  Nicely decorated!

Had to go to Starbucks in Seattle...even if for apple cider and not the original one

The convention center was in 3 different buildings and there were so many people attending!

Dave spent Thursday walking around Seattle and getting tickets for the Space Needle for Friday.

We were able to have dinner at Ivar's by the waterfront on Thursday night.  So yummy!!  And we walked around the area.  It was an easy downhill walk to the waterfront.  Not so easy of a walk back!

The bottom of the stairway!

The famous gum wall.  It had been cleaned off recently, so the amount of gum was less than usual.  But it was still a lot and kind of gross.

Friday was the end of my part of the conference and our day at the Space Needle.  Before our ticket time, we were able to have lunch at the waterfront (clam chowder in bread bowls) and visit the Public Market where they throw fish.  We only caught the end of a throw but were able to see the fish for sale.

More gum wall pics!

The fish were welcoming ASHA!

The first Starbucks.  The line was too long for us.

It is a small Starbucks

We left the waterfront for the Space Needle.  Our tickets also included the Chihuly Museum.  This was a museum of glass sculptures, and they were so cool!

 

These were in the ceiling

They had sculptures outside as well

This view of the Space Needle makes it look like the sombrero at South of the Border!

We went to the Space Needle next, and I was getting nervous as I had figured out that to get to the top, you had to ride an outside glass elevator!  I am not a fan of those. In fact, I closed my eyes the whole way up!  We also got to read about the history of the Space Needle as we were waiting for our turn to go up.  At the top, Dave stood on the glass bench by the glass barrier.  It was a good view, but there were spaces between the glass pieces.  Not big enough to fall through, but still, spaces!

The Christmas lights at the very top of the Needle were reflected in the glass

  

After you left the observation deck, you then walked down a level to the revolving floor...a glass revolving floor!  (I really don't like heights) There used to be a restaurant on this floor.

The glass floor

It was now time to leave Seattle and drive to Yakima.  We stopped for pizza on the way, but didn't see too much because it was dark.  Our trip so far was memorable, but I still did not have much hope for a memorable race...I was wrong!  Saturday morning was an early start with the race starting at 7.  Our first job was to scrape the ice from the car.  It was below freezing kind of day with some light drizzle.

Then the memorable part started.... the race had been canceled!  We drove to the address they gave us, but then drove around thinking we were in the wrong place.  We were getting a little frustrated.  Apparently, they had sent out an email Tuesday that was in my spam.  They didn't give a real reason for the cancellation but did answer my emails and texts about the race that morning.  The race was part of US Road Running.  But since I was there and had trained and has spent money to get there, I ran.  By myself.  All 6 laps of the walkway by the Yakima River.  And within a week, I got my medal in the mail.

The start of the "race"

 

It was a cold, dreary day.  And there was some ice on the path.  But there were a few other people, not runners, that were out walking as it was a public path.    

  

So, my WA race was memorable, but not for the usual reasons.  Some states are like that though.  But I always find something fun to do in the state before and after I run!