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!