Washington

On the way to Mount Rainier, we visited Whitman Mission National Historic Site. This was the location where the Whitman family settled, disease killed many Native Americans, and they took revenge on the Whitman family. It was one of the things that led the US to recognize the Oregon territory.

Sonya made a yarn doll with this nice ranger.

Tried out a covered wagon.

And received her Junior Ranger.  The bird you see in her hand was given to her by the ranger in charge of birds.  When we were heading back to the Visitor Center, we started two birds.  One flew right into a very clean window and perished.  The ranger wanted Sonya to know it was OK and thus gave her the bird.

Up until this point in our trip, we had had beautiful sunny weather.  Not here.  Mount Rainier generates its own weather system and it was overcast and rainy almost the entire time we were there.  This didn't stop us from taking hikes though in the cover of the trees.  The waterfalls were all raging!

This is a view from the same location as a photo we took last September:

We figured July would be fine, but alas:

So, we visited more raging waterfalls ....

And hiked under the cover of more trees:

Finally, on the way home, this was the view.  It is a gorgeous mountain when it wants to show itself.