Beautiful. That pretty much sums it up. It was very cloudy the morning we were at the scenic overlook taking this picture of the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon side of the river, but the view was still stunning-maybe even more so.
The tiny building you see on the cliff in the picture above is the Vista House on Crown Point. It was built nearly 100 years ago for the travelers on the then newly built Columbia River Highway to view the Columbia River.
We traveled on this scenic highway and saw dense forests of tall mossy trees and several beautiful waterfalls that can be viewed from the parking lot. There are trails that can be hiked to the top or bottom of each waterfall.
Latourell Falls
Wahkeena Falls
Picnic Area
Multnomah Falls
The granddaddy of them all!
620 feet of waterfall.
Tunnel at
Oneonta Gorge
Horsetail Falls
All this beauty within eleven miles of the Vista House. Best road trip ever!
My husband and I visited the Washington/Oregon area for our 40th wedding anniversary in June. We saw so many beautiful places but Mount Rainier was my most favorite. It seemed to pop up and then disappear again through out our 900 miles of road trips. At 14, 410 feet you would think it would never disappear.
It first appeared outside our airplane window. My husband spotted it sticking up above the clouds and took this amazing picture.
Of course if the mountain was above the clouds we did not see it again until the next day when the clouds cleared. Then looking across the Puget Sound from our balcony at the Marriott Waterfront Hotel we discovered it behind the ferries and boats of the harbor.
On our way from Seattle to Portland we made a side trip to visit Mount Rainier. The mountain would come in and out of view as we traveled the 80 miles from Seattle to the entrance of the Mount Rainier National Park.
The base of the mountain is thickly wooded with huge trees and lots of ferns and moss. On our way towards the top we came upon some beautiful waterfalls.
There were great places along the way to pull off the road and take some wonderful pictures and just hang out.
Eventually we found ourselves surrounded by snow even though it is the middle of June. The Road Closed sign ended our drive to the top.
After our trip back down the mountain we were ready for a late lunch. We stopped at a really cute cafe at Copper Creek Inn and had a delicious lunch of fish chowder and beef stew.
But that was not the end of our fun with Mount Rainier. We continued our trip on to Oregon and spent three beautiful days around Portland, the Columbia River Gorge, and the Oregon coast. On our way back to the Seattle area to catch our flight home, Mount Rainier popped up in our view while driving through the capital city of Olympia and then many times as we came to Tacoma. Our last evening in the area found us accidentally stopping to eat at the Cliff House Restaurant since I totally got lost finding the restaurant we had intended to visit. This was our view from our table. Not such a bad mistake after all!
Then there was one more chance the next day to say good bye to this beautiful mountain from the window of our airplane. What a wonderful trip!