Seattle - Mount Rainier

Last but not least we spent a day driving up to Mount Rainier with Joe. We parked at Paradise where there is a lodge and a bunch of hiking trails. We parked at an altitude of about 6,700 feet and hiked up to about 8,200 feet. It was INCREDIBLE!!! We could actually hear the glaciers breaking off and faling although we didn't actually see them. It was really cool!

As promised, here is the Marmot King! He popped out up on Mt. Rainier and was just chillin' out checking us all out.

This was a water fall that we saw on the way up to Paradise. This was run off water from the glaciers was up the mountain above where we were.

Despite being August, the wildflowers were amazing and still blooming - apparently they came up late this year because of the late start to the warm season.

A view from Paradise of Mount Rainier - pretty amazing!!

This was on the way to Paradise.

Again, check out these gorgeous flowers!!

This path was really reeally steep in spots and just kept going and goping and going. Had we followed it long enough we would have reached the actual glacier! The would have been awesome if we had the time and could have camped out up there overnight!

Ok, yes, I took a few steps and shot another one - it was just so beautiful!!

Looking in the oppositer direction across the mountain range. It was clear enough a couple of times that we could see Mount. St. Helens and Mount Adams.

This was one of twin fawns that John spotted as we ascended the trail. They were so adorable and didn't seem to be too scared of all of us on the trail.

Amazingly part of the trail was paved which was kind of nice. When the paving ended it got pretty rocky.

Again, another shot looking down the trail from where we came.

This is a shot of the glaciers on the mountain and you can see a cool water fall coming from the glaciers- not sure if that is a good thing?!?!

More of the glaciers.

The halo of clouds starting to gather around the top of the mountain.

Here are the twins - aren't they too cute!!!

Seattle Pike Place Market

One place we spent a lot of time enjoying was the Pike PLace Market. This place was fabulous. We spent a lot of time here and had some wonderful food here as well as photo opportunities.

Smelts in the fish market - I never realized people eat these - I remember feeding these to the seals at the Child's Estate Zoo in Santa Barbara.

So much wonderful seafood -a nd it was all GIGANTIC too!

Salmon galore!

The lobster were as long as my forearm!!

This was an awesome little Italian Market where we got a wonderful assortment of goodies for lunch, including fresh baked bread, cheese and proscutto.

Tons and tons of fresh produce too!

MMmmmmmmm, papaya!

Berries, berries everywhere!

I know this one seems random, but these beans were really nice looking and made a good macro shot.

Seattle - Joe and Discovery Park

Here are some shots of Joe and of Discovery Park.

John and Joe on Mount Rainier at the tail end of our 1500 foot climb up the mountain.

Joe on the way to Mount Rainier

Joe lounging in a rock chair the someone build on Mount Rainier. Note the Marmot King sitting on the rocks about his left shoulder (we'll see more of him in a later post).

Joe posing for more silly pictures of him with the manequins! LOL

Joe being attacked by a horrifying stuffed black bear inside the gift shot at Mount Rainier - oh the horror!

Joe posing in a sweet fez in this antique shop - within seconds of this picture being taken we were swiftly admonished by the antiques Nazi running the place for not only taking pictures but for violating the merchandise by touching it!!

The lighthouse at Discovery Park.

Another shot of the lighthouse at Discovery Park.

These are old barracks at Discovery Park that are very close to the lighthouse.

Seattle - The City

Here are just a few of the skyline, which is pretty awesome! (They are a little out of order)

This was taken from Kerry Park which is about the size of 4-5 house lots that overlook the Seattle skyline with a wonderfully unobstructed view. The sky was pretty clear too so we caught a nice view of Mount Rainier in the background as the sun was going down.

Space Needle as the sun was setting taken the last night we were there!

This was taken from Alki Beach.

This was also taken from Alki Beach.

Gorgeous skyline taken from Kerry Park which is the perfect overlook of the city as the sun sets.

This is the Seattle Science Center that she shot before the Space Needle the last night we were there. I took some from the top of the Space Needle, but I didn't have my tripod or my remote release (bad planning) so they all came out really porrly so I am not posting any. However, the view from on top was really incredible and it was really nice hanging out with Joe up there before we had to go back home the next day.

Here is a panorama of the skyline from Alki Beach.