Mt. Rainier

Aaron did make it to the summit. Their team was the only one to make it that day. They made it to the summit and within 10 minutes a cloud formed and caused white-out conditions. The water in his backpack froze instantly. Short story is the only way they found their way back down was by using the GPS I bought him for his birthday the previous month!

The kids and I drove down and met him when he came off the mountain. He came down at the White River Campground. We then drove around through Longmire to Whittaker's Bunkhouse in Ashford which is on the opposite side of the mountain.

The kids were VERY excited to stay at a motel. We thought briefly about camping.... but I chickened out. We went camping when Joel was a baby and he screamed just about the whole night. Definitely didn't want to experience that again with Ethan. Especially on a night that Aaron would be exhausted. The Bunkhouse is a very comfortable place to stay with kids. They even had a climbing wall out front that the kids had to try out.

This is outside the place we had breakfast:

Here is Joel, Ethan and I at Paradise. Notice the snow. Middle of July and there was still 5 feet of snow there!! We were hoping to do some hiking and to see the wildflowers. This year there was alot of late snowfall.

This is as far as we got on the trail:

Inside the newly remodelled Paradise Lodge:

My Dad with Ethan.