Day 3: To Mount Rainier

Well a couple of days in Seattle and we were ready to leave. Although it was a fun way to start this trip, it's excitement soon wanes, It has some exciting architecture and fascinating history. It is very artsy, and we are not artsy.
Our next goal was Mount Rainier (14,114 ft), sixty miles to the south, but dominating the Seattle skyline. Not the tallest in North America (Mt McKinley, Alaska, 20,237 ft), or even the 'Lower 48' (Mt Whitney, CA, 14,505ft), but one of the most impressive, as like Mt Shasta, CA(14,180 ft), Mt Jefferson (10,495 ft), Mt Hood (11,250 ft), Mt Adams (12,280 ft), Mt St Helens (8,360 ft) and Mt Baker (10,781 ft) it is a volcano, has a pointy top, is covered with ice and sits well above the surrounding mountains, making itself obvious, a bit like the Lonely Mountain in The Hobbit. Colorado has higher peaks, but they are smaller peaks built onto bigger mountain ranges, I mean, who has heard of Mt Elbert (14,440 ft), which is higher than Rainier? The only famous mountain in CO is Pikes Peak which at 14,115 ft is only the 20th highest peak in Colorado. Enough.
The sheer size of this mountain is what makes it memorable to me. We entered Mt Rainier NP from the North, via Enumclaw. This time we stopped and could see the mountain, compared with our last visit when after a three day wait for the weather, we left without seeing it. The weather has been remarkable, clear blue skies and good visibility. We drove along SR410, before heading south, past Sunrise, which is the northern visitor center, waving at Roy and Anne on the way. We then took the road to Paradise, which is the southern visitor center. We had a very enjoyable visit. We wandered up to Myrtle Falls to take in the wonderful views. There were still many summer flowers in the meadows and lots of people to chat to on the way.
Eventually having seen all we could take in we drove back down the road to a little town called Packwood, where we spent the night in the Packwood Hotel, a very quaint turn of the (other) century wooden  hotel - lovely small rooms with shared facilities, but a very lovely hostess called Marilyn who made us feel very welcome. We really enjoyed staying here.