Last Monday I woke up not feeling well. The alarm when off, I sat up, decided work was not going to make it onto the docket, rolled over and went right back to sleep. Luckily Tyler had no patients scheduled and agreed that there is no better day to blow off than a Monday. We slept until 11:00. I have not done that since high school. I felt much better after my 13 hours of sleep, so we decided to make the most of our day avoiding responsibility. We loaded up our hiking gear, stopped for an awesome lunch at Skyline Drive In for some highly healthy burgers and onion rings and then took at 2 plus hour drive in search of fall colors. We ended up at a beautiful hike near Mt. Hood on the Hood River side. There was not one other human being. We did not pass one person on the road or on the entire hike. It was amazing. We got so lucky and had one of those fall days that are total perfection. Crisp weather, crystal clear blue sky and gorgeous fall leaves.
The hike was awesome and mellow and perfect for our lazy day. That is right until the end where it was straight up. But it was worth it since the view was amazing and we could see all 5 volcanoes in the area super well. 
We are super hard core. Obviously.
It is hard to tell but this is Mts. Rainier, St. Helens and Adams all in a row. Very awesome to get a day when you can see them all.
We took our time driving home enjoying the fall colors. I wish that fall lasted longer because it just does my soul good. We had an amazing day. I wish all Mondays could be so perfect. To finish off all 8 hour trek we stopped at the same place we had lunch and got a big peanut butter chocolate shake - which was pretty much heaven. We wouldn't want to get fit with all of our hiking, so we figured a thick shake should do the trick.
Happy Fall!
The hike was awesome and mellow and perfect for our lazy day. That is right until the end where it was straight up. But it was worth it since the view was amazing and we could see all 5 volcanoes in the area super well. We are super hard core. Obviously.It is hard to tell but this is Mts. Rainier, St. Helens and Adams all in a row. Very awesome to get a day when you can see them all.We took our time driving home enjoying the fall colors. I wish that fall lasted longer because it just does my soul good. We had an amazing day. I wish all Mondays could be so perfect. To finish off all 8 hour trek we stopped at the same place we had lunch and got a big peanut butter chocolate shake - which was pretty much heaven. We wouldn't want to get fit with all of our hiking, so we figured a thick shake should do the trick.
Happy Fall!
This was one of my favorite hikes we have done in a very long time. While it was pretty steep for my liking, it was absolutely gorgeous with so many scenery changes in only a few miles. We had snow, green fields, wild flowers galore, and rocky volcanic areas.
Getting ready to go UP. Fast.
We made it to the top where the view was amazing, but it was FREEZING cold.
We went crazy over the wild flowers. We took about 10,000 pictures of them. It was by far the most beautiful hike with wild flowers I have ever seen. They were everywhere and made the whole hike smell incredible. We were in awe the whole time.
We love camping and the time it allows us to just sit and talk late into the night. It is so relaxing and revitalizing. It thought about raining on us, but luckily waited until the middle of the night to really get going. Sadly, the rain cut our trip a bit short so instead of hiking on our second day we just visited some cool little pull offs before heading home.
We walked down to one of the washes surrounding the mountain. While very different than the greenery from our hike the day before, it was beautiful in its own way as well. 
We saw some beautiful waterfalls just off the road.
We walked around a few of the many lakes at the base of Rainier. The mosquitoes were awful, so we didn't spend as much time near the water as we wanted to.
We took a little 1/2 mile hike through the Grove of the Patriarchs (or something along those lines) where we saw some pretty serious cedar trees. The smell of the forest during the rain is about the best thing ever. Especially when the trees are cedar. 
We had a fabulous weekend. Our break could not have gone better. If you ever have a chance to get to Mt. Rainier, we highly recommend you go. It was fantastic.
There were also some very nice vignettes available at every turn to get your family photo taken by an amateur waiter/photographer. We opted to head out to the deck for our own little photo shoot. Please note Tyler's super hot turquoise Miami Dolphins tie. He took dressing "classy" to a whole new level. He was also wearing white tennis shoes and a brown belt with that black shirt. HOT. I know. My man has STYLE.
