100825 Birthday Celebrations

I spent my morning in Paradise. It's hard to beat that, huh? (That's Paradise, WA, at the base of Mt. Rainier.) I had hurried past the evening before, as it was getting late, so I went back and took my time this morning. I don't think I've ever gotten as close to a glacier as I did at Paradise. I felt like I'd gotten "up close and personal" with Mt. Rainer by the end of the morning.

I walked the short but steep trail down to the base of Narada Falls, so I could see the whole thing, 180 feet from top to bottom. There is no perspective on this photo of the falls. You will just have to imagine some tiny people standing on the platform at the top, so you can see how long these falls are. I think this is the prettiest of the "bridal veil"-type falls that I've seen, complete with a rainbow near the bottom. The falls spreads out over a wider area than most falls of its kind. I'm putting this on my list of my ten favorite falls.

I stopped at Reflection Lake and had my photo taken with Mt. Rainier (he didn't seem to mind). As I went by pretty Louise Lake I thought of my niece (Louise).

The long views down the valleys reminded me of the Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park in Montana. Quite impressive.

Woods, waterfalls, vistas, glacier-covered mountains. It's hard to imagine a better way to spend my birthday - and that was just the start!

I spent the afternoon visiting with my cousin Gloria in Buckley, WA. We hadn't seen each other in ages and it was such fun to get caught up on each other's lives, and talk about "the old times" in North Dakota when we were kids.

That evening Gloria took me to a nice restaurant on the Tacoma waterfront, and we sat outside in the perfect weather and watched the sailboats on Puget Sound as we ate our dinner. (Her husband is out of town on business.)

A wonderful day! A wonderful way to spend my birthday.