Road Trip 2020

Green lakes, deep valleys, and the longest tendrils of waterfalls you've ever seen defined the North Cascades, our last stop in Washington. And when I say the lakes were green, well, the pictures speak for themselves. (Supposedly it has to do with how glaciers melt and create the lakes, taking flecks of rock from the mountainside with them.) The waterfalls were difficult to capture on camera, but were essentially vertical streams running down the mountainsides. We went on a couple of hikes the full day we were here, trying to immerse ourselves in the mountains and stay close to the lakes.  This is a good representative picture of what you'll find here Snuck off the path a bit to get closer to this waterfall--well worth it  This was definitely a hidden gem One more, to give you the full immersive experience We think the waterfall you can see on the bottom right was the end of the one from the pictures above A bit foggy, but you still can't hide the mount...

Spending time at Zion and Glacier convinced us both that the hyped-up National Parks are hyped for a reason. The National Park system has its hidden gems, but there is a reason the big-names are so popular. This built our anticipation for a visit to Yellowstone--arguably the most iconic National Park in the US.  Again, we saw that popular parks are that for a reason. Where else can you see geysers shoot water hundreds of feet in the air? Such thermal activity, fueled by the underlying supervolcano, made the park feel alive and otherworldly.  The park was filled with dozens of steaming water pools Geysers releasing streams of steam between eruptions Beehive geyser A Bison daring its way into Geyser basin The classic Old Faithful eruption photo Is this considered 'being artsy'? Nature can be kinda metal, yeah? Lone Star geyser doing its thing

After leaving Crater Lake, we made a brief pitstop in Portland to stay with friends. Their generous hospitality made for a refreshing and fun few days. We left feeling recharged and half-an-hour later we were across the border and on our way to Mt. Rainier. We listened to a topical Mt. Rainier podcast on the way and learned a few fun facts: 1. Mount St. Helens gets all the volcanic hype, but Mt. Rainier is actually considered to be the most potentially dangerous volcano in Washington--it's actually one of the few dozen most dangerous in the world 2. Mt. Rainier is covered by glaciers. If Mt. Rainier were to erupt, the lava would melt those glaciers and mix into a river of concrete known as Lahar. Lahars can flow up to 40mph, engulfing everything in their path. Safe. Relaxing. Just what you want to hear about your vacation destination, you know? Here are a few photos from our stay We stopped at the first turn-off inside the park to get our first glimpse of Rainier Just a few big ...