Day 15 Mt. Rainier

We camped last night along the Ohanapecosh River at Mt. Rainier. This morning it was raining. I went out and took some pictures, and talked to the ranger. He thought that due to the rain and clouds it would be a waste of time to take the spur road to the highest point to view Mt. Rainier. The mountain is 14400 and highest viewpoint is 6500 ft. The road thru the park had been closed since Nov 06, due to 18 inches of rainfall in 36 hrs had washed out roads, trees, etc. Our luck was such that today at 12 noon the road was due to open. We drove up at about 11:50 and the ranger was just opening the gate. Lo and behold we were first in line. There was very few cars on the road and then the rain stopped, the clouds opened up and we could see the mountain. We drove the spur road 16 miles up to 6500 ft. It was fantastic, endless scenic views, and we took picture after picture. We were overjoyed. Later we drove up to one of the suburbs of Seattle, Kent, WA. We are staying there at the KOA campground. We have reservations for a tour of Seattle tomorrow. Here are some pics. The order is somewhat messed up. The ones with the river are from 2 days ago at Columbia river. If you click on the pictures they will get larger.