Where'd We Go?: Over the hills and through the woods...

... to Mount Rainier we go!

Before I begin my Mt. Rainier post, here's a little update on my life: 1- My two biggest job leads rejected me at the end of the week before last. Great. 2- Then Eric came for his visit- YAY- I played tour guide and it took my mind off of stuff. 3- I hung out with Greg a lot that week- he came over and wallowed with me. 4- It took me a week to pull myself together. I got a cookie. I got a coffee. And on Thursday and Friday I went over to the public library to use their wifi and apply for jobs (I have a cable modem here, but I just get so distracted.) 5- I applied for 11 jobs on Thursday and Friday. 6- On Friday Greg took me to a Chinese restaurant. I asked if they are open on Christmas. They are :) My friend Adam (Jewish, just graduated Cornell) and I will be going there for our traditional Jewish Christmas dinner. 7- I will be at the library all this week applying for more jobs. Will work for food.

Now here's my real post:

So on Saturday Della, Greg, and I drove down to Mt. Rainier National Park. Yes, yes, I went to do something outdoorsy! I actually love outdoorsy, as long as it doesn't include uncaged animals or spending the night someplace that doesn't involve at least 3 stars. We had been planning it for a few weeks, before weather reports were available. There were highs. There were lows. Here, point by point, is our story:

- We arrived. We parked. We went to the bathroom. It was a hole in the ground. Della was fine. Greg was fine. I was terrified.
- It was foggy. It was cold. It was raining. So basically, we were on the mountain, but we couldn't see it. The summit (and mostly everything else) was totally blocked by all the clouds and fog. All day. Oh well.
- We did some trails. Saw some waterfalls. Ate lunch. Drove around, the usual... it was a lot of fun, even with the weather.
- The leaves were various colors: Green, Brown, RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, PINKISH! Greg and Della were like "and...." and I was like "WHOA!" I've never seen fall before. Palm and cypress trees don't shed their leaves. And any leaves that changed color in Houston went straight from green to brown. So yeah. It was exciting. I have lots of pictures of just awesomely colored plants.
- Then we drove up to Sunrise, the highest point on the mountain that you can reach by car. 6400 feet up. We did one of the nature trails. A few minutes in it started to snow lightly. I got all excited because I've only seen snow twice, and most of that was just on the ground- the snow was overnight and I missed the brunt of it. I took some pictures... snow on my arm, little bits of snow sticking to the ground... etc. Then it got harder. And harder. And windier. And harder. Woohoo! We got back to my car and it was coming down hard and my car had snow on it! So of course I had to take a picture of my Florida license plate in the snow. It was hot! (but not temperature hot...)
- We also passed a Ruby Tuesday on the way there. I thought it was just a southeast thing, but apparently not. I got all excited. Between that and the leaves and the snow and the company, it was a VERY exciting day!
- We're gonna plan to go back next summer... once the Seattle clouds are gone and we can actually see the mountain. Yeah.

There's some pics below, because once in a while I can be worse than Della with the camera. Also, Charles needs to post. And respond to e-mails. Eric, I place you in charge of this. I'm offended. Also, happy Rosh Hashanah to everyone. And by everyone, I basically mean just half of Jenny.

-Phill