Perseid Meteor Shower

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It was all over the news that the Perseid meteor shower would be a big show this year. This sparked my interest as I had never seen a meteor shower before. My friend Amy said she was going so of course I asked to tag along. It was supposed to peak at 12 AM on a Friday. We left Seattle a little after 7 to make it to Sunrise, Mt. Rainier (2nd time in one week!) just before 10. I learned my lesson last time and really bundled up with the winter gloves and 2 pairs of pants. We brought camping chairs, sleeping bags, and set up the tripods to try to catch the action. We started seeing them at 10 even but they were really coming out by 11 when the sky was darker. We sat in the parking lot which is why this is a good location to star gaze as you don't have to hike out for the good views. After awhile we did hike up the trail a little bit to get some shots of Rainier. This was my first attempt at night photography and after a few google searches and playing around, I got it a little bit right. It is crazy to shoot for hours to just get a few shots you really like. I was lucky to capture about 10 of the meteor showers with my camera. Overall it was spectacular and something I wont forget. God's creation will always leave me dumbfounded. We left a little after 1 and made it back to Seattle by 3:45. The 4 hours of sleep before work were brutal but so worth it. You will never regret saying yes to new adventures, I promise you that.

Mt. Rainier Camping Trip

We camped the night before in a campground about 30 minutes away from the park so we could get an early start Saturday. Saturday we woke up early, packed up, and went straight to Paradise. Through my research, I knew we had to hike the Skyline Trail to see incredible views. It was definitely the hardest and longest hike we have ever done at 5.5 miles with an incredible incline the whole way up. On the way we saw marmots, waterfalls, and other mountains far away. The views were breathtaking. After that we went to our campsite in the park and set up and actually had time to relax the rest of the day. Just read, sat in the hammock, grilled food, and drank wine. Sunday we woke up at a descent time, made eggs, hash browns, and turkey bacon, and then packed up. I had a couple more hikes planned even though our legs were already toast. But I really wanted to see Snow Lake which required a 2.5 mile roundtrip hike and it was another hilly one. We did it though and it was worth the view. After that we went to Grove of the Patriarchs and walked a bit through the old forest there, which was awesome. And lastly we did the road to sunrise which was beautiful, but the mountain was covered in clouds at this time.

Overall an amazing, beautiful time. So fortunate to live close enough to be able to take weekend trips to these places.

We camped the night before in a campground about 30 minutes away from the park so we could get an early start Saturday. Saturday we woke up early, packed up, and went straight to Paradise. Through my research, I knew we had to hike the Skyline Trail to see incredible views. It was definitely the hardest and longest hike we have ever done at 5.5 miles with an incredible incline the whole way up. On the way we saw marmots, waterfalls, and other mountains far away. The views were breathtaking. After that we went to our campsite in the park and set up and actually had time to relax the rest of the day. Just read, sat in the hammock, grilled food, and drank wine. Sunday we woke up at a descent time, made eggs, hash browns, and turkey bacon, and then packed up. I had a couple more hikes planned even though our legs were already toast. But I really wanted to see Snow Lake which required a 2.5 mile roundtrip hike and it was another hilly one. We did it though and it was worth the view. After that we went to Grove of the Patriarchs and walked a bit through the old forest there, which was awesome. And lastly we did the road to sunrise which was beautiful, but the mountain was covered in clouds at this time.

Overall an amazing, beautiful time. So fortunate to live close enough to be able to take weekend trips to these places.