Sightseeing interruptus

Hello, courageous readers.

One of the caveat's of this trip was "we aren't going to plan too much; we'll go where we decide we want to go and go there."

Today was one of those days.  We wanted to go to Mt. Rainier (first picture) and we did.  

Let's start with getting lost at least once on the way out of Vancouver.  Hey, everyone needs to see the Air Canada freight hanger at the airport once in their lifetime!  

Then there was the line of traffic back from the Fraser River Tunnel.  They turned the closed lane to green as we passed.  Like "Michael, you aren't supposed to move through here quickly."

Today's visit to the border guard, which was supposed to take 38 minutes (according to the sign), took 27.  Michael's answer to "where are you from" was "Pennsylvania" and to "why were you in Canada?" "vacation" and the guard said "have a nice trip." :)

Then all the time to Mt. Rainier.  For those who don't know, even though sometimes Rainier seems to dominate the Seattle skyline, it is not close by, at least in driving time.

One story we heard was about Rainier, which a local Native tribe called "the walking mountain."  According to one of these myths, Rainier is the mother of mountains & Mt. Baker (150 miles farther north) is the father; mom has left dad to "walk" -- leaving seven smaller mountains (children) with Dad.  Michael particularly likes this story because Rainier seems to loom over the landscape, but it seems to disappear frequently.  Part of that is angles -- behind a hill, behind a tree -- and then there are the 275 days a year of clouds.  The fact we had trouble today finding the mountain just fit with its indigenous myth. 

 Leaving Rainier, heading south toward Portland, we had this view:

This shot answers the question "what IS a waterfall" as I insisted (charmingly, I'm sure) that what we saw running down the mountains was not "waterfall" but runoff.  I was asked for a definition and made one up.    Then I saw this and said "THAT's a real waterfall."  All agreed.

We decided to go from Rainier to Mt. St. Helen's.  This is not an easy trip (when it says "next gas 54 miles" on the middle of a mountain, you pay attention) and we wound our way to the base of St. Helen's park, where we found a sign like this: 

We didn't believe it.  So, we drove up 22 miles to find two gates stopping us from going farther.  Stubborn jerks.

Then we decided to head south to Mt. Hood.  We weren't five miles before confronting another orange sign saying the road was closed.

It was then I coined the title term.  Sigh.

We had already cancelled our reservations at the highly recommended Peruvian restaurant in Portland.

A long day on the road, with some disappointments, but we really enjoyed the majestic natural scenery of the Cascades -- huge pine trees, snow in June, huge mountains, "run off" everywhere.

And then there was the fun (I have been told I undersold yesterday's fun).

Here are the witty highlights:

Today's "Barb", to end a discussion on whether or not to eat mayonnaise, "it's bland; it's merely a lubricant to make your food go down."  Wow.

To which, Michael added "said the archbishop to the actress." :)

Although the actress-archbishop line has been much used in our first four days plus, this one struck us all as very funny, and very apropos.  Props to Michael.

My day was made by my daughter, on learning I had gotten a tattoo, telling her mother she had to get one because "my father can't be cooler than I am."  Her mother, as a good mother should, assured her that there was "no way your father is cooler than you."  Since this conversation took place in the car, we all heard it and got great humor out of it.  No one has ever (accurately) accused me of being cool AND whose daughter ever has?!?!?!!?

And, for a final bon mot, the sign in the bar and grill in Packwood where we had lunner (lunch + dinner), which reminds us all of the 2nd thing to go: