Not sure we will get caught up with the needed sleep on this trip…but these girls are trying. I've had naps while Kevin drives but he's on fumes by the end of the day you're about to read about.

One day in Mt. Rainier. As I'm writing this at the end of the day, we have realized this park could take 2-3 days. There are areas we didn't get to and one of those is another timed entry.

We entered at the Nisqually Entrance. There are two times corridors-Paradise and Sunrise. We only grabbed Paradise which is the longer of the two.

We did spot a black-tailed deer while checking out this first area.

Side quest of the day was going to University of Oregon. I tried to get us on the football field for one tiny picture but couldn't find one person with both authority and time. Much to the girls' embarrassment.

But we did find their training facility. Kevin was going to go tell them he was ready and had four years of eligibility left. Again, the girls were embarrassed.

Watchman Peak was our next adventure. I will say this was a quotable hike. The best was when we finally got to the top and SKV claimed, "I'm seeing the same thing I saw down there!" 🤣

1.6 miles with elevation gain of 420 feet. Those switchbacks were getting on her nervous for sure.

Self proclaimed “winners” of the hike. While they may be more in shape (I mean I did just donate part of a liver and SKV is in golf season shape) we are way funnier. 

We were aiming for Discovery Point and somehow missed it. So we discovered another part of Rim Trail and did that. Awesome views of Crater Lake and Wizard Island.

The Pinnacles took us to see volcanic spires. They are chimneys formed when hot ash cooled after the big eruption.  

First hike of the day was an easy one-I appreciated that. Sun Notch was .8 mile loop with an elevation gain of 150 feet. 

The deer also approve this trail. 

The Phantom Ship was the reward for this trail. 

Early morning for more exploring.

Shoutout to the guys in the room attached to us for waking us up at 2 something.

We would still be tired even if they hadn't been so loud. But we were so delirious after 22 awake hours that we had evil thoughts of waking them up at 5.

First waterfall of the trip. Vidae Falls was right off the main road and an easy photo op.

Day 1 Pictures by SKV

Day 1 pictures taken by SKV

It's finally time for a vacation and for 2024, we wanted to see more National Parks. 

We woke up at 3:00 am in Raleigh for our 5:00 am flight. Had a layover in Denver, Colorado before landing in Portland, Oregon. 

We flew Southwest. This was a surprise to us ladies, as we didn't plan much of this. This also meant that no one sat together. On either flight. ✈️ But in good news-when we pulled in the parking in Raleigh this morning they announced in the radio that Southwest would be assigning seats in the future. So if you know ECV, this was waaaaay out of her comfort zone. 

From there we hopped in a car and drove to Crater Lake. 

Crater Lake has a lot going on at the moment. Some construction and road closures due to wildfires.  We had a short amount of time today and more time here tomorrow. So we opted for one hike before going to our hotel. 

On the way to the spot we enjoyed the smoky views. 

We hit up Cleetwood Cove Trail (2.1 miles round-trip, 610 ft of elevation gain).  While we enjoyed the downhill walk of switchbacks-the trip back up was something else. Especially for the gonna-be-44 year old in October who has done a bunch of nothing for over a year. 

The trees here are full of character.   

This is for Mr. Howlett who is a big fan of dangerous photo ops, at least in appearance. 

We made it to the bottom and with full Venable effect mode on-Kevin had to go touch the water to see how cold it was. Naturally, this was probably beyond recommended excursions. 

After all that, a trip to Walmart and lan

ding in our hotel-we have been up 22 hours. Do not recommend that part.