This is an incredible hike—and we managed to go on the perfect fall day.  We must be doing something right!

We have a group of German exchange students who stay with us every other year.  They are from Gustrov, near the Baltic Sea, and their sister school is in Yakima.  We absolutely love having them stay with us, and have gotten to be friends with their leader and chaperone.

We’ve gone hiking with them many other times, but this was the first time they’ve come early enough in the year for us to go hiking at Sunrise—and it was incredible. … Read Full Story

August 19, 2009. We’ve always loved this trail, so even though it was late in the afternoon, we decided to go for it.  It was our 15th wedding anniversary, and we thought it was only fitting that we do one of our favorite trails.  And, as it turned out, it was a wonderful time to day to go!

We like to start the trail on the Wenatchee National Forest side and hike it clockwise to that we get wonderful views of Mt. Rainier for its last half.  To get to this starting point, just follow Highway 410 East until you… Read Full Story

Some friends were visiting from Hawaii with some other friends of theirs, so we all decided it would be fun to go up to Crystal Mountain for Sunday brunch at the Summit House Bistro.  What a fabulous idea it turned out to be!

Their daughter, Isabella, had never been on a chairlift before, so that was a huge part of the attraction for her.  And most of them had never seen the view of Mt. Rainier from Crystal Mountain’s summit—which is one of the best views of Mt. Rainier anywhere!  And to top it all off, we were all really… Read Full Story