Northwest Day 9: Seattle to Mount Rainier

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Odometer: 1322

On the way out of Seattle, we drove by a few of the local colleges. First was Seattle Pacific University, a small college in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle not far from our hotel. Then we drove to the University of Washington, which has a large and park-like campus in the northeast part of Seattle. Finally, we drove by Northwest University, a small Christian college in Kirkland that a friend from church is attending. It’s of course impossible to evaluate schools by driving around their campuses, but it gave Celeste some points of reference for when she does begin looking at colleges in earnest.

Roasting hot dogs at Silver Springs Campground

We then drove to Sunrise, on the eastern side of Mount Rainier, stopping in Enumclaw, a pleasant town that reminded us of Angels Camp (California), for lunch. When we got to the Sunrise entrance gate, we were dismayed to learn that the campground, White River, is full. Kenna and I had a memorably good stay at White River in 1993, and we have been hoping to share that with Celeste. After consulting with the ranger and with a National Forest visitor center just outside the park, we found available space in the Silver Springs Campground in the national forest nearby. The campground was wonderful and very similar to White River, including proximity to a stream we could hear in the night. We bought some firewood and roasted hot dogs for dinner. A wonderful night of camping!

Mileage today: 126 miles

This article is part of a series about our recent driving vacation to the Pacific Northwest. To see the introductory article in the series, click here.