a winter day in paradise

The first day of 2015 was one of bright bright blue skies, not a cloud in any direction. So we took advantage and drove up to Paradise on the flanks of Mt Rainier's south side. Shockingly, they plow the road year round -- which is remarkable since its 5500 ft elevation makes for the highest road in Washington state. We threw the snowshoes in the car, packed a lunch full of holiday leftovers, and hit the road. It was a day of firsts -- first of the year, first time snowshoeing in the state, and Adrienne's first time up on the mountain.

 These are the flats going up to Paradise - once you get out of the trees, the meadows open up and that's where all the famous Mt Rainier wildflowers are (in summer!)

But getting up there requires some uphill snowshoeing - and it was HOT!

Then the mountain starts to come into view...

"Shaka brah," says AJ.

Other mountains start to open up too, like Mt Adams and the flat-topped Mt St Helens

Moon-like scenery

AJ on top of the world!

Our thoughts are that no Eagles fan has ever done this - we envision this picture on their JumboTron next year

Closeup shots of the mountain

Us!

The parking lot at Paradise

The mountain got super pink on our way out of the park