From the River at Cougar Rock

After a fun evening at the Seahawks stadium for the post-conference party last night, I (Annie) managed to wake up at a sensible time this morning. The conference has finished, but I'm staying on for a couple of days for an explore. 

I headed over to pick my hire car up, then navigated my way out of Seattle (no mean feat with so many highway ramps and exits). For all the years I've been coming here, I've always been fascinated by Mount Rainier, who is so imposing when visible from Seattle - and at times disappears completely. So a couple of hours' drive later, I found myself at Mount Rainier National Park.

I had a meander up the road from the Nisqually entrance, all the way up to Paradise, where the road currently ends. Stopping frequently along the way, I took lots of photographs and relaxed back into nature. The blip shows the view up to Mount Rainier from the river at Cougar Rock.