A "Glitchy" Day...

We've been trying to get to one of my favorite spots in this here beautiful Pacific Northwest - the Chinook Pass by Mt Rainier.  Ya see, July is spring in the mountains and the wildflowers in that area are unsurpassed.

But you have to get finished with winter first.

We have been to Chinook in the past and hit snow in July and June (if it's even open in June).  But it's the 24th!  It's nearly August!  And you can see by these here pitchers that the snow is still very thick in places.

We were chauffeuring the DeBellings out to see some of our PNW beauty.  Well, it was beautiful but not as we had planned.  We still had our picnic lunch and wandered and took pictures but it was quite different with the snow.  Rachel wore flip flops!  Ever try walking in the snow in flip flops?

After we finished circling the lake we opted to continue our drive around the mountain.  Rick had the guys (him, Mark and Markie) in his Neon and I had the girls (me, Rachel, Celeste and Bekah) in my toaster.  Rick led and we ended up driving clear around to Packwood.  When we looked at a map we saw a "short cut" road that was closed during the winter that we thought  would be fun to try out.  So we headed that way, I had my GPS plugged in and it told me to turn (a couple short blocks too early).  Rick was in front of me so he didn't know I'd turned even though I honked.  I immediately found the right road and waited for him to come driving down it toward me.  He didn't show up.  So I drove back the the intersection and parked on the corner and waited.  Nothing.  No cell service.  No way to get a message to them.  So after waiting 10 minutes or so we decided we all knew which way we were going so we would just go.  

It was a very pretty road, very dark and curvy, following a river with little waterfalls.  We finally made it about 25 miles to Ashford.  Still no cell service and then the GPS was messing up telling me to turn.  I finally checked with someone in a gas station.  No turning, just go straight.  We passed Elbe and I was finally more familiar with my surroundings.  About half way between Northwest Trek and Graham we finally got cell service. 

I tried to call Rick - it went straight to voice mail, meaning he had no service.  Mark too.  So I just kept heading toward home.  

Rick finally called and we discovered we weren't too far apart.  But he tried to make up time by taking a different route and ended up getting slowed down - by a cop!  He got a speeding ticket!

When we all were finally home together we got to discuss how everything went and Rick thought we may have forgotten something at a rest stop so he went back to that.  He thought we may have missed the turn so he went down the road that way.  He sat at the same spot we had sat at earlier.  He finally came to the same conclusion - how long do you wait?  How long do you look?  We're all adults and know the route.  So he finally gave up and headed home.

So, although a day fraught with glitches it was nonetheless an enjoyable one.  We'll try for the wildflowers again in maybe 3 weeks.  

And we'll take walkie-talkies.