With some reluctance, we bade farewell to Walla Walla...and Spencer, Vino (the winery cat) and the vineyards as we headed out to Mt. Rainier National Park. As I mentioned before, the terrain out in western Washington is pretty dry and desolate. I've always thought of both Washington and Oregon as lush and green...I was surprised to learn that a good portion of Washington, and even more of Oregon, is "high desert". As we headed out of Walla Walla, we saw a number of fires...planned or natural, we didn't know.
The drive to Mt. Rainier took us through the towns of Prosser and Yakima. We stopped in Prosser to visit Chinook Cellars and the Hogue Winery. I've had some of Hogue's wines before...so...after the tasting, I picked up a few bottles...I don't know about you, but I'm sensing a "pattern" here.
We finally arrived at Mt. Rainier National Park late in the early evening...just in time to set up camp before the sun went down. This was by far the most beautiful campsite of my entire trip...a site surrounded by Douglas Fir and Redwood Pines towering well over a hundred feet in the air...my photos do not do them justice.
Dinner was two grilled steaks (picked up in Yakima) and a delicious salad of heirloom tomatoes (picked up from the farm market in Oregon), feta cheese, basil, champagne vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil. I do not think that I have ever dined in a more majestic place.
And, by the way...I almost forgot to mention...I got the nicest e-mail from my new friends Ilse and Bev (I met them while camping in Denali). Their Alaska trip is almost over, and they'll be heading home soon. I hope that I have the opportunity to see them again sometime in the future.
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