Movin' West - Day 27

Sunday, September 28 - a beautiful day, sunny and warm, clear blue sky. We started the day by attending Mass at St. Joseph's Church in Elma. They only have 1 Mass, at 9:00AM Sunday, and the whole town shows up, kids and all! Today, they did 5 Baptisms during the Mass, and this was
the longest, loudest Mass we have ever attended. After Mass, we packed up the motor home and got underway for Mt. Rainier. The trip to Rainier took about two hours, and we landed just in time for lunch.

After lunch we jumped into the car and headed over to Mt. Rainier National Park. Our destination was the Sunrise Highway, on the east face. The last time we visited Mt. Rainier, we entered via the west entrance, and stopped at the visitor's center, then drove up the west face to the base lodge. Today they were not collecting an entrance fee, so there were lots of people sightseeing in the park. We saw mostly people from Washington, but there were occasionally people from California. We got lots of pictures, and most of them are in the web album, so be sure to check that out.

I have to pass along a funny story that happened yesterday (Saturday) morning. I forgot to pass this along in yesterday's journal, so I'm making up for that today. The story actually begins on Friday morning in Anacortes. We went into town before we left to find a Post Office and
Bank of America. While there, we stopped at a donut shop (Happy Donuts), and got coffee. We also purchased 4 donuts and 6 donut holes. We ate 2-1/2 donuts that morning, and polished off the holes later that day, on the way to Elma. That night, we went to bed, and forgot to put the bag of donuts in the microwave (so the dogs don't get them). The next morning, as we were making the bed, Kathy kicked something which was on the floor at the side of the bed. She didn't see what it was because the spread was hanging to the floor, so she bent over to retrieve it, and it was the donut bag!! Fortunately, the donuts were still in the bag. Apparently, Wilson had climbed onto the couch near the stove and grabbed the bag during the night. We think he was hiding it, knowing that we would be going out in the morning, so he would have all the time in the
world to eat the donuts while we were gone! I think he was bummed that we found it!

Tomorrow, we head south into Portland, OR. Our plan is to visit the Zoo there, because Kathy read that they had a baby (400 lbs) elephant. From Portland, we will stop in Canby, just to the south, to visit Kathy's cousin, Joey Dyer, and his wife Rosemary. We hope to be able to put up some pictures of the visit, and of the baby elephant, so be sure to check back.

Here's the link to today's web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripMtRainierDay27?authkey=5ZaqYC0wUY4#5251678306721011410