We tried not to screw around too much before getting all ready and hopping in the car to drive to Northwest Trek. It was about an hour drive and it was colder out but not raining. We started out walking the nice paved trails and visiting the animals in exhibits much like the zoo.
We looked at the bears, lynx, coyotes, wolfs and a few other predatory animals in cages then made our way to the tram stop and shortly later boarded our tram.
We had a pretty good guide drive us around for 5 miles or so around a bunch of acres of park land. There is a fence around the park but once inside the tram tour all the animals are just left alone to roam wherever they want. We saw a big herd of Bison losing their winter coats.
The bison had several light colored babies with them that Peanut and Karl really liked. Here is a video of this part of the tour http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukETAGIFAME
It should give you an idea of how things worked. Besides the bison we saw deer, caribou, sheep, elk, geese (with babies), ducks and my favorite the mountain goats.
And Heath’s favorite the moose.
The tram lasted an hour and we saw a bunch of herds off all those prey animals and learned some cool stuff about them and the park and forests in the northwest.
After the ride was over we walked the rest of the predator exhibits and the other animals that we didn’t see on the tour like the beavers and eagles and stuff.
We were getting hungry by the end of the park so headed outside for a car pick nick.
We ate sandwiches and chips and cookies and of course the nice day was interrupted with some rain. We finished lunch in the car then started driving. We went about an hour farther and reached the gates of Mt. Rainier National Park.
Pops had a pass so we drove right in and made our way up the winding path through the thick Washington forest. At first we noticed some impressive trees then an interesting creek bed that had some water going through but looked like at times it had a crazy amount of run off coming through with some of the giant trees in it. As we got higher and higher we found little spots of old dirty snow. Then we saw more and more snow and before we knew it there was lots of snow.
The snow made us restless and excited so we got out at some waterfalls for some pictures
And of course we started picking up the snow and rolling it into balls.
And the next thing we knew the we were having a snowball fight in May.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPPVQCjvs0o
We tossed snowballs and climbed huge banks and looked at some beautiful scenery. We drove farther up the mountain and got out again and played in even deeper snow.
We knew it was only a mater of time before Peanut got cold so we got to the car before this happened and headed back down the road and watched the white forest disappear and the green forest reappear. We drove the 2 hours home and Peanut and Karl talked the whole way while Heath slept. At home Pops quickly got dinner started and the boys ran outside to play with the neighbors.
We had a great chicken pasta dinner then the boys went back outside to play. Heath and I went back to the beach hoping to catch the tide out but it was still in so we just hiked down then back up and headed to Wal-Mart for some plane supplies and thank you gifts. Once home the boys all said their goodbyes and got ready for bed. Peanut fell right asleep and Heath and I hung out with Pops and Annie till bedtime.
This morning we are letting Peanut sleep as long as he can since we will get back to KC till midnight. Once he is up we are going to pack and hopefully get a nature hike in at Capitol Forest 30 minutes away.