Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise


We learned after the first attempt to get to Paradise that if you want to know if the road will be open or not, check the webcams at https://www.nps.gov/mora/learn/photosmultimedia/webcams.htm. If the roads are clear and there are cars in the parking lot – go for it, you’re golden. If you can’t see the roads or the parking lot because everything is white, you’re going to be waiting until next weekend.  

On our third weekend here, the gate was finally open, so we drove to Paradise, not once but twice. On Saturda,y it was a rainy adventure. We had the place to ourselves, but barely got out of the car. The visitors' center is a beautiful, enormous building, and the concessionaire had the dining area and the gift shop open. But the display area of the visitor center had a little sawhorse in front of it that said it was closed due to the government shutdown. Likewise, they weren’t showing the informational movie in the theater. That seemed a little petty, but we were glad to have somewhere to get inside, away from the wind and rain.

On Sunday, it was sunny, and we couldn’t believe the view on the drive up. There was a stunning view of Mt. Rainier around every other corner toward the top, and up at the visitor center it looked like it was right there, looming over it. The day before, you couldn’t see it at all, even to have any notion of where it might be. 


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