We broke camp and stopped briefly at a grocery store for a couple of things before heading into Mount Rainier National Park.  We started at the Longmire Visitor Center, had lunch and caught the free shuttle bus to Paradise Visitor Center at the base of the great mountain.  

Paradise truly is... Paradise!  We hiked the 5.2 mile Skyline Trail overlooking the Nasqually Glacier and lots of waterfalls.  The alpine meadows are covered in more wildflowers than you can imagine!!  They have a very short growing season here and we were lucky enough to catch them blooming.  Words cannot begin to describe the outrageously beautiful colors of wildflowers set against the background of the deep green trees and the pure snow caps. The peak of Rainier is in the clouds most of the time, but near the uppermost point of our hike, the clouds blew away and we could see the beautiful peak for a couple of minutes.  Wow!  This is one gorgeous mountain!  We met another couple at Panorama Point, Gary and Michelle from Seattle, and chatted for a minute.  We continued our loop hike and saw more beautiful waterfalls and wildflowers.  We had to hurry towards the end of our hike to catch the shuttle bus back to Longmire and our truck by 7:15pm.  

We left the park to find a restaurant for dinner.  One place we went into but assumed it was closed when no one acknowledged us.  As we were walking back out to the truck, we asked someone coming out if they knew of another restaurant that might be opened.  He told us that it was only a few minutes past closing and they would serve us here.  We told him that he had been there a few minutes and no one came to seat us.  He's the owner of the restaurant and he assured us that we WOULD be served!  The place was a little more expensive than we were intending, but the food was great and we needed a good meal.  

We found a camp spot next to the Nasqually river for the night.