We got an earlier start and drove up to Paradise Visitor Center while parking was still available.  Paradise is in the clouds this morning.  We had breakfast on the tailgate and then went into the Visitor's Center.  The Henry Jackson Memorial Visitor Center was built in 1964 and was very innovative design, but not very energy efficient.  The round design is very cool, allowing for great viewing of the area, but the roofs were not built for the 15-20 feet of snow it gets each year.  The heaters built into the roof to melt snow are not very efficient, use a lot of diesel fuel to run and they are very expensive to repair.  They are building a new Visitor Center to be opened in 2008.  

Rainier has his head in the clouds again today.  It's a rainy and overcast day that this area is known for, so we head out.  

We did a lot of driving today heading for the Washington coast and Olympic National Park.  Another forest service road acted as camp for the night.