Upcoming trip to visit family +hiking pics (because thats all I do nowadays) in 2020 Vision

I realized that while I have had my trip to Wisconsin planned for a few months now, I haven’t wrote about it yet here. I’m leaving either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning. My visits to my family (they all live in Wisconsin; I live in Washington state) are both anticipated and loathed. I’ve been trying to put this trip off because of the COVID and my family being pretty lax about it in general. I’m from rural Wisconsin (one stoplight in my hometown!), but the COVID is spreading like wildfire there because people in general are sharing the belief that “its not that bad” or “its a democratic hoax”. Anywho, I haven’t seen any of my family (mom, dad, sister, step-parents, etc) in 2 years to the month. Two years! So I’m going to go, hope there are no huge family get-togethers (those tend to be where lots of people are getting infected), enjoy the time, and then leave and come back to my happy place. Basically, my sister told me that my niece forgot who I am, and that was the guilt trip that won me over.

I’ve been trying to enjoy summer here as much as possible. I took last Wednesday off work to go on a hike with friends and afterwards, me and one of the friends went paddleboarding on the lake at the base of trail. It was so much fun and definitely worth the 8 hours of PTO. I wouldn’t mind if we made mid-week group hikes more of a thing. Work might, but meh.

Pictures from that hike:

View from summit of Mount Storm King:

Lake Crescent (where we paddleboarded):

Today, I went on another hike. This one was in Mount Rainier National Park at an area I had yet to explore. Mount Rainier National Park has like 4 different entrances from various sides/corners, and this one I had not yet entered. The hike I did today is called Tolmie Peak, and it leads you to a firetower lookout with an amazing view of Mount Rainier and Eunice Lake in front of it:

Eunice Lake at lake-level:

I saw a black bear on the drive up to the trailhead, but luckily I didn’t see any on the actual trail. I did, however, come across a mom/fawn duo that served as my trail guides before venturing off on their own adventure:

The view of the firetower lookout from Eunice Lake:

and the Firetower at the top:

Anywho, thats all I got. Next entry will likely be either while I’m in Wisconsin or after my trip. I’m taking two weeks off and road tripping there. I HAVE to take my dog, and I get nervous about putting him on a plane. I’m debating on taking my time to get there and visiting Glacier National Park on the way there. It isn’t EXACTLY “along the way”, but its close…enough. I will likely visit Badlands National Park in South Dakota because that IS on the way. Usually I can drive a loooooong time before having to stop and get there in record speed, but I kind of feel like sightseeing this time.