In Which We Go To The Rainforest

Connor seemed to be feeling just fine this morning, so we took him to school, where he had a great day.  Jer was still feeling very poorly, however, so he spent most of the day at home asleep.  He doesn't get sick very often, so it's unusual that he's feeling bad enough to need to stay home.  I hope he feels a bit better tomorrow.

My parents, Connor and I left Jer at home in bed and drove up to Carbon River area on Mount Rainier.  It's pretty amazing up there; while the other side of Mount Rainier-- the side with the glaciers and wildflowers-- is the more popular side, Jer and I have never been there because we're so enchanted with Carbon River that we never manage to make it the rest of the way.  Due to large amounts of rainfall and mild temperatures, the whole area is a temperate rainforest.  This isn't what you'd typically think of when you hear the word rainforest; there are no monkeys or parrots here; instead you'll find towering, moss covered trees, ferns of every variety from finger-sized to waist-high, trailing wreaths of fog, and a creeping green haze over everything.  It's like stepping back in time.  One walks around half-expecting dinosaurs (or vampires or Ewoks, depending on your tastes) to step out from behind one of the massive cedars at any moment.  We walked the loop trail out there taking pictures of all the glorious vegetation, and then ate a little picnic lunch and spent another half an hour or so tooling around some of the tiny towns on the road up, checking out all the neat old downtown areas and the picturesque houses. 

It was a great afternoon, though towards the end Connor started getting a little antsy.  He's not used to taking trips like that on school days as we usually save them for the weekends, so he wasn't quite sure what to make of the change in routine.  But he did very well overall, and he went down easily for bed shortly after we returned home, with no fuss and better yet, no nausea.  Either he wasn't sick at all and was just having a bit of a sensory day yesterday, or that was about the shortest illness he's ever had. 

I love having such wonderful green spaces within forty-five minutes of my house; we can live in the suburbs and yet have easy access to both the big city and some really wild country! 

~Jess