We went to Mt.Rainier this weekend for the Memorial Day holiday. It has been a rough few weeks, emotionally and health-wise, and things were no different on the mountain. We cut our stay at the hotel short because we were getting cabin fever with no internet, TV, or cell phone coverage, and because a noisy, obnoxious family moved into the room next door and the walls afforded us no shelter from their activities.

This is a picture that Mathew took of me as we headed toward Paradise on Saturday. The surroundings were of course spectacularly beautiful and it was wonderful to witness it all. We took several long hikes and I enjoyed them, as well as the greasy cheeseburgers and blackberry pie offered by the first commercial roadside establishment encountered on the way out of the park entrance.

My favorite memory is of sitting on a rock with Mathew in the middle of the Nisqually river. It was dusk and we were waiting to go back to the Inn and have dinner. It felt like we were perfectly alone together and that no one could touch us.