Seattle to San Francisco - Wednesday, June 8th Mt. Rainier and Dinner at the Space Needle

Wednesday, June 8th 2016
Mount Rainier by day and Space Needle by Night.  Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the Rainier pictures for information regarding the Space Needle.




Happy Birthday!!!!!!!  The National Park Service is celebrating its 100th year this year!  I hope you have the opportunity to visit a National Park and experience all of the beauty and wealth of information found there.

Mount Rainier National Park was established in 1899 and is our nation's fifth oldest national park filled with old growth forest, subalpine flower meadows and beautiful waterfalls!

 Mt. Rainier is an active strato-volcano which rises 14,410 feet above sea level. It is the highest mountain in Washington State and the Cascade Mountain Range.  Mount Rainier is also the most heavily glaciated peak within the lower 48 states.

At the summit you will find two volcanic craters each with a diameter greater than 1000 feet.  The most recent recorded eruption was between 1820 and 1854.  Many eyewitnesses also reported eruptive activity in 1858, 1870, 1879, 1882 and 1894. 

Mount Rainier is listed as a Decade Volcano or one of the 16 volcanoes with the greatest likelihood of causing great loss of life and property if eruptive activity resumes. 

The current name was given to Mt. Rainier by George Vancouver, who named it in honor of his friend, Rear Admiarl Peter Rainier.  The map of the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804-1806) refers to it as Mt. Regniere.

Prior to this, Mount Rainier was known by Native Americans as Talol, or Tacoma or Tahoma, Tacobeth and Pooskaus.





Unedited photos

Reflection in the window

I can't pass up getting a picture of the flag!

Yellow Flowers!!!! No need to say more :)

The Space Needle is an observation tower built for the 1962 World's Fair.  It is a compromise between the designs of two men, Edward E. Carlson and John Graham Jr. 

It is 605 ft high, 138 feet wide and weighs 9,550 tons.  The Space Needle can withstand winds of up to 200 miles per hour and earthquakes of up to 9.1.  It has 25 lightning rods.  

By comparison the Washington Monument is 555 feet and the San Jacinto Monument in Texas is 567 feet tall. 

The observation deck is 520 feet up and the rotating SkyCity restaurant is at 500 feet. The restaurant rotates 360 degrees every 47 minutes.  The elevators travel at 10  mph and take 41 seconds. On windy days the elevators slow to 5 mph

It was a nice treat and quite a surprise to have mom and dad join us for dinner at SkyCity in the Space Needle!

The Chihuly Glass Museum is located next to the Space Needle.

After catching a glimpse of the Glass Museum Gardens through the

hedges and from the Space Needle Elevators, I knew I had to visit!

Waiting to Open!  A promise yet to be filled!

Caylin and I had to go out on the outer observation deck for the view!