Wow, great time, but short.
I am already planning on going there again next year for a whole week or more.
I had to cut it short this time.
Even though I took sunscreen with me, I was kicking back in my camping lounge chair in the shade underneath my Camping Labs awning.
Well, the sun shifted and my face was exposed for about ten minutes or less.
Being up at that high of an altitude you can cook really fast.
I was red like a tomato, but it did not hurt all that much.
I thought it best to come home a little early in case I came down with a fever which has happened before when I have received a sunburn.
This was my first vacation since about 2001.
I took a week off last summer after building up vacation time after my Boeing recall, but did not do much.
I have also been out of camping for a long time, I would say my last trip out was around 1997 with my sons when they were quite young.
So this trip was pretty much known as a “shake down run”, testing out new bought gear and getting back into the swing of it again.
I am hooked, making plans for my next vacation there already.
I did not get as many pictures as I would have liked, I was to busy walking and hiking around the area.
Met a lot of people who use to come to this campground long ago like I did, and met some who come every year to the same campground.
I use to come here ages ago when the kids were younger.
I did not get any pictures of the inside of my AirLand, but it sure slept nice.
The first night I slept close to nine hours.
At home I am lucky to get five to seven hours on a work night, and around eight hours on the weekends.
Sleeping up ever so high in the roof top tent was a blast.
I did not get much peace there though.
There are 112 campsites there, and I swear almost everyone had to stop, stare, and ask questions about the Maggiolina AirLand roof top tent.
Many had never seen one before yet alone a regular style root top tent that is all canvas, and not canvas and fiberglass like mine.
They all thought it was pretty neat, and wanted to know if it was warm.
Heck yes, the temps got way down late night/early morning up there, and I was nice and toasty in the penthouse.
It also helped though that I had flannel sheets and a winter weight down comforter.
I woke up the first night for a bit, and I felt the outside of the comforter, and it was ice cold.
Yet I was as warm as toast underneath.
I get cold in sleeping bags, even good ones.
This felt like I was sleeping in my own bed at home, only except the 3” mattress is a lot harder than at home.
The weather was warm, with a light rain Tuesday evening for a few hours.
I ducked under the Camping Labs awning for awhile, then later got a nice fire going and stayed by it, and the fire pretty much kept me dry from the heat.
Lots of wildlife up there.
Camp Robbers, the birds that swoop down and steal food from your hand, blue jays, chipmunks, deer, and bear.
I was shooting a video as you will see in the YouTube video, and coming back into camp when I saw a deer the next site over.
I got some good footage of it, but was not able to switch the digital camera back to photo mode to squeeze off a few pics of it.
Also there was a black bear and its cub on a trail I was hiking with others, we gave it plenty of room.
I was not able to get the camera turned on in time to get a decent shot before they scrambled into the trees off of the hiking trail.
I will have a separate thread up on the gear I have stocked up on this past season, and I will update this thread with the link.
Even though my trip was cut short, I had a fantastic time.
It is nice to be away from work for a week, and to take a break from computers, TV, and phones!
The YouTube vid is three vids put together.
In part of it, you can see the cravaces on Mt. Rainier.
The face right there I saw climbers going up with the guy’s binoculars that has the fifth wheel rig at the spot where I was shooting from.
YouTube - Summer Vacation 2008 Mt. Rainer National Park, WA.
Forty pictures here, so it may take awhile to load the eight MB or so of them..
2007 Silver Ti FJC, AT, Pre-Runner 
Linear Mode
