I remember a time in my childhood when the family was discussing the last piece of chocolate around the campfire. My father took it. "WHY?!" we cried. "Because I drive the truck."
Now that I drive the truck... er... minivan masquerading as an SUV... I get the last piece of chocolate. More importantly, now that I'm the dad I get to say where we're adventuring on Father's Day.
This year I decided to celebrate myself along with the the opening of Chinook Pass and the beginning of the second snowshoe season. Unfortunately, with a junior adventurer still in recovery mode we couldn't chase nachos around the Naches Peak Loop, but we could still wander around Tipsoo Lake.
The snow has been better on late season trips here, but there was still plenty. Rather than simply walk to the lake from the parking area we traversed up and to the west to gain some very modest elevation. It might not have been far, but at least it was steep. Thank goodness for traction rails on our Tubbs Snowshoes that kept us stuck to the slope. Once we were high enough the snowshoes came off and we glissaded back down to the lake. (Safety pro-tip: Always remove your snowshoes before sliding down a slope.)
Some of the more ambitious male juveniles on our team decided to haul half a log back up the slope to try to ride it down. I shared my fatherly wisdom and told him it was a bad idea. He exercised his pre-teen prerogative and ignored me completely. In fact, he did surprisingly well, but he's still not getting a snowboard or a skateboard.
After more climbing and glissading we returned to the truck and changed into clothes that weren't wet with melted snow. The kids were ready for ice cream because, well, it's ice cream time after we adventures. That's just the way it is.
But wait! It's Father's Day and we're not done. We've been working through the Mount Rainier National Park Citizen Ranger program and have completed two of the four required quests. Since we were close to Ohanapecosh we stopped there and tackled the Ancient Wonder quest. The kids might have groaned, but they got to see a sweet waterfall, great flowers, and got another stamp. Only one more to go.
And even if they didn't appreciate the quest and the stamp we got to see a bagpiper standing on the side of the road serenading the Mountain. I nearly ran off the road in surprise. The kids wanted to go back, but the ice cream was calling.
We're going to have a hard time topping this adventure next year. Maybe we'll turn it into a Father's Day backpacking trip. After all, it's my day.
