Papaya Mom

And off we went to take Papaya on her first trip up a Mountain. We were ready to show her the love of the great outdoors, hiking and camping, oops, no camping just yet. On the drive down we stopped for lunch and Papaya learned the joy of wearing sunglasses rather than just snatching them from Dad’s face.

Our first stop was Merrill Lake just south of the Volcano where we met some fly fishers and battled bugs. We had planned for a hike along a marsh with views of the mountain but the bugs at our “rest stop” at the lake helped us to reconsider going near a marsh. The fishermen were exicted about “the hatch” which we thought at first meant the salmon hatchery had just released the salmon which made these guys sort of silly fishermen. Then one explained that this fly larve that spends the winter on the lake floor was floating to the top and hatching (ew) and this got the fish very excited to eat them since these flies were as big as butterflies (double ew). Adventure Dad and I smiled with the “of course” look as we realized these guys were not just fishing a stocked lake as we had assumed. Papaya liked the lake and the views but Dad did not want to touch her feet to the warm water, “there are bugs in there!”



We stopped at the way back to our hotel for dinner in Cougar, WA. There was only one restaurant/bar and it was interesting. The booths were all of crushed red velvet and the social variety was interesting. We sat near the cashier and overheard a conversation about a new dressing that tasted funny, “is it ranch AND honey mustard?” I was also amused that this place, the back half of which was a bar, hosted the town’s only AA meeting two nights per week. Um, if the meeting is booring just grab yourself a drink and everyone will pay attention to you?

The next morning we were up early, as is normal for parents of small babies. We got up to Johnston Ridge Observatory an hour before it opened and took the chance to take a hike along the rim trail. Papaya went into the Bijorn and down the hill we hiked. Unlike my last visit to the Mountain, there was NO wind so the hike was a bit hot but the views of the volcano were great. The “new” humpback dome was letting off steam in a slow trickle which freaked Adventure Dad out, but having seen it every night on the news for months I figured we were okay. We were.

Last we took Papaya to a lake created by the blast, Coldwater Lake. We had planned to hike the Hummoks Loop but when we arrived at the almost-empty parking lot there was a “Washington State Corrections Work Team” Van, empty, and we decided not to be the first hikers they met out on the trail. So, we went on to where there had been a river pre-blast, but now there is a lake. We walked along a boardwalk and looked at flowers and bugs and water and views of the mountain. By the time we re-loaded the car around noon Papaya was exhausted by all this and decided to fall asleep. We used the chance to get down the mountain and towards Seattle where we were scheduled to pick up friends from the airport that afternoon.

It was a great trip, not as much hiking as pre-baby, but fun nonetheless.

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