No internet…..Must.Not.Panic.

We bid farewell to the Brauns on Tuesday morning. We really had a great time with them, and appreciate their hospitality. We also appreciate that they were crazy enough to take in a family of five for a few days. What were they smoking?! Wait, didn’t they recently pass a law in Washington…. ?

We started our drive to Mt. Rainier National Park. Once again, we lucked out with the weather. It was a very clear day, and the majestic beauty of Mt. Rainier and the surrounding mountains was amazing. 

We enjoyed the scenery so much that we stopped at a picnic area for lunch.

After a great picnic lunch, we piled into the car and traversed our way through the park. We were all full from lunch and not really feeling up for a hike. We got through the entire park by 5pm and headed toward our hotel.

With no internet.

Did you read that? Do you understand the gravity of that statement? How in the world can I be expected to find our hotel without GPS, Maps, Google, et al? Oh sure, our parents and their parents and their parents could have done it. But, we’re getting soft as a society. If I’m looking for my hotel, I want my phone giving me turn-by-turn directions, I want to know when the hotel was built and by who (whom?), and the rates that 17 different travel sites are offering for the hotel. I broke out into cold sweats….my heart started racing…..my palms were sweating. Luckily, before a full-fledged panic attack consumed me, we saw the sign for our hotel up ahead. It was a non-internet miracle.

The place looked pretty rundown. Maybe I’m just saying that because I still had the shakes.  And I’m pretty sure this place still had dial-up.  Anyway, we had originally planned on spending a day and a half in Mt. Rainier, but since we felt like we had already seen everything we wanted to see, I sheepishly asked the guy at the desk of the hotel (who was probably born in 1823) if we could bail on our reservation so we could continue on to Portland. The guy said that they normally like cancellations 24 hours in advance, but that he would make an exception. I was going to give this place glowing reviews for their customer service on Trip Advisor, but, and perhaps I haven’t mentioned this, I had no internet.

About half an hour later, we finally got service (WHEW!) and I found a hotel in Portland where we could stay the night. I had internet. I was breathing easier.

Shortly after, we crossed our 7^th state border.

We grabbed a very late dinner (still light out!!), headed to the hotel, and unpacked for the 2,318^th time.