Zoomed Look At Mount Rainier From Texas

I saw that which you see here, this morning, on Facebook.

Anyone who has been to Seattle on a clear sky day knows that this is not what the view of Mount Rainier actually looks like from a Seattle vantage point.

Seeing this reminded me of something from way back on April 5, 1984. Well, it may have been April 6.

The reason I can sort of pinpoint the date is because on April 5 or 6 I was riding a ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, with nephews Jason and Joey.

When we got onboard the ferry and made our way to the upper deck we saw a newspaper stand with a Seattle Times sporting a big headline, reporting the news that Kurt Cobain had committed suicide. I do not remember the exact headline.

What I do remember is nephew Joey being upset at this news, asking me why would Kurt Cobain do such a thing. 

A cousin of Jason and Joey's mother was Kurt Cobain's teacher in grade school, in, I think, Montesano.

Strange coincidence, way back on August 16, 1977, I was on another ferry, heading to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands, with Jason and Joey's dad, my little brother Jake. We were barely onboard when we heard on the radio and saw a newspaper headline announcing that Elvis Presley had died.

Back to the subject of seeing the Mountain. That ferry boat ride to Bainbridge Island was on a cloudy, foggy, rainy day. A few minutes after leaving Seattle a couple engaged us in conversation. Asking if we were tourists or natives. We live here, said we, in a valley about 60 miles north.

The couple then told us they were first time visitors to Washington and Seattle. The husband of the couple asked if we could point to where Mount Rainier would be seen if it was a clear day. All three of us pointed in the Mount Rainier direction.

So, that photo at the top, and others like that, cause me to wonder how many first-time visitors to Washington arrive thinking if the sky is clear that Mount Rainier is going to look as big as it does in photos which have taken a zoomed view.

I doubt many are disappointed. The real view is still extremely impressive. I remember a Wichita Falls local, having visited Washington for the first time, found seeing all the mountains to be mesmerizing, especially when she was taken by the friends she was visiting in Seattle, to their cabin near Mount Rainer. 

I can see how if one had lived in a flat place like most of Texas, that being in a mountainous zone might be a bit overwhelming.