The day I became a full-fledged-adult

The way I see it adulthood comes in three stages 1. your 18th birthday, the first point where your considered an adult and begin to take on adult responsibilities, aka achieving debt and paying bills, yippee.  2. your 21st birthday, when you can finally, legally drink alcohol.  And finally 3.  Your 25th birthday, now you have been placed in a new "mature" age bracket and you can rent a car without selling the rights to your first born child.  So, 25 year old, congrats, you are now a "full, fledged, adult."

   My 25th birthday was nice, which is a big deal because many July 15th's of my younger years were spent among drizzle.  The weather was beautiful, and for the first time in two years I wasn't teaching on my birthday (which, at the moment I would have traded teaching on my birthday for the ability to be back in Thailand for just a little bit.  I'm so jealous of the STA World Traveler Interns).  I slept in,  then around noon we rolled out to visit one of my favorite places, Mt. Rainier.  Everyday I look out my bedroom window and see the  mountain glowing in all it's glory, taunting me.  The funny thing is I used to hate visiting Mt. Rainier, not because I didn't think it was beautiful, maybe it was because my parents insisted on dragging my sister and I up there every-year the day my tired butt finished summer camp.  After a week of romping through the forest with my friends I wasn't exactly ecstatic to hike to a glacier.  Now, after years of living away from Washington, I would do anything to get up on the mountain, which in my case meant begging and pleading until my parents finally gave in (see, they have an annual pass to the park and I'm poor, so I take advantage of these things when I can).

    As we drove through Enumclaw on our way to Sunrise I looked at the mountain and couldn't help but think that the day couldn't be more perfect.  Not a cloud in sight.

   When we finally reached the lodge I think we were all surprised to find snow... all over the place.  It definitely wasn't expected.  Elaina and I had a small snowball fight but aside from that the rest of my family decided to park themselves in a scenic, snow-less area while I took off upon the trails in pursuit of the perfect vantage point of the mountain.  It wasn't hard to find considering Sunrise Lodge is perched at the apex of the tree line.  If I'd had some more "adventure friendly" companions along with me I would have hiked much farther but I knew that with my family, accompanied by a fussy three year old, I would never hear the end of it if I didn't get back to them.  Too bad.  It just means I'll have to get back again soon, which you know I'm not opposed to.

My more portable version of Birthday Cake :)

    After our day of adventure I decided to forgo the loud and boisterous birthday dinner locations of Red Robin and Azteca, and instead headed to my favorite restaurant, BJ's. The great thing was they didn't make me wear a sombrero or silly glasses and I still got a free birthday pazookie (fresh baked chocolate chip cookie with ice cream on top), it was delicious!  I must admit though, I did start to feel a little nostalgic for the sombrero.  Maybe next year.  Nothing like wearing a sombrero to cap off the most awesome year of my life, which I've decided this year is going to be.

    So here's to the year of awesome and making it possible!  Cheers!