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Jessica Grammer is a swimming athlete from Steelville, Mo. She wrote this blog after visiting Mt. Rainier with her family. It is unedited.

Today I had the opportunity to go hang out with my family. Needless to say, I was very excited. I began texting my dad at 5:20am asking when he was coming to get me. It was in one of his texts back to me that he told me we were taking a picnic lunch up to Mt. Rainier. Now I was super excited!

My whole family came and picked me up from the swimming pool at 8:00am. I was a little disappointed because they did not bring my Service Dog Tank, but I was happy to see everyone else.

We started our two hour long climb up the mountain. Again, I was a bit disappointed because I wanted to hike it not drive it. but I really wanted to see the mountain and so I just sat back and let my Aunt Angie do the driving.

My aunt is a crazy driver and driving up a mountain brought that out even more. I was glad I was in the backseat looking out the windows at all the beautiful scenery. the road was winding and the huge trees at the beginning seemed to shrink the higher we went. but the trees were all so beautiful and green. Even the trees that did not have any bark on them looked like columns of silver. And them we turned a corner and I saw Mt. Rainier! The top was covered with white snow that was melting and running down the White River. By this point all I wanted to do was jump out of the car and make a snowball to throw at my brother.

We finally drove 6400 feet up to Sunset Visitor Center and walked around. I found a nice pile of snow and made a huge snowball and threw it at my brother. It hit him in the chest and shocked him a little because I threw a snowball at him.

We walked around the visitor center and met a nice Ranger named Sarah. She was teaching about the history of Mt. Rainier. I was surprised to find out that Rainier fought for the British and never stepped foot on Mt. Rainier. My mom and dad bought me a pin of Mt. Rainier to add to all my trading pins and a book mark.

We went outside to the car and grabbed our picnic lunch. It was awesome. I ate a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit that my mom and aunt packed. We ate lunch and then cleaned up so no bears would get our leftovers. And then went on a hike up the mountain. Walking up the mountain was hard work. it took the breath out of me, but I loved the hike. When we came back down we decided to take some pictures for Team Missouri.
Going up the mountain made re realize that Just like getting to the USA Games, getting to the mountain had lots of twists and turns and it took work. But just like the USA Games, seeing the mountain up close was an amazing experience that I will remember. I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to experience the USA Games and Mt. Rainier.