It's a bit of a drive from there still which has its own charm. Large patches of wild pea or foxglove painting the side of the road with their whites and purples with views of different rivers and mountains as we went. When we pulled into the park though the welcome sign is probably the best one we've seen so far. It's got a mountain background with some glacial snow on top. We pull in to get a picture with the kids and a family pulls in behind us and asks if we want a picture with all of us. We politely declined but also offered to do the same for them and they declined as well. Already off to a nicer start than Glacier in that people are at least polite and generally nice. We head in to the visitor center after getting some really nice views of a swift river through the valley to pick up a map and ask about a trail that Court had read about but we had forgotten the name of, more about that trail later. As we arrive at the visitor center, the parking lot is pretty full but people are again being normal humans. By which I mean, not walking in the middle of the road, not trying to claim spots, not causing more traffic by partially blocking lanes while waiting for someone. Again, better than Glacier. I wait and talk to ranger about what we remember about the trail to try to get the name and she informed me that it sounded like the Happy Creek Nature Trail.
We now have the information to better plan our route which we decide to drive out to the trail and see the overlooks and such on the way. We pull away and make many stops on the way to the trail to take in the many sights, waterfalls, rapids, valleys, mountains, glaciers. The water here is a beautiful light aqua that I don't know that I've seen anywhere else and it adds to the beauty. At one stop for a waterfall we run into the same family from the entry sign again! Still very polite and offer to let us go by rather than wait for their picture but we wait it out. We eventually make it to Diablo Lake. The whole lake is that lighter aqua that we'e been seeing throughout the park and it is just stunning with the large mountains with their glaciers as backdrops. While there enjoying the view a man and his son come up next to us. The man is chewing obnoxiously loud, so much so that Court says that he was probably trying to call the mountain goats. He almost immediately upon seeing the lake says, again obnoxiously loud,"Why does the lake look like that?" This was of course said while standing literally in front of an information plaque that explains why the water is colored the way that it is. Alright, so not all of the people here are nice.
We finally reach the trail after some more stops and all get ready. This trail is supposedly a third of a mile boardwalk loop with a three quarter of a mile spur up to a waterfall. We start the arrival by having difficulty parking because someone had taken up two spaces but shortly after we found another location to park they left so we took one of their two spaces. The initial part of the walk is really pretty through some damp areas fed by Happy Creek which indeed looks like a happy little babbling brook. We reach the branch for the spur and off we go to see our waterfall. Not far onto the spur we see a bunch of downed trees and have to pick our way around them to keep moving but it's not terribly painful. The path follows the creek generally and it is very quiet and enjoyable. Suddenly the trail turns left and goes around a different side of the hill that we have been walking along. I figure that maybe it got rocky or steep on this side so they went to the other side to bring us around a different way. We are still greeted with some nice views of other mountains and flowers. I even get to see a small cluster of Indian Pipe. About 30 minutes later I feel like something is wrong as we haven't turned back towards the creek. Gideon and I decide to press on to see if we can find where it crosses back but after a very steeps section and my out of shape self breathing so heavily that my mouth is drying out, I call it off. We all head back to the car without having seen the waterfall we set out for. We also ran into another couple walking the trail who decided to turn back on our advise as well. When we had reached the van again and were packing in, another couple showed up and asked if we go to see the waterfall. We gave them the same rundown and they informed us that their ranger had told them that there is a side trail off the spur that is much harder and doesn't lead to the waterfall. Crap, wish we had known that before.
Now exhausted we decide to head back to the hotel and get one of the things that the Seattle area is known for supposedly, teriyaki. There is a spot right next to our hotel that is highly rated so we order from them, Sunny Teriyaki. Abigail orders a bubble tea as her new thing to try since we haven't had a lot of opportunity lately. We pick it up from the cute shop with a very friendly family running it and head back to the hotel. We all very much enjoy the teriyaki except for Gideon who ordered the yakisoba since he decided he didn't want to be that adventerous. Abigail also very much enjoyed her tea so generally a big win! We also decide to go to sleep early due to being exhausted from our jaunt.