We arrived relatively late. The 3 hour drive from Seattle was simply stunning. We drove through miles and miles of pine forest without seeing a soul. We then emerged into the alpine scenery and our jaws dropped when we saw mirror lake. We didn’t get to the inn until about 7pm and found a parking spot right in front of the inn. I’d booked all my accommodation months ago and so was a bit alarmed when they couldn’t find my reservation. I didn’t fancy that wonderful 3 hour drive down a mountain in the dark! No problem, the receptionist said, we hold a room back just in case of such emergencies. They had no internet for me to check my email but she helpfully said I could get it at the visitor centre. I checked and there was no confirmation. I have no idea what went wrong. Before each stay I’d double checked the reservation, I was so comfortable with the rest of our trip working so smoothly that I didn’t bother for our last night. In a way I’m glad I didn’t as we wouldn’t have driven all that way and stayed at such a wonderful place.
The room we were allocated was right behind reception, so very easy to get to. I didn’t think we were in any position to be fussy, but we didn’t need to be. The room was perfect. I thought it might be noisy but it was one of the quietest of our stay. I think we lucked out as I thought I’d reserved an annex room and those sound like they are much smaller.
We ate dinner and breakfast in the dining room. This was probably the low point. Encouraged by the excellent cooking in the PNW I was expecting something good from my salmon, but it was virtually cremated, as was the dried out tinned sweet corn that accompanied it. No idea how a kitchen can produce something quite so dreadful. Our server was wonderful though. Breakfast was tolerable. The coffee shop was very good with nice table to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine and views.
We took a wonderful walk the next day. The sun was shining and the scenery simply gorgeous.
I absolutely loved mount rainier and the paradise inn. I think it helped that we arri

Warning: Users who book reservations for lodging within the National Parks system should be aware of the “fine print” on the non-government "National Parks Reservations" website – noting that they charge a 10% nonrefundable “service fee” for all reservations. This is a private travel service – it is NOT affiliated with the National Park Service. Other than a tiny notice in light gray italic font on their home page denoting the 10% fee, there is no other notification either in their reservation request form nor in their confirmation email. You won’t even know that you were charged the 10% fee until you get your next credit card statement. For most lodging at National Parks, there are other websites that provide DIRECT RESERVATIONS through the government-contracted vendors for the lodging – that do not charge this 10% fee.