"See America First"

I picked up a few books to read when this adventure all started and I'm currently working on The Challenge of Rainier by Dee Molenaar. I caught something the other night that really stuck with me. I was reading about the history of how the park came to be and the efforts put forth to get Rainier nationally recognized. It was during the late 1800's that the railroads coined the term "See America First" in an effort to get the American people to head west and see all the beauty their country had to offer.

Lets face it, America has a lot of bad ass places to go; like Mt Rainier. There is no doubt that Rainier has unmatched beauty and is a gem to the Pacific North West. Before the "See America First" slogan ever came to be, Vermont Senator George Edmonds had described in the Portland Oregonian the splendor of Rainier. He had been all through the Alps and said you cant compare even the best of what the Alps have to what he has seen while on the approach to Mt Rainier.

I believe Seattle mountaineer Edward S. Ingraham said it best: "It is un-American to visit other shores when our own country contains so many places of interest".