Historic Hotels & Lodges: Paradise Inn, Mt. Rainier National Park. Page 3

Paradise Inn Dining Room

The Paradise Inn Dining Room. (Unfortunately a bit out of focus, but it gives you the feel. I was having trouble trying to sneak in when it was still closed but already set up for dinner. Looks better than graying out 40 people's faces.)

The food looked and tasted great!

(People always look at me funny when they see me photographing my dinner.)

Paradise Inn Guest Rooms

Note: The guest rooms have been remodeled since our visit. This is how they looked in September of 2016. The room configurations are not expected to change with the remodel however room & bath fixtures, finishes and fabrics will likely change.

The guest rooms are small but comfortable. You'll probably want to hang out at the Great Room rather than your guest room. Your room is primarily a place to sleep. Some of the original rooms in the Inn were only 8 foot by 8 foot in size! (I don't believe those rooms are used for guests anymore.)

Our guest room was the Rainier Room Suite

We stayed in a Suite with Sitting Room, The Rainier Room. On the Inn's booking page I see it is currently called "1 bedroom suite bath", but assuming the remodel doesn't change it, this is a true 2 room suite with doors on each room. A private hall links the 2 rooms with a private bathroom. These suites are corner units so most of them have more windows (but not on the top floor where the sloping roof interferes with windows, so request floor 1-3 if you want lots of light and windows like you see in the room here.) These suites are definitely a step up from the standard rooms a lot more space. I believe they are the only rooms with queen beds as well. The Rainier Room is one of the nicest suites due to it's location on the South-West corner of the building. These suites are hard to reserve, they tend to sell out early. We were able to book one because we visited in late fall when there are fewer guests. But the downside of that is that it was foggy and raining much of the time we were there.

The suite's sitting room with a futon.

The suite's separate bedroom with a queen size bed.

Rustic furniture in the room.

View from Sitting Room.

There was a view of Mt Rainier from both rooms.

The private bathroom was utilitarian, nothing fancy. However National Park lodgings often upgrade the baths during remodels, so they may be different now. Bath's are one area where the park service does not always require remodels to be historically accurate.

Tub and shower.

Paradise Inn Architectural Details

Here are closer looks at some of the architectural details at Paradise Inn.

Log roof rafters, uprights, and the leaning log braces (which are steel beams inside a log casing.)

Notice how all the beams are rounded log shapes. Very little milled lumber that is visible other than the trim and window/door frames. This is unusual, on many of these historic rustic hotels only the larger major beams are logs the smaller ones are standard cut lumber which is easier to work with and saves money.

Roof support details. Outlookers (the logs protruding from the building that support the exposed rafters and braces that support the outlookers. This is classic rustic architectural detailing. You can also see the cedar shingle siding as well as the cut stone chimney in this photo.