Paradise lost? For two seasons, but no longer

PARADISE, Mount Rainier National Park – Otis Hay came to the Paradise Inn on Friday not so much to see it, but to feel it.

The former inn employee and ex-Tacoma firefighter lost much of his vision five years ago. But he hasn’t lost his memories of prepping the inn for the season, driving the red buses that ferried visitors from Tacoma to the park, and battling frigid temperatures to repair broken water lines.

Hay and his wife, Roberta, were among the 300 people who filled the lobby to celebrate the reopening of the park’s venerated inn.

It reopened after being closed for two seasons while workers completed a $22.5 million renovation. The work was done to strengthen the structure after housing guests, feeding diners and withstanding tons of snow since it opened in 1917.

The Hays were to be joined by their three children for a weekend of relaxing and reminiscing.

“It felt like coming home, especially when I saw that bus,” Hay said of the red bus parked in front of the inn. It was on loan from its current owner.

“I drove that bus. We used to call them Red Racers,” he said. “We’d go up and down Pacific Avenue, and after 112th Street there were no obstructions so you just put it in overdrive and went.”

Even with his minimal vision, the 85-year-old Hay noticed the changes made throughout the lobby and gift shop area. He got a feel for the inn working for Rainier National Park Co., which ran the inn from 1952 to 1972.

“The only thing I miss is the railroad irons holding together the one fireplace,” he said. The metal bands had supported the towering stone fireplace adjacent to the reception desk.

Jeannie and Ernie Treadway made the trip to Paradise to see the inn on a day when the mountain was radiant under the summerlike sun. They typically visit the park every two to three months.

“It’s a good way to spend the money, to protect the history of the park,” Jeannie Treadway said.

“This is our mountain, (the inn) belongs to the community.”

That sense of place is the exact feeling park Superintendent Dave Uberuaga hopes to foster in every new visitor to the inn.

“The people are so connected,” he said. “I had two people come up to me with tears in their eyes. To hear people oohing and aahing is all you can ask for.”

All morning, visitors came to check out the inn. By 12:30 p.m., the line to the dining room was more than 40 deep. The reservation desk was swamped with guests wanting to check in.

As the first guests rolled in suitcases and the dining room echoed with the clinking of silverware, David Wilde was smiling. He is the general manager for Guest Services Inc., the company that runs the concessions at the park, including the inn.

The work, which began when the inn closed in October 2005, cost the company more than $1 million in lost revenue, Wilde said.

“This feels wonderful,” he said. “There is a tremendous amount of energy in this building, emanating from all the people who are working to make this day happen. It’s just absolutely phenomenal.”

That excitement is translating into booked rooms. Opening night was a near sellout, and phones at the reservation center have been ringing nonstop.

“On Monday we took over 215 phone calls and entered 118 reservations. That’s huge,” said Pam Newlun, Guest Services sales manager. “There wasn’t a time when I didn’t see all four lines lit up during the day.”

Newlun said several Saturday nights in July and August are completely booked.

Attending the afternoon celebration was U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair. As chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Committee, he helped fund the $22.5 million for the inn and the nearly $16 million for the new visitor center being built across the upper parking lot.

He also will be working to secure the estimated $5 million to complete the renovation of the Annex, which houses 114 of the inn’s 121 rooms. The money is included in a tentative budget for 2013.

“It’s so exciting to see all these people who have a history with the building,” Dicks said.

U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Auburn, also was on hand. He was quick to point out that the mountain sits within his 8th Congressional District. He recalled coming to the park with his parents, grandparents and six siblings.

“We had a wonderful experience here,” he said. “That’s the kind of memories this place produces.”

But for all the congratulations and pats on the back, the day was about the inn and the people who have picnicked at the oversized timber tables, played the wooden piano built circa 1925, or eaten an ice cream cone from the snack bar.

Listening to Hay, her father, share his stories of the inn and park, Nancy Witter smiled as she looked up at the Alaskan cedar timbers that soar nearly three stories in the lobby.

The inn “has been a part of the family for a long time,” she said.

That connection began back in 1952, when Hay began working at the inn on his days off from the fire department. His first job was cutting 4-by-4-foot blocks of snow and sliding them off the gift shop roof.

Friday was a day to welcome visitors to the inn for the first time in 31 months. For Hay, it was a chance to come home.

“I’ve got so many memories up here,” he said.

Jeffrey P. Mayor: 253-597-8640

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