Sure, it’s pretty cool being the captain of a tall ship.

But for Josh Berger it’s not enough. He also wants to teach people about the environment.

“That’s what I like about the Adventuress,” Berger said. “I get to do both. It’s perfect.”

The Adventuress, a 133-foot, two-masted schooner, bills itself as “Puget Sound’s Environmental Tall Ship.”

The 96-year-old ship arrived in Tacoma on Wednesday afternoon and will stay in Commencement Bay until May 27 so its 15-member crew can teach youth about sailing, the history of the ship and Puget Sound.

On Sunday the ship will be open to the public for free tours from 9 a.m. to noon. At 1 p.m. the Adventuress will set sail for a 3-hour cruise. Tickets for the public sail are $40 for adults and $20 for those 18 and younger.

As Berger piloted the Adventuress out of Bainbridge Island’s Eagle Harbor for a public sail on May 17 he described the ship as a microcosm of Puget Sound.

“When we are all on board it’s easy to see how our actions impact each other and the ship,” Berger said. “… Living here our actions impact the sound.”

Berger, a graduate of The Evergreen State College, and his crew use the comparison to teach environmental responsibility to kids.

In a small compartment on the port side of the ship the crew keeps several living sea creatures including a sea star and a sea anemone. As the Adventuress sails the sound the crew give kids a hands-on lesson about what’s living in the waters below them.

The Adventuress isn’t just a classroom it’s one of 24 National Historic Monuments in Washington.

“It is sailing history,” said Wendy Sonnemann, a volunteer spokeswoman for Sound Experience.

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Here is the latest update from Mount Rainier National Park regarding facility openings in time for Memorial Day weekend:

OHANAPECOSH CAMPGROUND: Loops A, B, and C at will open to the public at noon Friday. If maintenance crews are able to get the remainder of more than 100 trees that fell in the campground during the winter cleaned up, Loop D may open as well, said acting superintendent Randy King. If Loop D opens it will not have restrooms or water available.

OHANAPECOSH VISITOR CENTER: Opens at noon Friday.

COUGAR ROCK CAMPGROUND: Will not be open in time for the weekend. Two to three feet of snow remains on the ground, covering campsites.

STEVENS CANYON ROAD: From the west side of the park will be open to
Reflection Lakes and from the east side to the Grove of the Patriarchs.
During efforts to reopen the road, additional damage was discovered betweenBox Canyon and Backbone Ridge, King said. Once park crews
repair this area, visitors will be able to drive as far as Backbone Ridge from the west.
The major storm damage repairs on Stevens Canyon, at milepost 14.1, will begin in June with expected completion by mid-August. The road will remain closed to through traffic until the repair is done.

WHITE RIVER ROAD: The road to the White River Campground will open Friday. There will be no water available. The campground is scheduled to open June 26.

CARBON RIVER ROAD: Open to hikers only due to storm damage.

CHINOOK PASS: Although the state tries to have Highway 410 open over the 5,430 foot pass, crews have only recently started clearning the snow. The latest update from the Washington State Department of Transportation says ”it is still too early to predict an opening date.”

FACILITIES CURRENTLY OPEN: Include Paradise Inn, National Park Inn and General Store, the Henry M. Jackson Memorial Visitor Center, Longmire Museum and Paradise Guide House.

It seems that the greenhouse staff at Mount Rainier National Park has a plethora of plants this spring.

John Titland, volunteer coordinator for Mount Rainier National Park Associates, sent an e-mail regarding the group’s July 18 work party.

Volunteers had originally been scheduled to remove exotic plants under the direction of the park’s restoration staff. However, Titland said, they have been asked to do planting at Paradise instead.

Apparently because of construction work and early snowfall last fall, the restoration staff was unable to use all the plants raised at the greenhouse as planned at Paradise. When work was halted, there were still 56,000 greenhouse plants remaining to be planted.

These plants were maintained over the winter and are once again ready to be planted. Because of space constraints at the greenhouse, in part because of the 100,000 plants being grown for this fall’s traditional planting season, park staff will be conducting an early summer planting in July to finish the revegetation around the new Jackson Visitor Center.

If you are interested in volunteering with the associates, contact Titland at volunteer@mount-rainier.org. To volunteer directly through the park, go to rainiervolunteers.blogspot.com.

International Mountain Guides placed 15 people on the top of Mount Everest last night. The group include astronaut Scott Parazynski and Spokane resident Dawes Eddy, 66, who is believed to be the oldest American to climb the 29,035-foot peak. Here's a link to a Spokesman Review article on Eddy.

The Discovery Channel is documenting IMG's season on Everest. A second IMG team is heading to the summit right now.

Here's a list of the summiters I pulled from the IMG website:

1. Mr. Scott Edward Parazynski (USA)
2. Mr. E Dawes Eddy III (USA)
3. Ms. Zhen Zhen (Jane) Lee (Singapore)
4. Ms. Li Hui Lee (Singapore)
5. Ms. Yin Xuan (Esther) Tan (Singapore)
6. Mr. Michael Aaron Hamill (USA)
7. Mr. Edmund Philip Wardle (UK ) (Tigress Productions / Discovery producer, cameraman)
8. Mr. Danuru Sherpa of Khumjung VDC Ward #9 Phortse, Solukhumbu — this is his 11th Everest Summit
9. Mr. Panuru Sherpa of Khumjung VDC Ward #9 Phortse, Solukhumbu — this is his 8th Everest Summit
10. Mr. Mingma Chhiring Sherpa of Khumjung VDC Ward #9 Phortse, Solukhumbu — this is his 8th Everest Summit
11. Mr. Kancha Nuru Sherpa of Khumjung VDC Ward #9 Phortse, Solukhumbu — this is his 2nd Everest Summit
12. Mr. Ang Chhiring Sherpa of Khumjung VDC ward #8 Pangboche, Solukhumbu — this is his 9th Everest Summit
13. Mr. Sanduk Dorjee Tamang of Khumjung VDC ward #7 Pangboche, Solukhumbu — this is his 4th Everest Summit
14. Mr. Kancha Nuru Sherpa of Khumjung VDC ward #8 Pangboche, Solukhumbu — this is his 1st Everest Summit
15. Mr. Jamling Bhote of Hattiya VDC Ward #1, Sankhuwasaba — this is his 4th Everest Summit