"So what if we went a week earlier and camped the Oregon coast?"
....and that was how it began...well sort of. In truth I did a road trip in college with my friends down the coast and across Nevada. We made it in 24 hours...in time for my 8am class...and I always thought I needed to go back and see that country again, spend a little time getting my feet wet and sand in my shorts. So 18 years later....
The gang signs that Soni's flashing are what she made up for our family...cause every good family needs their own gang signs, right? It's a WM...stands for Woolston Mormons, that girl cracks me up.
After going to church in Juniper with Grandma & Grandpa we drove up to Boise and crashed at Beth's for the night. It's always good to spend time with my family outside the craziness of reunions...got in some good Eddie time too.
We spent the next evening camping in the Columbia River Gorge. It was drizzling off and on, but it was beautiful hiking weather and there were so many trails, waterfalls and lookouts we could have spent a lot more time there for sure. We saw some monster slugs...at least for us desert folk...some a long as my hand. Such a miracle we didn't step on any...eww.
At first I thought he was just holding out his arms getting wet in some form of waterfall worship.
What he was really experiencing was what we called the waterfall woosh.
As the water comes rushing down it creates a pretty stiff wind that almost takes your breath away. It's one of those reasons we go to great lengths to go and see and feel beyond the pictures or stories that tickle our imagination in the first place.
There were a lot of moments like that, being in a new and different place just soaking in the experience like our Colorado skin soaked up that 80% humidity...mmmm...that feels good.
I was taking this pic of our family when a lady came up behind me and took my camera and told me to get in the picture or no one would ever know mom was on vacation. So I smiled and did as I was told.
One of the falls I knew I wanted to share with my kids was Multnomah Falls. I knew it was a quick hike to an impressive waterfall, and besides that friendly drizzle was turning into an ambitious rain.
We parked and got out of the car and Bingham says, "Holy cow, thats huge!" I was just about to comment on the beautiful falls when I realized he was talking about the puddle that took up half the parking lot. I really think we try to hard to impress our kids.
We hiked up to the lookout in our flip flops and t-shirts....it had settled to a drizzle and it was only a short hike after all. It was beautiful as expected, but then we saw the sign and trail that led to the top....
Hiking in flip flops in the rain probably wasn't the best parental decision we made, but everything is more beautiful with a little sacrifice, right?
Bingham only got a little grumpy on the way up, until we reminded him how the pout pout fish turns into the kiss kiss fish (children's book)...and of course took a picture.
We all made it to the top, and it was beautiful. I thought it was interesting to see the peaceful little stream gently flowing over the rocks before it goes dropping over a 620' cliff. I think there's a life lesson there...
Why we always feel like we need to flex or flash gang signs is beyond me. You'd think we were pretty bad A...until you see Austin getting a piggy back ride down the mountain by his mamma.
Darn flip flops.
By the time we got back to the bottom it was raining pretty hard and we got stuck in an oriental traffic jam. They all had umbrellas, like they knew they were coming to Oregon or something, and it was a little tricky getting through them all, dodging drips and photo shoots. The puddle in the parking lot had grown to take over the entire thing and it was all I could do to hold the kids back....
...save it for the ocean, save it for the ocean.
No comments:
Post a Comment