Adventures. Installment 2

Let me just start out with, this past Sunday was tons better than last Sunday!

Here we have a photo of the precious week's after effects. Thankfully, there are no such photos for this week.

 On Saturday we had the first swim meet in the morning and more house work in the afternoon. My oldest girl made a PR in her swims. She won most of her heats too, which is such a nice payoff for a year of practicing.

But on to our adventure.

We've learned a few things in the past 2 weeks.

1. Plan Ahead; which we did sort of. G perused all the books and maps on Saturday night. He knew the area we were going, and knew the weather.

2. Be prepared. We brought a lot more food and water, along with sweatshirts and maps and other items.

3. Bring TP. Of course, this was one item we didn't bring, and could have used. Although the girls made it to the restaurant after the hike in time.

For Father's Day G got to choose whatever he wanted to do, so instead of a family picnic, he picked out a hike. We drove up to the mountains again, but this one has a bit more civilization nearby.

At the start, the trail head

We originally thought the hike would be 4 miles round trip. But a misprint had us up to 6 miles. And the kids did it! They were real troopers, hiking the whole way without (much) complaint. We met a number of other hikers, and many dogs along the trail. I think this also helped keep the kids going.

The terrain was different from the week before - less trees, well, not so dense of a forest. And a lot more sand. We were in a river bottom at one point, and the trail seemed like it was part of the washout from winter, with river sand on it. Instead of large trees, this time we saw a bunch of large rocks. 

Little K did hike a bunch of the trail, but eventually she needed a ride, and soon after that a little nap.

 

I could've taken a hundred dozen more photos, it was so beautiful there. But I knew I needed to limit myself a little. So I handed the camera over to G.

 

When we made it to the falls - the destination for this hike - there were only a couple of other people there, and one was kind enough to stop his own photography and take our picture.

The hike out was just as beautiful. The clouds were slowly clearing from Mt. Hood, so we could see it, and G pointed out the different reference points from his climbs up it.

Oh, and one more thing we've learned through the process, 4. Wear good shoes. Towards the end there, Miss M just couldn't take it. Her feet (and her older sister with the same type of shoe) were very sore.

The tired bunch, chowing down at the end of the trail.

We made it down the mountain to the nearby town for a delicious dinner; Calamity Jane's has the best hamburgers after a day at the mountain. Just in case you were wondering.

Not sure where we will go next ... lava tubes and ice caves have been mentioned .... I think I am voting for the beach though!