Monday, July 4, 2011: What were we thinking?
Woke up to a sunny day. Time to do some housekeeping. After my powerwalk, while the boys washed the truck and Hannah, I did all the laundry. Sounds weird, but it is kind of therapeutic to watch clothes tumble in the dryer. I must need some more sleep!
Then we readied ourselves to go to Multnomah Falls. Albert told us about all the waterfalls along the Columbia Gorge so we decided to check it out. I made some sandwiches. Spouse loaded up the truck and off we went.
The Columbia Gorge is a national treasure. We are on I84 going east. To our north is the Columbia River. To our south are steep canyons and crags that are heavily wooded with water cascading at various points. Hawks are cruising the area by the dozens. The air is crisp and clean and warm. The map I have is not very specific so we get off at where we think we should and cruise along a little sidestreet past tiny cottages. When we see the traffic start to jam up, we grabbed the first parking space we could find. It turns out we are at the falls right before Multnomah (Wahkeena Falls), but we figured we would just hike over to them.
We grabbed our stuff... but wait... Doug has his backpack with all of his survival supplies, but where is the backpack with the food? Oops! Here it is a holiday at a major tourist attraction and Spouse is futzing with his GPS, while our sandwiches are in Hannah! The entire state of Oregon, and probably Washington too, are here and Spouse is worrying about getting lost??? And he did not pack our food?
Needless to say, we are not amused. But onward we trekked. Wahkeena Falls are beautiful, and there is a hiking trail that takes us to Multnomah. Multnomah Falls cascades 600 feet from its top. The trailhead says it is a mile hike to the top. In Spouse's survival pack, he has beef jerkey and Cliff bars, so we fortify ourselves, and begin the trek to the top with the masses of people. What were we thinking of going to a major tourist attraction on a holiday? Oh well, up we trek. It is a paved trail that gets quite steep. There are 11 switchbacks, and they are numbered so you know where you are. Crew is sure the creators of the trail personally conspired against him. Dallas just jumps ahead and leads the pack. The trail offers stunning views of the Columbia river. Today it is a little choppy with some whitecaps. Lichen covered trees, ferns and some wildflowers guide us along. The canopy of trees shades the trail all of the way.
We are somewhat amazed at some of the people on their way down. Obesity in our country is very alive, but they made it and I sure do give them credit! Of course, we are emaciated - our food being left at home... The first 9 switchbacks are all up hill, the last 2 are downhill (which means you have to go uphill to get out, which Crew is sure the creators conspired against him!). And at the 7th switchback, a mile marker is posted... Hey! It is posted as a mile hike, yet we still have 4 switchbacks to go! What gives? We ultimately make it and the view from the top is spectacular and well worth the trip. After enjoying the area above, we headed down, down, down. The crowds were enormous. We should have charged for our parking place when we left. We were able to scoot out and get home to our waiting sandwiches.
After we ate, Spouse and I did some grocery shopping, then we all went to Albert;s for a 4th of July BBQ. Albert and his wife Ricki live in Lake Oswego which is about 45 minutes from where we are staying. Every year, their neighborhood gets together and they watch the fireworks over the lake from one of their houses. We visited with all of their neighbors, and as the skies started to darken a wee bit (it was around 9:30 and there was still light), all the kids in the hood started lighting their own fireworks. Dallas and Crew got in on this gig, channeling their inner pyromaniacs! Cars could barely get by with this thing shooting over there, and that thing shooting over here! How different it is being in a place that isn't at risk of fire by the mere presence of fireworks.
When the fireworks over the lake started, we all found our places to watch in between the two trees that should be cut down! Still, there was a good view and we enjoyed the show.
When it was all said and done, we said our goodbyes once again, and made our way back to Hannah. All along the way, the fireworks serenaded us.
As we settled in for the night, Bart kind of started to yelp. We were reading in bed and jumped up to see what was going on. Apparently, he was trying to get up and slipped and did the splits. It startled him so he could barely yelp. He was almost up when we got to him to comfort him. He was panting heavily, poor guy, but he was ok. We all loved on him but we all felt so bad. Your pets are your chosen family. We love them dearly and it is hard to watch them age. Bart is 13. His back legs are not as cooperative as they once were. Dallas always lifts him into the truck. And everyone lifts him into Hannah. He can go downstairs ok, but up doesn't always work. He used to fight us, but now he waits to be lifted. Like a kid, I think he wishes he knew he had this power over us a lot sooner!
Woke up to a sunny day. Time to do some housekeeping. After my powerwalk, while the boys washed the truck and Hannah, I did all the laundry. Sounds weird, but it is kind of therapeutic to watch clothes tumble in the dryer. I must need some more sleep!
Then we readied ourselves to go to Multnomah Falls. Albert told us about all the waterfalls along the Columbia Gorge so we decided to check it out. I made some sandwiches. Spouse loaded up the truck and off we went.
The Columbia Gorge is a national treasure. We are on I84 going east. To our north is the Columbia River. To our south are steep canyons and crags that are heavily wooded with water cascading at various points. Hawks are cruising the area by the dozens. The air is crisp and clean and warm. The map I have is not very specific so we get off at where we think we should and cruise along a little sidestreet past tiny cottages. When we see the traffic start to jam up, we grabbed the first parking space we could find. It turns out we are at the falls right before Multnomah (Wahkeena Falls), but we figured we would just hike over to them.
We grabbed our stuff... but wait... Doug has his backpack with all of his survival supplies, but where is the backpack with the food? Oops! Here it is a holiday at a major tourist attraction and Spouse is futzing with his GPS, while our sandwiches are in Hannah! The entire state of Oregon, and probably Washington too, are here and Spouse is worrying about getting lost??? And he did not pack our food?
Needless to say, we are not amused. But onward we trekked. Wahkeena Falls are beautiful, and there is a hiking trail that takes us to Multnomah. Multnomah Falls cascades 600 feet from its top. The trailhead says it is a mile hike to the top. In Spouse's survival pack, he has beef jerkey and Cliff bars, so we fortify ourselves, and begin the trek to the top with the masses of people. What were we thinking of going to a major tourist attraction on a holiday? Oh well, up we trek. It is a paved trail that gets quite steep. There are 11 switchbacks, and they are numbered so you know where you are. Crew is sure the creators of the trail personally conspired against him. Dallas just jumps ahead and leads the pack. The trail offers stunning views of the Columbia river. Today it is a little choppy with some whitecaps. Lichen covered trees, ferns and some wildflowers guide us along. The canopy of trees shades the trail all of the way.
We are somewhat amazed at some of the people on their way down. Obesity in our country is very alive, but they made it and I sure do give them credit! Of course, we are emaciated - our food being left at home... The first 9 switchbacks are all up hill, the last 2 are downhill (which means you have to go uphill to get out, which Crew is sure the creators conspired against him!). And at the 7th switchback, a mile marker is posted... Hey! It is posted as a mile hike, yet we still have 4 switchbacks to go! What gives? We ultimately make it and the view from the top is spectacular and well worth the trip. After enjoying the area above, we headed down, down, down. The crowds were enormous. We should have charged for our parking place when we left. We were able to scoot out and get home to our waiting sandwiches.
After we ate, Spouse and I did some grocery shopping, then we all went to Albert;s for a 4th of July BBQ. Albert and his wife Ricki live in Lake Oswego which is about 45 minutes from where we are staying. Every year, their neighborhood gets together and they watch the fireworks over the lake from one of their houses. We visited with all of their neighbors, and as the skies started to darken a wee bit (it was around 9:30 and there was still light), all the kids in the hood started lighting their own fireworks. Dallas and Crew got in on this gig, channeling their inner pyromaniacs! Cars could barely get by with this thing shooting over there, and that thing shooting over here! How different it is being in a place that isn't at risk of fire by the mere presence of fireworks.
When the fireworks over the lake started, we all found our places to watch in between the two trees that should be cut down! Still, there was a good view and we enjoyed the show.
When it was all said and done, we said our goodbyes once again, and made our way back to Hannah. All along the way, the fireworks serenaded us.
As we settled in for the night, Bart kind of started to yelp. We were reading in bed and jumped up to see what was going on. Apparently, he was trying to get up and slipped and did the splits. It startled him so he could barely yelp. He was almost up when we got to him to comfort him. He was panting heavily, poor guy, but he was ok. We all loved on him but we all felt so bad. Your pets are your chosen family. We love them dearly and it is hard to watch them age. Bart is 13. His back legs are not as cooperative as they once were. Dallas always lifts him into the truck. And everyone lifts him into Hannah. He can go downstairs ok, but up doesn't always work. He used to fight us, but now he waits to be lifted. Like a kid, I think he wishes he knew he had this power over us a lot sooner!
No comments:
Post a Comment