We spent a lot of time along the Gorge. Grant was able to join us after returning from two days back at work. He chose a hike up to Horsetail Falls, where we were able to hike behind the falls.
View from behind Horsetail Waterfall
Waterfall spots on my camera lens!
Kelly and Grant
Another Waterfall at the End of the Hike to Horsetail Falls
which was a natural place for the kids to play with rocks.
Children have no trouble when it comes to make believe and learning facts about nature. Everett, Scotti, Sammi, and Cooper each shared their magical views of the world with us. Scotti showed us how his sticks became weapons, and he showed us his defensive stances. They played in a tree stump above a trail for about 20 minutes. Who knows what all they were pretending! I enjoyed it when they would come take my hand as their hiking partner, and I loved to watch them play and learn. They had opportunities to become Junior Rangers at Mount St. Helen's and at the Bonneville Dam, where we saw fish climbing up the "stairs" to climb upriver passed the dam. At dinner, they were interested in mazes and word puzzles given to them on the children's menus. They loved to climb on everything--rocks, tree stumps, bridges. Sammi even spent time counting the rings in a large tree stump. She thinks she could become a scientist. Everett cracked me up. His mom asked him if he wanted to keep going on a hike, and he said, "you'll never know." It was his smile and his mysterious tone that was hilarious. He has some fairly amusing comments fairly often. Cooper was photogenic, and he doesn't make much fuss. He's a good sport and easy to be around. Each of the kids seemed to get a bit worn out from time to time, which made it fairly easy for us grandparents to keep up. Thanks, we appreciate it.
Sammi counting tree rings.
One of the kid's favorite activities was along the Two Forest Trail. It was here that an ancient lava flow covered many trees. A few hundred thousand years or so later, there is a perfect tunnel left where a couple of trees rotted away to nothing, leaving a tunnel for Sammi, Scotti, Everett, and Cooper to crawl through. I think they did it about 20 times. I passed on the opportunity to crawl on hands and knees, being a bit claustrophobic and with ancient knees. Cooper and the others climbed down a ladder and into the first tree, where Grant helped them into the second tree, because there was a spot that they might hit their heads if they weren't careful. There was just enough light that it wasn't too scary. Our Grandparent duty was to cheer them on and to be super impressed. It was amazing to see their renewed energy with something they perceived as being really, really fun.
At the beginning of the trip, we enjoyed the Fourth of July in Portland. There is a Blues Festival annually, and bands play constantly. The weather was warm and skies were blue. The fireworks were were a blast!!! It was a continuous volley of finale-like activity. Too bad Grant and Julie's kids were worn out. They left a couple hours early to hit the sack. The next day, we returned to the park to rent some bicycles with a fringe on top. This was a great activity.
After that, we took off to see Mount St. Helen's, a volcano that created a blast of winds, rocks, and gasses at about 350 miles per hour. This was followed by lava, ash, and other scientific stunts. Trees were knocked down like toothpicks, and Spirit Lake was covered and raised by 150 feet. This was a big event in my lifetime, that I remember quite well. The volcano blew out sideways, instead of vertically, which made it much more dangerous.
The trees are about fifty feet long, but they look like toothpicks.
You can see how the trunks were ripped at the bottom and blasted away.
Learning about the volcano area to become Junior Rangers
Junior Rangers!
It was a great trip!
Thanks for the wonderful update! We were curious to see pictures of your trip! We are glad you had such a good time!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you had so much fun!
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