Columbia Gorge

For the long weekend Rory and I took off to the Columbia Gorge. It's beautiful up there! I'm tempted to convince Rory to become a fruit farmer just so we can go live by Mt. Hood. Year round snowboarding!!! Our first stop was Maltnomah Falls. There were a tooooon of people there. We went for a little 5 mile hike and once we got over a mile up the trail the people disappeared. We got a little wet from mist and misty rain.

We camped that night at Ainsworth State Park where they require you to buy firewood at the park. Wet firewood. It took a very very very long time to get the fire started so we could roast our hot dogs and s'mores. We went to church the next day in Stevenson WA. It was such a cute ward! More than half the people there were definitely over 80. To get there we crossed The Bridge of the Gods. 

After church we headed back to the woods and hiked up the Eagle Creek trail. We were trying to make it to Wantum Lake but it didn't quite happen. We hit snow. It was 13.3 miles to the lake but we only got to 12.7 before we decided we should have brought snow shoes. The hike was incredibly beautiful. Everything was so green! And wet. Seeing a pattern? A lot of the trail was blasted out years ago by the CCC into the side of a steep drop off.

Luckily they put hand rails in for those who are a little afraid of heights.

We saw loads of beautiful waterfalls. They were wet. 

My favorite one was Tunnel Falls. The CCC used their amazing blasting skills and put a tunnel behind this fall so we can get around it. The tunnel was wet.

Good thing we had our rain coats with us!

I was so excited to see trees that weren't junipers!! 

A little while before this picture was taken we met some guys on the trail and one had snow shoes on his pack. I thought in my head 'That's silly, there's no snow'..... I was wrong. There was lots of snow. We got wet. Plus, right before this we crossed about three streams and my balance is bad to start with but add a pack and I'm about as stable as a drunk monkey. My shoes got wet. They're waterproof however so my feet did not get wet. Nice.

After deciding not to post hole to the lake we found about the only flat spot on the mountain and snuggled our tent into it. It was a tight squeeze. We ate our dinner, drank our root beer (yes, we packed in root beer), and played a game of Phase 10. I'm breaking the pattern. We didn't get wet in the night. We stayed nice and dry in our oh so fluffy sleeping bags. Our tent was wet on the outside though. We camped in a cloud. The next day we hiked out and drove back home to the desert where it's..... wet.

Things

We went biking with some friends on Friday. I became well acquainted with a bush and Rory freed a vulture. There was an incredible lightning storm going on on the horizon.

Tonight for FHE we went to our potter friend's studio and learned some basic pottery techniques. He has an awesome house! Christmas lights and art. Good combo.

We've been hearing a lot about the Mississippi flooding on the news. I think it made it to Oregon. We're becoming a lake house again. If anyone needs a fancy resort vacation..... our house is not the place. But close.

Run, run as fast as you can



We did a 5K run today. We saved boobies of all sizes! (It was a fund raiser for breast cancer)

Happy Belated Easter!

We did our non-religious easter festivities on the weekend because Rory could finally eat solid foods! Bring on the easter candy!

Rory decided to explore his artistic side and took a few egg pictures. 

Wilson!!

Rory and I went to Bend this week so Rory could get his neck cyst out. First we had a little fun. Smith Rock State Park is just a half hour out of Bend so we headed there and went rock climbing. And then it rained.

This is Rory's 'I'm not awake yet but I sure am glad it's over' look. He kept asking me if Wilson was gone and then he'd ask me what time it was. Brain loop. Poor guy. Everything is ok though. He's still a little out of it on pain meds but the cyst is out and not malignant as far as the doctors can tell. It's getting analyzed right now.

April 12, 2008

Opa!!! Three years down, eternity to go.

Where in the World were Emily and Rory?

It was warm! It was humid! There were alligators! Florida! We went first to see Rory's grandma in Tampa. We stayed with his aunt Jane, uncle Sam, and cousin Charlie. We got to go to a Tampa Bay Rays vs. L.A. Angels Baseball game with Rory's dad. 

 We went to Tarpon Springs where everyone is Greek. It's famous for its sponge diving and soap making. We had some really delicious Greek food and I got sunburned.

We also got to go to the beach and got even more sunburned!

Rory found a neat conch shell that looked like it only had leaves and rocks in it. Then the leaves and rocks moved and crazy little alien eyes came out. The shell was still occupied! We showed everyone and then let it go back into the ocean where it happily swam away.

While staying with Rory's relatives we got to sleep with rats! Three of them! I actually kind of liked them. They were very friendly but didn't like to go to bed when we did.

We went to Busch Gardens too. The Florida Busch Gardens is an amusement park/zoo. One of the attractions is a train ride safari.

Rory and his Grandma on the train.

This was my favorite ride. It took you up up up and then dangled you for a little before dropping straight down. I tell you what, wow!

The last few days of our vacation we went and stayed with my auntie Sara and uncle Jake and cousin Ruby Roo. They took us to a spiffy swimming hole where we had tons of fun but no camera. We also went gater spotting. Along with a few gaters we saw a mama turtle. She was funny looking.

They also took us orange picking. We had fresh squeezed orange juice every day and the most delicious fresh grapefruit ever!

After we got home I realized I didn't actually take any pictures of Sara and Jake and only got one blurry one of Ruby. We were having too much fun I guess. Thank you so much for letting us stay and pester you!!!