Our Grand Northwest Adventure - Hello Oregon!

The next leg of our trip had us leaving Washington and venturing into Oregon!  We were all so excited to see Mount Saint Helens.  We listen to the I Survived series which has a book about Mount St. Helens, so the boys were familiar with the names of local places.

We chose to explore the mountain from the Johnson Observatory.  It offers a beautiful view of the mountain and we stood in awe of the power that is held within.  The boys were able to earn their Junior Ranger Badges!  We also spent time hiking the Boundary Trail which leads out toward Spirit Lake while I asked more questions.  It was quite warm but there will be no complaining from this bunch.  We had a picnic (lots of picnics) and listened to a very informational ranger tell all about the events leading up to the explosion and how the area has bounced back since.  It was very fascinating to see a forest of trees in which every tree was the same height and age.  It almost looked like a little model train table.

Sweet love!

So proud to find pumice!

Look at those badges!

On our way out of the area we found Bigfoot!!!

We hadn't planned to visit the Columbia River Gorge, but it came recommended by several friends from the area, so we skipped the second forest hike Mt. St. Helens and went to Multnomah Falls.  I explained to the boys that the Native Americans thought the waterfall was crafted by the gods as a shower for the princess.  Benaiah was quiet for a bit and then explained to me how he would go about making a waterfall, since Native American tale was just a story.  That little engineering brain!  We were curious whether or not we could hike to the top.  Several websites said it was dangerous and not for children, but that sounded just about right for us.  It was a cinch and a rewarding view!  We had to curtail our stay at the top when a man went over the overlook edge to stand on a rock at the top of the 600ft falls. We weren't staying to see him fall.  My momma heart was about to give out!

View from the top!

Our mission for dinner was to find Mexican!  Too many picnics and we would not have happy campers.  Oh!  The delightful food we found!  It wasn't a sandwich or a carrot stick so that made it even better.

My only regret is not knowing about the giant Paul Bunyan statue a few miles down the road in Portland.  We had just read Paul Bunyan!  Oh, the missed educational opportunity!  The teacher inside me is crying a little.

We woke up to the forest sounds of Mt. Hood.  I thought the kids would be dragging, but they were ready to hike.  It was so refreshing to walk through the forest morning.  The kids scampered over rocks and stumps to see Little Zigzag Falls.  Then we went to hike to Mirror Lake.  I had read that the trail was one mile up and one mile back - in two different publications might I add.  Well, after one mile we were pretty sure it was going to be a bit longer than that.  I was starting to worry about Juliet making it the whole way.  Then I watch as they all pretend to be in a horse race on sticks all the way to the top and then pretend to be a band of ogres all the way back.  They were too distracted to be tired.  The view of the mountain at the lake was phenomenal!  It ended up being a 4.25 mile hike.  Oops!

He made it across and back.  No worries!

My ogre clan!

Little hiker!

Reenacting the scene from the Stone Table.  :/

Mt. Hood!

After lunch in the cute little town we stopped in Oregon City (where I once did summer missions!) to visit the Oregon Trail Museum.  It is the official end of the Oregon trail and the beginning of a whole lot of fun.  We got to pretend we were pioneers gearing up for the trail, shoot bows and arrows, make camp, and play with bison poop (most of which was fake.) So much fun!

AND!!!  Benaiah lost his first tooth!

And Poppy didn't.

Our last day in Oregon had a lot of driving.  We stopped by Salt Creek Falls to break up the trek, but it was still a haul to Crater Lake.  We were thankful we made the trip!  The birds made for a funny picnic because if you turned around for just a second they would fly off with a cracker or even your whole sandwich (poor Huck had his stolen right off his plate)!

We took the only trail that takes you to the lake shore.  It is only 1 mile down and 1 mile up, but the return trip is the equivalent of climbing 69 flights of stairs.  We were singing and skipping on the way down.  Not so on the way up.  The chipmunks made for a wonderful distraction though.

We continued around the lake to see Wizard Island and Phantom Ship Island.  The water was the bluest of blues.  I couldn't imagine being the first settler to crest the lip and see that shining water!

Well, on the road again.  We had a big surprise in store for the kiddos.

Goodbye, Oregon!