Day 26

Between trains, interstate traffic, and Ryan getting sick we were all up half the night. Well, except for Laney. She slept through everything. There is a folk tale that I slept through my mom vacuuming my room but we all know how accurate folk tales are.

Our day started bright and early anyway to beat the crowds at Multnomah Falls. We met in the parking area and got our first of many pictures by this mammoth 620-foot waterfall.  This place was already a very popular spot this morning so we got on the trail to explore.

The hike was an easy paved trail with nice switchbacks to soften the elevation gain. We made it to the second viewing area pretty quickly after stopping for Lola the dog celebrity to get all her petting in.


We weren't really interested in going to the top of the falls today with the threat of rain so after I played with shutter speed for a little bit we headed back down. We left the girls at the bridge this time so I could get a good picture of just how big this guy is. Can you see them with their arms up on the bridge?


By the time we got back to the trail head the information desk was open so I grabbed a trail map while Grammie shopped. Lola got a lot more attention too!

Another waterfall I had on my list just happened to be a short hike away so we headed down that trail to see it too. It's always nice to have access to so many trails without having to move the car! We saw so many bikes in Oregon around the gorge - that seems the definite way to go!

We made it to Wakenna Falls after about a mile then headed up to a couple different viewing spots to feel the spray. The kids weren't too keen about getting wet though!

We've seen these flowers absolutely everywhere - they are one of Laney's favorites! The wildflowers growing everywhere are so beautiful and colorful! On this hike the kids even spotted some teeny tiny tomatoes! Tiny like the size of a bb for a bb gun. I forgot to get a picture though I was so interested in them.

We were headed up to Fairy Falls when I checked the radar for the rain that was promised today. It looked about 30 minutes away so we decided to head back to the car. I don't mind hiking in the rain at all but combine it with cold and we are all instantly grumpy!  We ate lunch in the car and picked up Grammie and Laney to drive to gorge spots we were interested in seeing.

Our first stop was Mitchell Point. This spot is a cape in the gorge with a hike up that we bypassed with the threat of rain. There was a viewpoint with lots of wind at the base that we enjoyed though. This spot once had a five-windowed tunnel through a sheer rock face to continue the scenic highway. Unfortunately for us it was blasted away when they built the neighboring interstate.

Our next stop was Memaloose Overlook where we learned about these islands in the river. The native americans  living in the area never buried there dead but placed them in canoes on the river or in cedar vaults on islands like this one. Lewis and Clark made notes about these islands in their journals.  Many of the islands are now covered with water and this island is only one-third of what Lewis and Clark would have seen. There is a lone monument at one end of the island that is said to be the grave of a pioneer who wanted to be buried with his native american friends.

At this viewpoint a lady cycler noticed Brayden's Boston sweatshirt and struck up a conversation with him. The group seemed to be sisters from all over the country gathering to ride the scenic highway. They gave us some pointers of what to see along our travels along the gorge. One of them was this lovely barn. So many of our views could be turned into puzzles!

Our last stop in our climb around the gorge was Rowetta Crest. There were winding turns up and down both sides of this viewpoint. The kids had stopped getting out of the car by this point so I figured they were pretty much done for the day. The view was still just mountains and a river to them after all! I enjoyed learning about the construction of the roads anyway! We were so high up you could see the white caps in the river but couldn't tell they were moving at all. 

We ended the drive ready for naps so we headed back to Grammie's campground and the girls made cupcakes instead! What a luxury it is to be able to bake on the summer trip. Brayden and I emptied hiking backpacks and got things ready for our exit the next day. We took a stroll across the train tracks to the river for a few minutes of cold water therapy. There were a few kite surfers there so I was hopeful we would get to see them but they were done for the day.

The gremlins were hungry once we got back so once the cupcakes were iced we made much-anticipated tuna melts for dinner. Brayden had been asking for these since pretty much the first day of the trip so we finally made it happen. I think he liked them as he ended up eating 3!  It didn't improve his mood all that much so we ended up playing My Ship Has Sailed without him.

I took Ryan and Brayden back early so we could try to catch up on some sleep. They were reluctant to climb in the tent with it still being light out but once I let them read for a few minutes their eyes were very heavy. We all went to sleep before the sunset hoping the train would be less frequent tonight.

Day 25

We decided to do something a little different on the day of our departure this time. I picked up Grammie and Laney and we all headed to see the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. At first I was concerned that we were arriving 40 minutes early for the museum but the gate ranger informed us the tide was out so we headed to Quarry Cove to see what we could find.












We climbed around the outside of the cove looking for things hiding in the crevices where we found lots of crabs and California mussels. There weren't many actual pools on this side so we headed to the cove next.

Grammie was already investigating and poking squishy things! Ryan and Laney played with a few hermit crabs and sea snails first. I spotted this heron looking for breakfast - probably for many of the same things we were looking for!

I spotted this guy in a deeper pool because the middle looked like a jalapeno slice. A program at one of Grammie's campgrounds talked about the tidepools so she told us this guy is green because he eats all the green kelp.  The tide line for high tide was probably 40-50 feet past us and it seemed to still be going out. I was interested to watch this guy to see how he changed. When I looked at the outer part of his body with all the shell pieces attached I noticed a few more around him that must have been just a little bit higher up in the water because they were closed. See the guy at the right? I dismissed him earlier because I thought he was a rock.

Grammie told us they suck in a lot of water and close up or flip upside down to survive the 6-12 hours they might be out of the water and in the sun. She confirmed this was true when she poked one and he spit water out at her!

We wanted to play around more in the tide pools but it was time for the museum to open so we made the trek back up the trail. Much like driving the coast I get in trouble for not looking where I'm going and checking out the view. We stopped here for a rest and to watch a few surfers braving the early morning cold.

Our first stop at the museum was the movie where we learned all about the history and difficult construction of the lighthouse back in the 1870s. Most of the supplies were delivered from San Francisco on ships that often met horrible weather or ship-breaking rocks. This was exactly the reason the lighthouse was being constructed. 

The interpretive center was one of the best we'd seen. There was so much information about the history of the area, the lighthouse keepers, and the lighthouse. Laney and I are still fascinated by the life the keepers and their families led while tirelessly maintaining the lights for the safety of the ships. Some families had to plan 6 months in advance for the supplies and tools they would need. I can barely handle planning a week in advance!

There was a life-size replica of the lens in the museum that flashed the pattern for this lighthouse - 2 seconds on, 2 seconds off, 2 seconds on, 14 seconds off. I had no idea each lighthouse has a specific pattern but that completely makes sense for navigation! This fresnel lens was made in Paris and shipped over in the 250 pieces that made it up. It cost $11,000 back then - Wow!

The part of the museum my kids used to race to is now left untouched. I'm glad I took them when they were young because my tweens and teen scoffed at the idea of dress up and playing games the kids played back then. There was a dad dressing up with his kid though and I did catch Brayden using the stereoscope! Ryan did challenge me to a game of checkers but I'm guessing she wished she hadn't because I cremated her. She did really well at first so she knows she is getting better. 

All this and we hadn't even seen the lighthouse yet! All the tours were full but I wasn't as interested in climbing it as I was just seeing it. They'd torn down the lighthouse keeper's quarters back in the 80s and that's what interests us the most. And as fearless as she is, Ryan isn't too keen on climbing too high.  The lighthouse and the grounds were lovely.

We even were able to take some time and identify some of the birds in the area that we don't have at home. This rock was one of about seven that were completely covered in birds.  We saw cormorant, murre, pigeon guillemot, and of course gull. We tried to find an oyster catcher but no luck.

This lovely morning put us on the road late to Portland but after navigating some wicked downtown traffic we finally made it to a bookstore I've wanted to visit since college. The kids had been looking forward to visiting since the beginning of the trip and mean old mom only gave them about an hour to look around. That's perfectly okay though because we still ended up walking out with a bag full of books!

Our stop at the bookstore put us right on time to leave the city of Portland with the rest of the rush hour traffic. After inching along for about 45 minutes Google notified me of a quicker route. Yes please! I'm not sure if it was quicker necessarily but we were moving so it was definitely better. And it just so happened to be Oregon's historic scenic highway 30 that hugged the Columbia River Gorge. We had plans to stop all along this road the next day but we couldn't resist a waterfall called Horsetail Falls located right on the road!

We arrived at our site to a sign saying there was no water so once we were set up we headed straight to Grammie's spot to cook dinner.  We made plans for the next day and said our goodnights. Both our sites were situated next to train tracks and the interstate (Grammie's a little closer than mine) so we decided we weren't going to get much sleep this night.

Day 6

The time change is officially messing up my sleep. Even with being up until after midnight I woke up ready to go for my morning run at 5am. This is 4am where we currently are. What happens when we change to Pacific Time??? I tried my hardest to go back to sleep but after 30 minutes I gave up and went to the patio to finish all the days so far and get them ready to post to the blog. I had a friend with me most of the time taking care of all the bugs that were bothering me.

Once I was finished Ryan was walking toward me so we decided to wake up Laney and get busy packing up. My idea of waking her up would be "Good morrrrning Laneeeeey" in a sing song voice. Ryan's idea was letting all the air out of her sleep mat. Guess which one goes over better for morning-wants-to-sleep-in-Laney?  We were packed up within about 20 minutes so the girls went to play chess while I changed and drove closer to Grammie's spot.


She already had bowls of watermelon ready because she knew I was wanting to get on the road early. We had a 7 hour drive today - the 2nd longest of the trip. It was through a section of the Lincoln National Forest which I was thrilled about but there were also long sections back on good 'ol I-10.

Once we downed our fruit and bagels, the kids helped Grammie pack up and we were back on the road in no time. There are several memorable drives in the past 7 years and our trek through Lincoln National Forest is one of them. Our drive 7 years ago took us on a northern pass from Roswell and today's would take us a more southern route that was a fun drive as well as a beautiful one. This route was quite a bit more commercial but it was very enjoyable still to say the least.

With a few stops for gas and a bunch of hours on the road, we finally made the turn south for the 40 minute drive toward the Chiricahua National Monument. This part of the drive was interesting because I kept seeing things in the distance thinking it would be the campground and we would drive right past it. It was 104 outside so I was hoping for at least a tree to put the tent under.

We pulled into an empty parking lot at the visitor's center and Grammie thought they'd closed the park and forgot to tell us! We found it was actually open, checked in, and bought some postcards and stickers at the gift shop. I also remembered I'd brought the kids' National Park passports so I grabbed those out of the car for them to stamp.

We pulled into our campground and I was instantly thrilled. It was a tiny, quiet little campground with perfect little spots all nestled in the trees. It had rained while we were in the visitors center so the temperature was a lovely 72 degrees. Much better than 104!

After we both set up we had a quick dinner and got back on the road for the scenic drive. I'd had it on my list to do but the pictures in the visitors center reminded me why! The views were absolutely spectacular and again there is no way I can do them justice with my photos. Around every turn there was something else to see. I'm just glad noone was behind me!




















We first hiked part of Sugarloaf trail. Grammie noticed there were no dogs allowed on the trail - likely because of the mountain lions - so the kids and I hiked in about a third of a mile to the CCC tunnel. The trail was very nice and the views were even better.  Next time I would definitely hike to the top of the mountain!






Next we stopped at the Echo Canyon trail to go to the Grotto area. We saw lots of lizards out finding their dinner as we walked. The formations on the trail simply defied physics.

Once we made it to the Grottos the kids were thrilled to be able to climb all around the nooks and crannies that had been created by so many years of water. I wanted to climb up but decided to let the kids have this moment. I'll be back with Dave for sure.

Last we visited Massi Point - the end of the scenic drive. We just happened to drive in just as the sky was turning pink behind the mountain. It looked like there was a fire in the valley behind the mountain. After taking a few pictures we explored the nature center learning about some legends and skirmishes of history.

The drive home wasn't quite as spectacular as it was getting pretty dark. I was tired even though the kids claimed it was only 7:45. We are still having time zone conversations after all these years!  The girls and I retired to the tent to write, read, and enjoy the lovely 65 degree night.

Day 6

I woke up before the sun to check out the view out in our backyard. Unfortunately, our direction was opposite of the sunrise so I had to settle for spots of pink around the lake.

The other thing I was excited for this morning was laundry and a hot shower! It seems like the combination of those two things somehow energize me so  much that I feel like I can go on for another month or more. The rain had gotten to me so I definitely needed a boost.

While Dave packed up some of the things that needed to dry in the car, I reorganized the food after our Walmart stop and shifted the kids' bags around for our drive later. I dipped into the cold weather bags for a few long sleeve shirts as the nights had definitely warranted a little something extra. I suppose that's the Girl Scout in me kicking in trying to always be prepared! Once the laundry was done and all packed back up, I definitely felt better!

We decided to take a nature hike once we were packed up to learn about the area. Reason # 447 why it's nice to have Grammie along - she enjoys learning about the trees and plants more than I do! Dave and the kids humor me on these walks pretending to listen to the narrative at all the stops. We learned about area mountains, the native junipers and pinon pines and my animal whisperer even found this guy!

It's neat to see flowers everywhere in the middle of August! Most Florida flowers are long gone by this part of the summer.

As we climbed around near the end of the trail, each stop had a beautiful view of the lake and mountains nearby. There was a lot of history dating back to the early 1800s resulting in many hard to pronounce names!

We never did find out what this strange cactus is! We named it the pickle or asparagus cactus.

Ryan renamed this prickly pear the bunny catus!

Once we got back to our campsite we were ready to roll out to our next stop. Today would be a relatively short drive and I was in luck as Dave would be the driver today since it was Saturday! We decided to take the Scenic Highway of Ledgends part of the way and it absolutely did not disappoint. The change in terrain and landscape over the few hours we were in the car was breathtaking.

After about 3 hours we made a right turn into our next spot, Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve. We have been to 2 different parks with giant dunes over our travels, but we'd never seen anything like this.

There were massive sand dunes (750ft high we found out later) tucked in front of a gorgeous range of mountains. We all wanted to know how in the world they got there! But first, we had to set up camp and have some dinner. As we were exploring the campground I noticed there was an acoustic guitar program tonight at the amphitheater so we quickly ate and did our dishes. We had a little bit of time so we went down to the visitors center to check it out but it was already closed. The kids were begging to go to the dunes, so we headed there without the camera to be able to enjoy it for a few minutes.

We made it back just in time to head down to get bundled and walk down to the program. The man who was playing had been selected to be a resident artist in several parks over the years and we were treated with some of the music he'd written each time. He had wonderful stories about his time in the parks and his experiences writing music.  The music was wonderful and the backdrop was breathtaking!

After the show we headed back to our site to make a fire. The temperature had dropped dramatically since we'd been there. Welcome to Colorado!!  Brayden had been asking for s'mores since June so we roasted some marshmallows and tried his new concoction - graham crackers, Reese's cups, and marshmallow. Laney and I thought it was okay and still preferred the regular way, Dave and Brayden loved it, and Ryan said it was good.

Everyone went to bed and I sat and enjoyed the fire until it was smoldering. I was treated to unbelievable night sky with several spectacular shooting stars. I even spotted the space station going by. I was a little suprised the kids fell asleep so quickly being so excited for playing on the dunes the next day!

Updates might be sporatic for a few days as all our electronic devices are dead and we're in the woods. I'll still be writing just will update as soon as I can!