beautiful Oregon

we had a couple of adventures this last week that reminded me how lucky we are to live in this beautiful state. I grew up in Spokane...a place that I thought was just lovely. Then, I came to live in Oregon and realized that Spokane doesn't hold a candle to the beauty that is the western side of Oregon.

Last Monday, we went on a bike ride with some families in our ward. It is a brand new bike trail that starts at Clearwater Park and follows the river for 2.5 miles. It is a flat ride and easy for kids but the scenery is gorgeous. We passed through a few sections that seemed like an enchanted forest...lots of moss covered trees all around us and the river gurgling along on our right.



When Aunt Maria was here this week, we took a hike up at the Dolly Varden campground. (Up by Fall creek). There is a trail there that leads to a nice rocky beach and a swimming hole. We had a picnic and let the kids swim in the creek.

We let Lydia hike with aunt Maria the whole way (she took all of the below pictures) because with us, she would have been complaining and wanting to be carried. With Maria, she didn't complain a bit! She trudged along for 2.25 miles!

Absolutely gorgeous, don't you think??




This is Drew and Sweet Pea...a boy and his dog (well, our dog, but he calls Sweet Pea his dog.)

Just a mile down the road is a place called "Big Pool." It is a really deep section of the creek where the kids jumped off of rocks and giant logs that had fallen into the creek.

Here is Casey, launching himself off of an enormous fallen tree into the deep (and cold) water.

The cousins (and Casey) found this giant floating long and tried to haul it upstream. The current got the better of them though.

Finally, we took a trip to the coast for the second time this summer. Once again, the weather was stunning...breezy and warm. Heceta Head is the best place on the coast to visit. The kids get to choose to swim in the ocean or the river. A river flows right into the ocean on the south side of the beach. Some of my girls preferred swimming in the shallow, warm fresh water while others perferred jumping the waves in the much colder Pacific ocean. Allison just loved searcing for starfish in the tidepools.

Oh Oregon, how we love you. If you can put up with 9 solid months of rain, summers here are incredibly wonderful.

We love having aunt Maria, cousins Marissa, David, Emilie, Aaron, Jared and Mackenzie here all week! We love family!