Saturday, August 11, 2007

Little Zig Zag Falls






We got up this morning and had nothing on the agenda, so I suggested we go to Mt. Hood. It's always looming hugely on the horizon, beckoning me to come for a visit. The hiking possibilities are practically endless. I searched for one that said it was easy and good for kids. Little Zig Zag Falls looked perfect, so we headed out. It only took 45 minutes to get there and was a beautiful easy drive along the way. The trail was amazing. It ran along the creek and ended at the waterfall just a mile away. I wish I could post the smell of the cedar forest along with the pictures, along with the combo of the cool mountain air and warm sunshine. Is this paradise? Poor Halen had a little accident on the hike. He was trudging along and tripped. He went straight down and his head landed on a rock protruding from the trail. Instant knot! He cried for a minute, I freaked out a minute, and then it was all over. No big deal. We worked up an appetite hiking, so we decided to try one of the local restaraunts we saw on the way out. We ended up at Los Burro Loco, or The Crazy Donkey! It was a mexican restaraunt, in the middle of nowhere, on a state road, and it had vegan options on the menu. It even said vegan on the menu! 3 thumbs up from this family. The baby may have thumbed up too, but I'm not sure. He moved around a bunch after the eating. I wish I could post more pictures because there's so many. It just takes so long and will only allow me 5 at a time. Oh well. It was a good day. It's not even close to being over yet either.
I guess I'll write more about events from a couple days ago. Dan had a meeting at his school, so Halen and I hiked back down toward the river. This time we went the other direction at the split at the bottom on the trailer park hill. We hiked for what seemed like forever. Halen cut his hand on a blackberry thorn. I was getting worn out from carrying him through the overgrown parts, for fear of snakes. Then all the sudden we came across an old playground. In the middle of the woods, no way to get to it but by trail, an old wooden playground. It had the metal slides that you haven't seen since you where a kid. We played there a little while and then headed on to find the river. We didn't get very far when I saw a snake. Bruce saw it first. They spooked each other. Bruce jumped up off all 4 feet. The snake scurried off into the grass and we hightailed it back out of there. When we got back, our neighbors where outside. All 5 kids and their dad! The dad informed me that there are no poisonous snakes in the Portland area. You have to cross over to the other side of the cascades and then there will be some rattlesnakes. Over here, they're all just harmless gardner snakes! What good news! Dan was super stoked, with his irrational fear of snakes and all. Now we need to go back down that trail and find the river, armed with the knowledge that the snakes won't get us. Maybe that's tomorrow's adventure.

3 comments:

Tony said...

LOOK AT THAT MUSTACHE! Did you guys move to Vaudeville?

Christy said...

i was hoping someone would comment on the stache. it graced our lives for almost 2 days. it's gone now.

Tony said...

bummer