This week’s Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt theme is “funny.” I can’t say how funny this photos actually *are* but they at least tickled my funny bone!

Both of these shots are from our recent camping trip. This first one is Lindsey playing in Moss Creek. I’m not really sure what she’s trying to say but I managed to snap a shot of it. My son found it amusing as well. As I type this, Lindsey is at summer camp enjoying even more fun in the woods.

Which brings me to Matt, my son. Like most teen-aged kids, his favorite thing is sleeping in.  Even when we’re in the middle of the woods camping. While Lindsey has been at camp Matt is staying with me. And I’m about to go wake him up at o’dark thirty because today we’re heading up to Canada for the Abbotsford International Airshow.

Hope you have a great weekend too!

The final day and a half or so of our trip was spent visiting the Columbia River Gorge. This part of the northwest is rapidly becoming my favorite. This is my third visit to this area so far this year and I’ve got at least one more trip through on the calendar already! If I were ever to move from Seattle, this is probably where I’d wind up.

No roughing it on this part of our adventure. I like to end a camping trip by spending at least one night in a comfortable motel or lodge so we can clean up and enjoy a little pampering. In The Dalles I always stay at Cousins Country Inn. It’s not fancy, but the rooms are clean, they have a pool and a great resturant featuring country-style cooking and excellent cinnamon rolls!

After a night of air-conditioned comfort, we started out journey back to Seattle with a few stops along the way. First, just outside of The Dalles on Highway 84 you’ll find the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. It’s definately worth the stop. It features a variety of displays on the history of the region, the wildlife, geography and the like. It’s a beautiful facility and we all enjoyed the visit. Right now they have a special exhibition going on called “Cargo” which explores the types of material goods carried by the Lewis and Clark expedition. Very cool stuff! I always like to slip something educational in on the kids, and they normally wind up having fun with it!

Finally, we come to our last “special” stop of the trip, a visit to Multnomah Falls in Oregon. This is the 2nd highest year-round waterfall in the US. This is a very popular stop and it was quite crowded but still beautiful. There is a trail you can hike up to the top, though we only went as far as the bridge halfway up. There is also a giftshop, resturant and other facilities here. We did give in to the temptation to enjoy an ice cream cone from the snack bar.

The rest of the trip consisted of the drive home. After all this adventure we were really only four hours away by Interstate, yet by exploring the back roads it seemed as though we were in another world. Now to start planning our next big trip…

You’ll find additional photos from the Columbia River Gorge at Flickr.

Moving on… after camping at Mount Rainier we headed further south into the Gilford Pinchot National Forest. This is a beautiful area of twisty two-lane roads and deep forest that surrounds Mount Saint Helens. We’d be spending three nights total here, two nights at the Iron Creek Campground at the north side and then a third night at Moss Creek Campground at the south side.

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We crawl out of the primordial forests of the Pacific Northwest and resume the mantle of civilization. All participants have declared our trip a rousing success. We’ve taken hot showers, enjoyed flush toilets and taken advantage of a sparkling blue pool. Now all that remains is to process the photos and begin documenting the adventure.

Our trip was split into three main parts. First, we camped in and explored the Mount Rainier National Park. Then on to the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and Mount Saint Helens. And finally, a brief exploration of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. This post will cover the first portion of our trip.

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