Sauvie Island and Gorge: Sunny days with friends

On Sat we were on our own and it was the first sunny fall day.  My preschooler has been hard to motivate so I thought a hike involving a pumpkin farm might be just the thing!







We headed to a farm on Sauvie Island and spent some quality time playing in the hay.







Amy got a beautiful face painting as sister watched.  She enjoyed bouncing in the bounce house.







Then we went into the corn maze...Now if you must know my sense of direction has a reputation for being rather poor.  I figured Amy would help us find our way out!  We wandered for quite some time and eventually found the exit.







Leaving the farm we enjoyed the Portland Voodoo Doughnut truck and drove out to the hike out to Warrior Rock Lighthouse.







Mount Saint Helens across the river was beautiful, covered in fresh snow after our colder rainy week.







At Amy's request, we took the "low route" along the beach, climbing over muddy outcroppings.  Fortunately we were on top of one of these outcroppings when this huge barge came by and made an enormous wake that just barely missed us.







On the way back we enjoyed building and demolishing a sandcastle.







Baby Analise ate some dirt and all three of us were quite covered in mud.










The next day we picked up our friend, Celebrity, and headed up to show her the gorge.  We enjoyed the beauty of Multnohmah Falls first.







My mom had taken the train up to join the fun.







After our stop at Multnohmah Falls we met up with friends at Latourell Falls.  The kids immediately started rock climbing







We hiked past Latourell Falls and spent some time playing and visiting at Guy Talbot Park.







We stopped at Vista House to take in the river/ gorge view.







Baby Analise enjoyed some serious stair climbing at Vista House.







Next we headed up to the top of Larch Mountain to hike up Sherrard Point.  The panorama of mountains surrounding us was amazing.








Mount Saint Helens, Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount Hood, and Mount Jefferson were all out in full glory!







My soul was fed by the community of friends and the amazement of these wonderful Columbia River spots.

Analise's First Hikes- Mt Hood Bliss

Analise had many early hiking adventures.  I felt strong and empowered to be able to be out in the woods quickly after her birth.  Nine days following my relatively easy birth, I was out at Tryon Creek State Park!  September is my favorite hiking season and I was so happy to get out for a walk!






Amy discovered some very large leaves and took a long hike with Sarah while Analise and I took a shorter/ flatter walk and sat and enjoyed the trees.







What an amazing beautiful fall day!








When Analise was two weeks old we went up to Larch Mountain for Amy and Sarah to hike and Analise and I to hang out.  The smoke from the wildfires blocked much of the mountain view, but it was still amazing to get out on a taste of adventure.







At three weeks, we went on our first real hike and dragged Gil along.  It was an amazing time on Mt. Hood without much elevation gain but great views. 






Analise slept through it but when Mama is happy, baby is happy and vice versa.  What a gorgeous Sept day.






There was still a lot of wildfire smoke blocking our view, but it felt great to get up so high "on top of the world" with the whole family!






Sarah is still "Amy's favorite Sarah" but she has room in her heart for another hiking partner as well.






We were all happy to work this hike into our routine and even Gil did not complain too bitterly. 






Amy had so much energy for this hike.  I think she had been storing it up for awhile!






Sarah said she thought she would like the slower pace of having a baby around.  The preschooler is getting to be a very good hiker, but Analise will make us stop and enjoy the view for long periods of time while she eats.











The first week of October, when Analise was four weeks old we went on a more vigorous climb up Lost Lake Butte.






I had never been to Lost Lake which has a beautiful reflection of Mt. Hood on the water.  We gave Amy the choice of the easy hike around the lake or the hard hike up the butte.  Amy chose the challenge!






The lake was amazing and we did well on the climb up the butte.  Again, Amy had a lot of great energy for hiking.






The view from the top was lovely, and we stopped to soak it in, feed Analise, and have some lunch.






There was a person who did not know about "leave no trace" named "Ben Sneider" who had carved his name into a rock.  All the way down the trail, Amy made up stories about him and talked to him on her "rock phone" which was a flat rock she made into a cell phone.  She had Sarah and I laughing and quite entertained all the way back to the car!






I love getting up to high places and hiking in the fall.  I felt so healthy, empowered, and blessed to introduce baby Analise to these special places this early in life.

This is the start of a new chapter of adventures with my two girls!