6 Years of Blogging and a Trip to Kahneeta

Hello my friends!  I've been blogging for 6 years now!  And interestingly my first blog post was about a trip to Kahneeta.  :-)  I've enjoyed blogging.. to be honest it's gotten me out and about more.. taking more photos.. keeping a virtual journal.  I can't tell you how many times I google something to find it on my blog.. it's been nice to go back and see what happened in the past.  I will tell you that the absolute BEST part of blogging has been making friends around the country and even around the world.  How amazing is that?  Pretty AWESOME!  

This is my 1006th post!  20,000 published comments over the years.  Almost 1,000,000 page-views in 6 years.  About 600 page-views a day.  Those are the stats.. but to me the greatest part is that I've made real-time friends locally that meet me for lunch, one friend that I swim with 3 times a week, friends from out of town that have visited me while I volunteer at the falls.  I've talked to my fellow bloggers on the phone, I text them.. we share our lives with each other.  

Now.. back to regular programming :-)  On Friday Dayle and I and our two grandsons headed up the Columbia River to Hood River, took a right and headed up towards Mt. Hood beside the Hood River.. got to the top of the road and look a left and headed to Kahneeta.  This was a shot we took of Mt. Hood on the way up, I pulled over by a farm that grew flowers and fruit.

When we drove through Simnasho on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation, Caleb spotted a small herd of horses on the side of the road.  They roam free here with is so fun to see, but you have to watch out while you're driving!

Every year I take a photo of the old church there when we drive to swim in the hot springs pool.  I so wish someone would restore this church before it's too late.

We arrived at the pool and I took my waterproof Lumix in with me.. :-)  The boys are now old enough to go down the water slide and tube.. Caleb must have gone down the green tube 15 times!

There are 3 sections of the pool.. the shallow end for kids, the middle part where older kids can swim and use the slides and a lovely deep end where swimmers can lap swim.  I would do a lap, come back and check on Dayle and the boys, then do another lap, etc.

They're doing very good swimming now after lessons this summer, I hope they keep going until they're very proficient.

And here's Grandpa with the boys.

When I was taking photos of the boys I heard a cute little voice say "Take a picture of ME!".. the lifeguard posed for me.. so sweet.  Kahneeta is great as it provides jobs for the young people that live on the reservation and are part of the tribe of Warm Springs Indians.  

One of my favorite parts of the pool is the 3 bears fountains where water shoots out of the mouth of the salmon each bear holds.  :-)  As a swimmer who mostly swims in indoor pools, this one with the desert hills as a backdrop is pure delight for me.  Birds flew low over the pool.. this one had a brilliant blue undersides.. so beautiful.  The fresh breezes.. the sun.. total joy.

Do you know how hard it is to capture a photo of a boy shooting out of a water tube?  Do you see Caleb?  He seems to have come out sideways.  LOL!

There is Hayden.  What, you can't see him?  :-)

After our swim and shower we drove around the teepee camping area to get some photos of the gorgeous tents.. each is hand-painted.. they are for rent for people to stay in.  Very neat.

The horses on this one are reminiscent of petroglyphs found on rocks in the Columbia River Gorge.

Aren't they beautiful?

When leaving the Kahneeta Pool area, you pass over this beautiful river.

Kahneeta is in a canyon and as you drive away you pass by these amazing rock formations with caves in them.  

Aren't these something?

Just a ways past that rock we spotted a small herd of horses, this paint horse is gorgeous.

Three bay horses and a fabulous dun Mustang.

I adore the paint horses.. also called pinto ponies.. 

There is a viewpoint as you come out of the canyon with a great view of the desert countryside and mesas.  The dirt is red.

Mt. Jefferson is South of Kahneeta and I always try to snap a photo of it when we're heading home.  

Here it is from the roadside with yellow wildflowers, sagebrush and the desert landscape.. and mountain.

We came across another band of horses and I LOVE this leopard spotted Appaloosa.

We saw several foals in all the herds which is neat.  Love that Pinto one.

Which is your favorite color of horse?

I hope you enjoyed going along with us on this trip to the big blue pool.  :-)  I think I will do some fall decorating today.  What are you up to?  Thanks for visiting.  Have a super week.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)