Two Days on the River

On Wednesday Gracie and I headed up the Columbia River Gorge for lunch at Big T's and then on to swim in the hot springs pool.  After lunch we drove down for a quick view of the river from the boat launch park at Stevenson.  Such a calming view.

I love looking across the river to the massive craggy cliffs of Oregon.

Then on to Bob's Beach to watch the windsurfers and kite surfers - and to look for black acorns.  :-)  They've recently installed a lovely bench in the park where you can watch the river flow by and the surfers fly by.  I loved seeing the sun pennies on the water.. a favorite thing of mine.

This guy was coming in to shore.. 

A kite surfer.. 

The park, the oak trees, the river and surfers having fun.

A few more acorns for my collection.

I love the colorful sails.

Then heading on to the pool.. the maple leaves are turning.. fall is coming.. 

I love the long wall at the hot springs where water flows over.. 

It was pretty crowded when we got there but slowly we got more of the pool to ourselves.. :-)  A good hour of lap swimming.. then home to fresh-caught salmon dinner with homegrown zucchini.  :-P

Yesterday after the boys got home from school we all hopped in the truck and hauled our C-Dory to Cascade Locks to launch for an afternoon/evening cruise.  The boy's friend Ayden joined us and spent the night at the farm.  Here we are cruising along under the Bridge of the Gods.

Dayle and I got to sit in the open cockpit of the boat on folding chairs and the fresh air, sunshine and the scenery was wonderful.  

We tied up at the same boat launch I pictured at the top of this post at Stevenson for the boys to swim, they had fun jumping off the dock.

They'd jump off the dock, swim to shore, walk up to the ramp and back to the dock and jump in again.. :-)

Boys.  

Kristi packed us a picnic dinner of sub sandwiches, potato salad, chips, grapes and drinks - and chocolate bars for dessert.  They dried the boys, put them in dry clothes and we all had dinner on the dock.  Then we cast off and headed back to Cascade Locks.. the golden sun was shining on the mountains as we zoomed by.

Wind Mountain and behind it Dog Mountain.

Something told me to stand up and look at the scenery and boom.. there was the Sternwheeler Columbia Gorge!  

How fun to see the sternwheeler!

Wave wave!

We are now packing up to take the boys to Kahneeta Hot Springs for an afternoon swim.  There's an old saying.. "make hay while the sun shines" and summer is leaving us rapidly.  I hope you're grabbing the sun while it's still here.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)