Sunday after church we headed to the Columbia River Gorge to do some hiking. Our first stop was Beacon Rock, the largest monolith in the continental U.S. (don't ask me what constitutes a monolith.) Mike took this photo as I was taking Lauren's shirt off and replacing it with her jacket, the only other clean clothing I had in the car for her. It appears both kids have a bit of mommy's car sickness curse :( Parts of this little hike required walking along a narrow path along a steep drop off, much to my dismay. This photo was taken just before that point. A fellow hiker overheard my stern warning to Mike, "Babe, I'm freaking out here, I don't think this was a good idea, I can't go all the way up this thing!" The nice man assured me that it got better farther up and so I kept going.
At the top.


Jus a few of the 52 switchbacks of the trail. See what I mean....steep! It is one thing when it drops down to another switchback but there are parts when the railing is all that separates you from a straight drop off the cliff.

Then, on to the second hike up to Punch Bowl and Metlako falls. When Mike's shoulders would get sore, he'd rest like this. Aidan just looked at me at first holding his head up in the air but then decided to rest it on daddy's.
Punch Bowl Falls
A stop for some snacks.



Aidan started hugging Lauren and then told me to "Tate a piture."
Lauren could only handle so much hugging.
And here we go back down again.
Just in case you didn't think there were enough pictures, here's some more :)