The End!

My final vaca post will include a pack of pics..which is my usual M.O.  I make my blog into a book at the end of the year and I want to make sure I document our time! So, if you're getting sick of seeing these it's OK.  I'll love you all anyway!  We were suppose to go to a lake near Mount Hood on Saturday, but the forest fires had blown in this direction and shut down the highway to our destination. The air was hazy and smelled like a campfire all day!  We found a wonderful park not far from their home instead and the river was great for fishing and enjoying the day. 

There's a playground in the park and after lunch Taylor found a nice spot to read.

Katie enjoyed the swings.

Jack found the perfect spot near the river.  I posted this shot on Facebook and many of his camping buddies commented that they recognized this pose from Scout camp! After a lot of practice, Sophie and Taylor were ready to try out their poles in the river.

Sophie loves fishing! 

Taylor has the perfect way to spend the day...he's a natural! It was a lovely park and it was fun to picnic and fish and just relax all day. They didn't catch anything but still enjoyed it.  Like Jack always says..."They call it fishing..not catching!"  Sunday evening we took a ride to see Craig's new workplace.  He was hired as the new HR guy.

He's enjoying his new position. And his new office.

At least it has a wonderfully big window!   By Monday the smoke had cleared enough to be able to head to Mount Hood on our last day.

We went to Trillium Lake.  If you look closely in the background you can sort of see the mountain through the hazy smoke.

By the afternoon the air had cleared and Mount Hood was easily seen.

The lake was really nice.  It was a great place to fish and also swim. The water was cold but that didn't stop the kids from jumping in!

There was a nice 2mi trail around the lake and we headed out looking for huckleberries along the way.  We didn't have much luck finding any but I was so happy that my new knees allowed me to do the whole trail without any trouble at all! All the cemetery walks must have helped prepare me!

Some of the trees were pretty cool!

Sophie tried to scare us with her spider find....it was a fake one she found on the ground! Ha! The area is so amazing and we took a few lasts family shots.

I sure miss them!

I'm hoping we can go back soon...kiddos grow so fast!  We headed out for one last stop.  A few miles up the mountain we stopped at Timberline Lodge.

Timberline Lodge is a beautiful place.  In fact, parts of the movie "The Shining" were filmed here...or at least the shots of the lodge were used in the movie.  The inside is really rustic with huge log beams and huge fireplaces.  My camera battery had died so I didn't get any inside shots.  I can imagine it's a super fun place to stay. They say in  winter the snow is over the top of those stairs up to the big front door. We really enjoyed our stay.  Last time we visited it was for Taylor's baptism 2yrs ago and we didn't have time to really see the area.  It was great to have the kids all to ourselves and see what an amazing place Oregon is! We kid them about moving out here when we retire....maybe we won't be kidding! Ha!

I think we would be able to handle the wild life!   The End!