Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood

We spent one day in the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood Region. Our first

stop was a little creek or river off of the historic drive. The boys could
have stayed there all day playing in the water, playing with the rocks, and
eating the wild blackberries. Rion loves playing in water, no matter how
cold, especially if he's fully dressed. Owen prefers to try building things
out of the rocks or catching the minnows. From there, we drove to Larch
Mountain, where we hiked in the woods, including 120 stairs, up to a point
where 5 mountain peaks are visible - Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt.
Jefferson, and Mt. St. Helens. We thought the view was worth the 120 stairs
(which is saying something at that altitude), but the boys were bored. They
did enjoy seeing Mt. St. Helens without it's top. The Mt. Hood region was
pretty, but the top of the hill was very steep and very dry and dusty. It
was amazing that the climate differed so much from Mt. Rainier. It also
amazes me that with everything we did that day, they both mentioned the 5
minute stop at a winery. We ran in 3 minutes before closing time, so it was
a very quick visit, but it must have made some type of impression on them. I
think it was because Rion found a map under a seat cushion, which we let him
keep, and Owen was jealous of the rest of the trip. - N

I got to take off my pants and they turned into shorts. And, I went into the
Columbia River Gorge. It got deep and then shallow. It got deeper, and
deeper, and deeper. And, me and my dad saw people, a boy playing with his
dog like our dog plays too. And, we got some blackberries. We sawed
waterfalls and we went to a winery and we went to the Columbia River Gorge.
And, we made a waterfall. I went to Mt. Hood and I got to go on a huge,
huge, humungous rock. Humungous means that it is big, and big, and big,
super, super big. I standed and putted my hands up and said, "I'm the king
of the world". And, me and my brother hided from our mom. She didn't see us
because we were hiding behind rocks. It looked like I was underground and it
was so funny cuz our mom didn't see us. - RiSt

At the Columbia River Gorge we got to go in water. It was so cool. It went
deep, shallow, deep, shallow cuz we were trying to get somewhere and we even
got blackberries. And, we saw some minnows. Me, dad, and Rion saw this
humongous minnow but we couldn't catch it. At Mt. Hood we were hiding from
mom when we saw her coming up. We were like crouching down under rocks. And,
Rion was standing on a rock saying, "I'm the king of the world". On Mt. Hood
we got to go to this winery. This winery place where mom and dad got to try
wine and Rion got a map there. That's it. - Owen