This time of the year, Paradise creek is a shallow trickle of crystal clear, frigid water, in other words, the perfect entertainment for kids of all ages. Megan woke up every morning (WAY too early) with pleas to be taken immediately to the "ocean." Megan had a blast throwing rocks into the water and seeing the "plash" they made. She also spent plenty of time with a shovel and bucket on the gravelled shore. Harrison was the only one who really braved the chilly water, though most people did some wading (not me, of course!).
Megan also thought it was great fun to touch the trees.
The adults also did some rock tossing and, at Megan's insistance, some shoveling, too. But mostly we were content to sit around eating, talking, watching the kids and singing campfire songs.
We did manage to get out for a hike: a trek to the nearby Lower Creek Falls. Despite the unassuming name, the falls were thoroughly impressive. Most of us agreed that they were better than Multnomah Falls, maybe because the prerequisite hike led to a sense of accomplishment, maybe because there were so few people there, or maybe because there wasn't five ice cream stands, a hotel, and a huge parking lot at its base. On the way home from the trip, we passed a line of cars stopped along the freeway off-ramp just waiting for a parking spot to visit the over-crowded Multnomah Falls. We just shook our heads and mumbled something like "that is so stupid" as we sped on by.
We had a great trip but by Monday we were ready to come home. We were filthy, particularly Megan, who seemed to spend all of her non-river time just rolling in the campground dirt. And we were tired - very tired. Megan went to bed easily every night, but she was up and ready to go at the earliest light -certainly not our preferred time to wake up after late nights around the campfire!
No comments:
Post a Comment