Heat Waves and Waterfalls

Last week, temperatures in Portland reached three digits just as our pals Helmut and Kris and their sweet pie of an almost-two-year-old Charlotte came for a visit. Our house was mighty uncomfortable so we escaped to the Columbia River Gorge for cooler temperatures among the waterfalls.

Our favorite kid-friendly trail was closed for construction, so we ended up at Multnomah Falls. I shy away from it because it is typically overrun by tourists; as I told Kris, you can't really trust a hiking trail that has an espresso cart at the entrance.  But, we decided that climbing to the tippy top of the tallest water fall in the contiguous United States would be a great accomplishment. It was a beautiful hike with scenes of the river, and we all proudly (with complaints, albeit, from Lucy because of hunger and heat) made it up the 1.8 miles of switchbacks to the top of the falls. And back down. No small feat, given that Kris is five months pregnant and Helmut and I were each carrying 25-pounders up the trail (yes, my baby weighs as much as their toddler...no ribbing, please).

The best part of a tourist-laden hike? The ice cream shoppe waiting below at the end of the journey!