Tamolitch Pool

We headed out to Tamolitch Pool on Saturday the 21st of July. It was a nice hike with a beautiful clear pond at the end. This is where the McKenzie River emerges from underground and creates a breath-taking pool of water.

I couldn't decide which pictures to leave so I kept all of them, it's a very pretty area.

Volcanos and Craters and Falls, oh my!

M took off work on Tuesday so we could take mom on a hike.We ended up being gone longer than we thought but saw a lot of cool things. We started at Proxy Falls which is just east of us. It is an easy trail to hike and is only 2 miles long. It loops around so you don't see the same scenery twice, which I am a fan of.

This is Upper Falls.

After leaving Proxy falls we headed out to Belknap Crater which one of the hikers told my mom about while we were resting. It is an area full of volcanic rock and kind of fun to walk around on. Above, the girls are standing in a crevice in the volcanic rock.

You can barely see my mom in the middle of this picture.

We continued on down the road and saw a spectacular view of North Sister. M was able to get some great shots of the Three Sisters.

This is the Dee Wright observatory where you can look out and see each mountain and it's name through holes made in this structure. It was pretty neat.

This medallion was on the top and points to each mountain.

Here are the holes inside with the name plaques beneath.

There was still snow up there so we let the kids run around and throw snowballs at us. M even made a small snowman for the girls to knock down.

I love this picture of L kicking the snowman.

We continued on to Sahalie Falls where we encountered some blue jays near the parking lot.

Sahalie Falls is gorgeous and flows along the hiking trail. It is so blue and crystal clear. At one point M stopped to refill our water bottles. It was cold and tasted better than any water I have ever had. We stopped a lot to admire the beauty of the water and trees.

Here is Koosah Falls, it's lower than Sahalie Falls. The hike was only a mile long and so relaxing. We didn't have time to go up to Tamolitch Pool but plan on going there soon.

Beach Trip

When I came home I brought my mom with me. She stayed with us for almost three weeks. Right after the 4th of July we headed to the coast for the weekend with my auntie and her kids (M got to stay home alone). It was pretty warm and sunny while we were there. We went shopping at the outlet mall, ate at Mo's for dinner and played in the sand. The girls loved playing with their cousins.

Granny with the girls behind Mo's.

Nathan playing with L. She adores him!

We took the girls down to the beach one day with Nathan and they played in the sand. It was pretty windy and at one point we all got soaked by the incoming tide.

We drove down the coast and stopped at some of the viewpoints. This is Devil's Punchbowl. When the tide is out I hear you can walk down inside of it, but I've never done it. We also went to Yaquina Head Lighthouse and took the tour. I love lighthouses but hated this tour. It's a very steep, tall, metal spiral staircase and it doesn't go well with my fear of heights but the girls enjoyed it.

My mom and auntie.

After going to Pig N' Pancake for breakfast, Mika and I took the girls down to the beach while the tide was out and we could explore the tide pools. It was a lot of fun; we saw so many starfish, sea anemone, oysters and even a crab. The waves were really big and fun to watch crash over the rocks.