Day 4, Part 2: Beauty beyond words...

What a phenomenal day! The weather was perfect! We hiked a total of about 8.5 miles and saw seven incredible waterfalls: Punchbowl and Metlako (see earlier post), Horsetail, Wahkeena, Bridal Veil, Latourell and Upper Latourell. This gorge is amazing: beauty beyond words:

Horsetail Falls


Robert on the trail


Robert at Wahkeena Falls


Robert being goofy in a tree


Myles being goofy in a tree


Robert at Bridal Veil Falls


Robert at Latourell Falls


Beautiful wildflowers


Upper Latourell Falls

Day 4: Hike to Punchbowl Falls

Robert and I headed up Eagle Creek this morning to see Punchbowl Falls (pictures below). It is an absolutely beautiful day! We also got a nice view of Metlako Falls on the way. Last night, we had dinner at the popular Salmon Row Pub which was delicious! We went back there today after the hike to get Robert a sandwich and I had left-over pizza from last night. We will likely go there for dinner tonight as well, so you know it must be good! We ate lunch on our hotel balcony looking out at the river, just enjoying the quiet and beauty of the Columbia River. This whole area is just filled with beauty - it is hard to describe it all. So we'll let the pictures tell a thousand words...

Robert on the trail


Eagle Creek


Eagle Creek


Upper Punchbowl Falls


Upper Punchbowl Falls (darned tree...)


Local wildlife on the trail


Metlako Falls

Day 3: On the way to Cascade Locks, OR

We visited the Boeing Everett plant today with Keith and family and took their tour. It was different (i.e., much shorter) from the last time we took this tour, but we did get to see history being made. The very first Boeing 787 "Dream-Liner," scheduled to be delivered on July 8, 2007, was still in the hangar for us to see. I think they have a lot of work to finish between now and July 8!

Robert and I then headed south for Oregon. We stopped by the Mt. St. Helens visitor center but the day was very cloudy and rainy, so we will try again to see the volcano on Wednesday. On our way to the motel through the Columbia River Gorge, we paused long enough to snap some pictures of Multnomah Falls - absolutely beautiful!

Robert is having fun (he just doesn't smile for pictures)


Upper Multnomah Falls


Lower Multnomah Falls


Multnomah creek


Hey look, the sun came out!


View of the Columbia River from our room

Day 2: Beautiful Seattle

We arrived safely in Seattle today, and it was afreakingmazing! (that was Robert, obviously) We met Keith and went to Pike Place Market to watch the flying fish. Then we had a nice dinner on the Seattle waterfront in the sun without getting hot! Amazing. It is 40 degrees cooler here than Arizona. Amazing. Robert wants to live here (there are worse choices, for sure...)

Day 1: Sold out

Well, now we're convinced that 1408 must be pretty good because the 8:30pm show was sold out. I hate it when that happens. So our informal review will have to wait...

But we did get to see the International Space Station again! Even in the heavily illuminated Arizona Mills parking lot, it was the brightest light in the sky besides the moon. Very cool.

Day 1: Let the adventure begin

We started out this morning around 6:15am, leaving Tucson to pick up my daughter and her friend from a camp in Prescott. Lunch at The Office was terrific as usual. Then we drove to Phoenix, where the girls dropped off my son and I at Arizona Mills. After a couple of loops around the mall, one Nintendo DS Browser, two $10 CDs at the Virgin Megastore, a shirt from Eddie Bauer, and a light dinner in the Food Court, we have decided to see the movie 1408. Of course, Robert only agreed after a friend of his texted him and said it was the best movie ever! We'll let you know.

By the way, it is currently 108 degrees in Phoenix...and it's almost 8:00pm. I wanted to snap a photo of a temperature sign, but it was too hot to get out of the car...

We just saw the coolest thing!

We just watched the Space Shuttle and International Space Station fly across the sky! Thanks to my son, who had a list of dates, times and locations in the sky for Tucson, we were able to watch two small lights move across the northeastern sky just a few minutes ago. We watched for about two minutes before they disappeared, being blocked by the shadow of the earth. Very cool! Go here to select your state and city to see if you can see them as well in the next few days.