Sahalie Falls

Living in Oregon is dreamy. I truly feel like this place was made just for me. Granted, I do like to have slightly closer access to a bit more civilization than this little hippie town, but I'm really enjoying many of the benefits that come with living in a place where "progress" is often frowned upon. One of the things I want to do before we move is visit several of the beautiful riparian areas near us. I mean, we may end up in the desert. I want to drink up the lush green forests and natural water sources while I can.

Jim was out of town so I packed up the kids, jumped in the car and headed to Sahalie Falls.

This girl is hilarious. Part of me doubted that she'd really become a normal tweenager, but boy oh boy has it happened. Happy one second, life is terrible the next. This face is pretty cooperative compared to what I normally get now. She threw an enormous fit before we left the house and I did the "I don't care if you want to go, we are going anyway" mom thing. It took all of three seconds after getting out of the car before she was thanking me for taking her there and saying it was awesome. Sheesh. Kids.

I was scared of having a boy because I hate messes, but man alive muddy legs are the best. I find I encourage them far more than I expected I would. Considering how often I let the girls get muddy it really shouldn't have surprised me.

Part of the reason I tackled this alone was that the trail was supposed to be reasonable and short. They weren't kidding! The falls were maybe 50 feet from the parking lot, and the trail was 2 miles round trip that takes you downhill to an overlook of another waterfall. 2 miles? I can handle that with a baby! Then we got there and realized it's almost all stairs. He walked a bit and was carried a lot.

We stopped here because I just could not believe the water. I've seen pictures of water that color and partly just figured they had been enhanced. Here we were staring at this river that looked like liquid, flowing, blue fluorite right before our very eyes. I could have stayed and stared for quite a while.

We were pretty lucky to find this little stop. Most of the hikers who had dogs stopped in here because there was easy access for the pups to get a drink. It was off the trail maybe 10 feet and the trek down was a little too precarious for Tate to make on his own. We stayed there for at least an hour tossing tiny pebbles in the water and then stabbing everything with sticks. Tate seemed like he'd never in his life experienced something so remarkable and Aeryn had a blast sitting there and helping him. Goodness. The heartstrings were being pulled and it made me feel quite successful as a parent, for those moments anyway.

Nature is therapeutic. I have always felt that way as have many before me. Every time I am able to spend time with my family in nature I come away extremely grateful and filled with happiness. Let's hope this summer is packed full of adventure!