Good weather you say?

Today I got to go hiking with someone who has been making me jealous with all the wonderful hiking shots he posts on Facebook.  It was awesome!  And windy!  And my legs feel like jelly!  You see back in February we went hiking and it turned out to be more of a snowshoeing/bushwhacking adventure without any good views.  So camera in hand I was determined to get some great shots.  We ended up hiking at Frenchman Coulee near the Gorge.  There were amazing views and plenty of good company.  Thanks Ryan!

 Anybody lose a truck?

 That looks pretty!

 That bluff doesn't look too big...

 Well bigger than I thought.  Look where we parked the car.

 See?  There's the Mini to prove it!

 Okay, the buried treasure is down there.  X marks the spot.

 Stone Cairn Sentinel

 Yea!  There's still service up here!

The flora...

 ...and fauna.

(Yes it is fauna.  There's a spider on the lower left flower.)

Time to play a game.  Melinda, this one's for you.  Name that rock!

 Specimen A.

 Specimen B.

 Specimen C.

 Specimen D.  Need that from another angle?

 Here ya go!

See Melinda, you can get desert views without 100 degree weather!

Thought that rock looked cool...and now I think it's looking at the view.

When did August arrive?

I swear it must be summer because I went to the beach and it looked like this!

For THREE days!!

Mom and I had arranged this weekend getaway to Cannon Beach way back when the snow was flying and just happened to get lucky that this was the weekend it decided to pretend it was August at the beach. It was in the 70's, we ate ice cream from Osburn's Ice Creamery for dinner, took the dogs on long walks both morning and afternoon, walked barefoot in shorts and actually IN the water!  It was amazing and just the thing I needed.

There were clear skies.

And beautiful sunsets.

Fires on the beach without the need to be bundled from head to toe.

The dogs were happy.

We were happy.

And I'm counting the days until I get back.

A funny note to my cousins...

When we got there and checked in they said, "My you come here a lot.  Welcome back for the 23rd time!"  I asked if it was the 23rd visit or 23rd year and they replied that is was by visit.  I did some quick calculations and they must have put that computer system in around 2000.  You see --> 2 visits/year x 12 years = our 23rd visit this spring.  I held my tongue, but I wanted to say, "You know we were guests here when you used to write the last name of the guest and put it outside their room and we visited so often even then that our name placard was laminated.  Pretty sure it's been more than 23 visits."  :)