A Christmas Coupon Redeemed--Hiking the Cascades with Cailin

Cailin's thoughts in this typeface.   Vicki's thought's in italics.

This is the thing.    Yeah, I was really looking forward to spending time with Cailin as she cashed in her Christmas coupon.  We woke early in the morning....took care of a few chores (Cailin's dog sitting for some friends and they needed her attention)....we picked up a few supplies at the local grocery store...and we were off...to the Cascades!

My teeth are blue because its none of your business.           Shhh, don't tell, but she ate a blue sucker!!

Starting the trail                                        Silly us, we started singing  "'We're off to see the Wonderful, the wonderful wa-aa-ter falls"  to the tune of  'We're off the see the Wizard of Oz.'.   We were silly, happy and skipping along the trail!

Me. With blue teeth.            What a cutie...great picture....blue teeth and all!

Mom. With white teeth.                                      Hummmm, not a bad picture.  

On the first bridge.            Oh, such a beautiful area....I loved, loved, loved being out here with my girl!

Flowers that I do not know the name of.                                 That's a mimosa tree, Cailin.

Walking on the trail.

More walking on the trail.                                 Isn't this just gorgeous.  I can't get enough of it!!

I....don't know what I was doing there.                            You were sitting here, enduring one more photo for your camera happy Mom!  Oh so beautiful!!!

Prettyful.                                 Yep!! Definitely prettyful!!!! 

I took this picture.                             Love the reflections of the trees on the water.

Prettyful. Mostly.                                                     Uggh, not a good photo of me...but so glad that someone came by so we could get a picture of us both without me having to take the picture too.  We started out early enough that we only saw two people as we headed up to the falls.  On the way back down we passed many people. 

Looking at stuff.

Looking at Mom

Sitting on a rock overhanging the water.

A wild rose.                              I think it's a wild rose, but I'm not 100% sure.

We're here! That is the waterfall.                              Oh it's sooo sooo beautiful.  Totally worth the                                  climbing hike to see it.

Waterfall.

More waterfall.

It was really fun there and we had a lot of fun and I loved the pretty forest. We saw a black bear on the way back and I named it Lusa after the black bear in one of my favorite series. Authored by the same one who wrote the Warriors series, given.

Mom dubbed these the Testimony Trees because they have to have strong roots or else they will fall. I just think that they should move.                                   Well, I tried--on the spur of the moment--to sort of bear my testimony ...maybe next time I'll have better luck!  ;)

"Tired Feet."
Yep, tired feet...but I sure could have used that cold cold water after the trip back down the mountain...my feet were really sore and tired then!

"Wet Feet" the water was ridiculously cold on a really hot day. I would not advise doing anything in it.
       It was sooo cold.  It reminded me of the time I washed my hair in cold mountain water while on a camping trip with my family as a child.  I told Cailin of this and she thought I was just plain crazy to wash my hair...."just leave it dirty, clean hairs not worth it."

Us.                 Yep, Us.

I haven't the slightest idea what these are.             Neither do I, but they are kind of pretty in big bunches.

Run!!!!                                              Not all the the trail was this nice....quite the contrary.  There were many parts where you had to navigate stones and large roots.   (but I've been on trails that are much more difficult than this one)   All my running thus far hasn't gotten me in tip top shape yet...(hahaha), I had to stop from time to time and catch my breath. Cailin just smiled and waited patiently for me.  What a sweet girl.

Two snakes, but we only saw the one on the trail, and looking back at the picture made us realize there were two.                                                         Cailin spotted this snake before I did...in fact she had to bring it to my attention.  (I was just concentrating on not falling at the moment :)   Along with the snakes and the a fore mentioned bear [which was really cool to see!!!] we saw a small rodent like creature that looked like a chipmunk with out the long tail, along with the usual birds and squirrills 

Eating our lunch at the end of the trip. I was STARVING!!!                                        A sandwich with chips and water never tasted so good....the pie, well they are always good!!

Mom took a picture of the sign.                                   So sad to go.  It was a most wonderful time.