It was all Majestic and Stuff....

Dharyll came up this weekend and we decided that since the whole weekend was tremendously sunny we should do outdoor things. Like hiking. So we took off north on 101 and went to Mt. Ellinor. It was a really pretty drive, we circled around Lake Cushman and then drove up and up and UP some mountain-ish sides when all of the sudden BAM, there was snow. It got to be about two feet deep and we were on this dirt/gravel track halfway up the side of this mountain so we parked, I pulled on my handy-dandy hiking boots and we squelched around in the snow for a while. It was 90 degrees out and sunny while we were tromping around on snow so there were some crazy hot/cold spots in the air. There were snowballs thrown, holes in the snow to get your leg stuck in, and some pretty views.

Pretty pretty.

Brick Walls and Waterfalls

... is a terrible song but we did go visit some waterfalls today so it seems mildly appropriate. Dharyll and I drove down the Columbia River Historic Highway which runs near mom and dad's house. We did a little hiking, listened to some music and saw some sturgeon.

The view of the Columbia Gorge from the Vista House.
Mossy guard rails along the highway. Back in 1908 there was no moss. But now there is. These must have aged since 1908.
This is..... probably Latourell falls. It might not be though. It's really hard to keep them straight since they all look like falling water.
ROCKS. I liked standing right up against them and watching water drops fall very slowly towards my face.
This is..... perhaps the same waterfall from earlier. I'm not sure. It had all this bright yellow moss or lichen on the rocks along the side of it. There's a little Dharyll in the corner, sort of like Where's Waldo.
Ok, this one is Horsetail falls. I know because I'm taking this picture from inside a cave behind the falls.
Ditto.
Same here.
This is a second water fall that comes off of Horestail falls further down by the parking lot.
STURGEON! We wound up at the Bonneville Dam fish hatchery. And they have STURGEON! And rainbow trout, but the sturgeon are ten times cooler. They can get up to 25 feet long and weigh more than 1,500 pounds.

I remember these guys from when I was little, they might even be the same fish.