Baboons Go to the Ape Cave

Next on the "Things to Do this Summer" list was a trip to the Ape Cave.  To Jason's disappointment this had nothing to do with apes.  The ape cave is the longest lava tube in the continental US.  It was formed 2,000 years ago when lava flowing from Mt. St. Helens cooled at the surface, but kept flowing underground creating tubes.  It was discovered in the 1950's by a group of hikers called the "St. Helens Apes."
Yesterday was one of those occasions that I felt it was my parental duty to force everyone to get out and have some fun.  I wondered why when the fighting and whining began, but I think everyone did have fun even if they wouldn't admit it. 

 Everyone was SUPER excited to be there!  It was so dark and rocky in places, but we made it to the end about 1 1/4 miles in.  Jason entertained with his ghost and monkey sounds which in turn made every kid in the cave make the same noises.  Caleb kept saying, "We're all going to die!" and that made me think that that would be a bad place to be in the event of an earthquake. Hiram thought it would be a cool place to take his cousins and Ethan thought it was a waste of his Saturday.

 Nearby the Ape Cave is The Trail of Two Forest which was pretty cool.

 I wondered why there were shallow wells everywhere, then I bothered to read the sign.They were holes where trees once were and lava burned them away.

There was a place where the kids could crawl through the underground tunnels.

It was quite a day.  I loved driving through the forest and past reservoirs with great views of Mt. St. Helens along the way.  It's such beautiful country. 

Curious Gorge

It's been 2 months now since Jason quit his job and I must say that it has been great. The mood is so relaxed in our house and I love having him around.  I wish it could go on forever, but as they say "money doesn't grow in trees."  I'm looking forward to a great summer and then he'll have to go back to the IT rat race.  That is, unless he becomes a famous author between now and Labor Day. :)

It has finally stopped raining and it's warming up!  We took advantage of the great weather last Monday and got an early start on my list of "things to do this summer."  We went on a hike near Multnomah Falls in the Columbia River gorge.

 We started at the Horsetail Falls trailhead.  You guessed it, this is Horsetail Falls.

After some steep switchbacks and the realization that we are really out of shape (as retirees flew past us), we encountered Ponytail Falls.

 It's really cool because the trail goes behind the falls.

 

Then we came to a beautiful view of the river

water dripping off a mossy cliff

 

Then we came to a bridge and the last waterfall on the tour, Oneonta Falls.

 Of course there were many beautiful wildflowers along the way.

 If you want to see another cool place we've been, go to my other blog, Chickabloom.com.