Beautiful, windy Hood River

We love this little town. The views in every direction just make you happy,. Yes, it is windy but that is what makes it a world class destination for wind and kite surfing. The river is filled with windsurfers all the time! So fun to watch...
We had great pizza and beer (Limonatas for the boys) at Double Mountain Brewery  and had to stop at Mike's ice cream before heading back home. Sean took a turn at the advice booth and shared the wisdom of an 8 year old boy with anyone who was brave enough to step forward.

Saturday

We left home and drove about 2 hours to Mt. St. Helens, heading all the way up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory which is as close as you can get on the north side. We hiked up a trail, saw tons of wild flowers, chipmunks and caterpillars and took in the amazing views. On the way back down we of course, had to stop at the giant Big Foot statue. The 19 mile house was serving Elk burgers but we had a car full of snacks so we keep moving along. Next stop: Stevenson, WA, where we spent the night at the Skamania Lodge and enjoyed smores and an amazing view of the Columbia river gorge. Have I mentioned how beautiful the Northwest is in the summer?

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's....

a flying Jackson! I'm pretty sure I have a photo of him doing this exact same thing 5 years ago. Time to go look in the archives.

Sunday with sand

After a lovely wine country Saturday filled with sunshine and good food and beverages (but sadly no photos) , we woke up to drizzle and cooler temperatures. No worries...we headed downtown to catch the tail end of Yoshida's Sand in the City. It involves 450 tons of sand, 4500 gallons of water and teams of architects and builders creating sand sculputures as a fundraising event for an organization called Impact NW. (The organization supports early childhood programs, teen mentoring and after school programs...lots of good stuff). Fortunately the drizzle never turned into real rain and the sculptures stayed intact until the 1pm demolition began.

Berries

We had our first berry picking outing of the season today and came home with buckets of blueberries, raspberries and siskyou berries. They were all amazing and you can't beat 99 cents a pound.

Outstanding in the Field

Outstanding in the Field brings together local winemakers, chefs and farmers for an amazing outdoor dining experience. It was a gorgeous summer night filled with good wine, good food and lots of laughter. It was also the perfect summer night: warm sun and beautiful blue skies...a nice reminder of why we live in Oregon.

Pancakes, A Parade and lots of Fireworks

Our little town goes all out on the 4th of July. There's a pancake breakfast, a parade, wake boarding competitions and fireworks on the lake in the evening. We opted for pancakes at home, then headed over to the parade. Just about every single person in town comes out to watch and by the end the crowd follows behind the parade into the main plaza where there's a big party. Later in the day we joined neighbors for a BBQ and Jim made the best ribs EVER! (The recipe is from the July issue of Bon Appetit and its aptly titled "Best ever BBQ Ribs"). After setting off fireworks in the street, we all hopped into the boat and enjoyed a night of fireworks. The weather was absolutely perfect and it was an all around classic 4th of July celebration.

Golf Cart Cruisin'

Visiting the Dallas cousins