The 'Dubyas' In My Life

We are having a fairly mundane weekend so far compared to this time last week. We were happy to have the Dovre Wudalis--affectionately referred to as the D-Dubyas (or D-Dubs, for short)--fly all the way out here from the Twin Cities to spend their four-day MEA break with us. My children were thrilled to have their cousins spending four whole nights in the same house and we were glad to have some familiar faces walk through the door.

We took advantage of the first non-rainy day (Thursday) and hit the Gorge/waterfall route again. This time, though, we packed our hiking supplies and did the full Wahkeena Falls Trail from start to finish. If you've been following my blog, you will recall that we attempted this hike once before shortly after we first moved to the area. Unprepared and unknowing, we only made it about the first third of the way and had to abandon our mission. This time, we brought our game faces.

If I seemingly went on and on about how many jaw-dropping photo ops there are on this trail the first time we tried it, I hadn't seen anything yet. Once you get toward the "summit" of your hike along the gorge wall, the environment turns from lush and ferny to fir trees towering above you and their scented needles blanketing the path in front of you. When you're not right next to the rushing rivers and waterfalls, you can hear strange bird calls high above you in the treetops and I was suddenly Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games (if you haven't read these books, start right after you finish reading my blog. Otherwise, sorry for the random literary reference).

The Crest of Multnomah Falls
(That's the parking lot 630-ish feet below)

All along the way, we exchanged inane pleasantries with the people we passed on the trail and we'd get some surprised looks and/or comments when they spotted all the kids we had along with us. On our descent to the other falls, Multnomah, we stopped at a fork in the trail and asked an older gentleman which way we should head to get to the top of Multnomah Falls. He directed us accordingly and then said, "Next time, try starting from Wahkeena. I hear it's a beautiful hike." He was floored to find out that the 4-yr-old boy standing in front of me and the rest of us had just come from there. We parted with high fives (my son and the guy, not all of us...cuz that would be awkward) and FINALLY got to peer down over all 620 feet of Multnomah Falls. Mission accomplished, Dubya style. The only thing missing was a fighter jet and a festooned banner.

So what do you do the day after you hiked for four hours straight? You go to the zoo, of course! We didn't last long that night after dinner.

To top off our tour marathon, we chose the rainiest day to go to the beach. What it lacked in leisurely strolls up and down the sand, it made up for in quality time in the car. We spent a short time on Cannon Beach--just enough to get soaked--and then drove down Hwy 101 to Tillamook, Oregon. Now, normally, I wouldn't have known Tillamook Air Museum existed, much less wanted to spend another 2 hours in the car to get there, but there's some family history in this small town, and I wanted to check it out. 

K-ship Blimps in Tillamook
Copyright Tillamook Air Museum

My mother's parents lived in Tillamook for a short period of time in the early 40s while my grandfather help build the two blimp hangars there. And, yes, they actually housed eight K-ship blimps in them until 1948 and had their own blimp Squadron Z-33. There is still one hangar left, the other destroyed in a huge fire in 1992, and it houses a collection of around 30 privately owned aircraft at any one time, including those from WWI and WWII. The wooden hangar itself is an impressive sight, and I'm proud to say my grandpa was a part of constructing one of the largest wooden structures in the world.

The kids had a good time crawling in and around the various cockpit displays that were there for the public to sit in. The big boys strolled around taking in the various planes, and we all got a chance to dry our pants out for the long ride home again.

I'll briefly mention the 'Balls of Fire' fritter challenge from Salvador Molly's in Portland. Those little suckers live up to their name. My brother-in-law ate all five of them and he lived to tell about it the next morning, even though he didn't have a very restful slumber that night. And I'll just leave it at that. Kids, don't try this at home.

We dropped the D-Dubyas at the airport Sunday afternoon and slept like the dead Sunday evening. I'm sure they did, too. We look forward to our next house guests and promise we won't submit you to the same crazy schedule, unless you ask for it. That includes the Balls of Fire.

~Paula