Hiking and Houseguests

Last week Jared's mentor teacher, Karen, invited us to go on our first hike of Southwest Washington. The plan was to summit Beacon Rock, the second largest free-standing rock in the world. Unfortunately when we reached the trailhead, we were greeted with a barrier stating that a rock slide had temporarily closed the trail. Beacon rock is situated partway out into the Columbia river and, as you can imagine, has breathtaking views. Disappointed that we wouldn't be able to make it to the top, we still started up the trail in the hopes of seeing the water before our way was blocked. About five minutes later we were stopped not by a rockslide, but by a locked metal gate with no way around. Since we had not yet had our hiking fix, we moved just down the road to another trailhead. This one headed uphill to several waterfalls. The last one had what was called the Pool of Winds. The waterfall had created a sort of cylindrical cave about eight feet in diameter with a pool at the bottom before the water ran out into the next waterfall. Because of the shape of the rock, the wind whipped through the cave in a whirlwind fasion. If you leanded in front of the opening you would get a face full of fast moving mist. It was pretty cool. After the hike Karen and Dave had us over for dinner. Karen made an amazing Sheppard's Pie (another first for me, but not the last).

Another exciting event of the past week was the arrival of a second houseguest. Jared's childhood friend, Josh, just moved to town to go to Culinary school. He is spending a few weeks with us while he job/apartment hunts. Jonathan and Josh have re-connected a bit and it looks like they will share an apartment. While we are excited for them and know it is a blessing for them to have roommates, we are going to miss the extra people. It is sad to think that we may be alone in our house in another week. So this is empty nest syndrome...?