4 Wheels 4 Girls

After the long hike we came to a large clearing and saw Avalanche Lake. The lake was big and the water was green and blue. It was surrounded by mountains. At the bottom of the lake, where we were, was a log jam. There were logs piled up every were. Daddy and Greta went and took pictures of the log jam and of the mountains. We touched the lake. It was freezing!

Logs pile up at the bottom of Avalanche Lake

We were eating some trail mix when a lady said, “there are mountain goats up there.” We all looked at were she was pointing. I could’t tell where she was pointing. Then I saw them. They were tiny white dots way up on the mountain side, but we could see them move. Two of them jumped across a gap. We wached them for a long time. Then I saw that there was a mountain goat with something following it. I realized that it was a baby. I told every one about it.

You can't make out the mountain goats way up on the mountain side, but they are up there and we saw them!

We all loved seeing mountain goats for the first time. I hope we can see mountain goats again!

On June 10, we drove from Bayview, ID into Montana. We were heading for Glacier National Park.

This state border is not the farthest from home, but it sure took us a long time to get here

Along the way, we passed a small county park in the Kootenai river valley in Montana. We decided to check it out. We went to Kootenai falls. We hiked though the forest. We walked for a long time until we came to a bridge across a railroad. We walked on it and down these steps. Greta told me to look down. I looked down and I got real mad because I realized we were up really high. She made me scared. I walked down the stairs until we came to the bottom.

We walked and we walked and then we heard the roaring river. We walked until we came to the swinging bridge. It was made out of all wood. When I got on I loved it already. We walked on it and then it started to shake. Greta was shaking it. I told her that it was scary when she did that so she stopped doing it. We went back and forth and back and forth and back and forth across the bridge. I really did not want to leave but we had to.

Approaching the swinging bridge

Walking across the Kootenai river on the swinging bridge

One day in Bayview, me and Ana were really bored. Then Ana said let’s go fishing! Then I got up and went inside the R.V. I got string and my scissors. I told Ana to go and find two sticks. When she came back we cut the string and then tied the string around the the sticks. Then we got a rock and tied it at the end of the rock. Then we went fishing.

Fishing in the stream next to our camper

We went inside we made a sign that said something like this. Welcome to the Fisherman Club. Go and pick out a stick and we’l make you a fishing pole! Hope you have fun in the club! We waited and waited for for along time until Stella said I’ll join. We went out and made her a fishing pole and gave her a tour. We showed her the bridges and the forest and the duck hideout and the waterfalls and the small sand bar and the place were we saw these black fish. Then we all went fishing together. We saw ducks and we touched the water. It was freezing. We played every day. Ana said she caught a fish and came to tell me, but a bird caught it.

On June 7 we went to a Hobby Lobby in Spokane, WA, to look for pipe cleaners and hair for our wee folks. Wee folks are little dolls that we made ourselves. They look like little fairy people. They have wings made out of flower petals. To make them, you shape the pipe cleaner into their body and wrap string around their feet to make boots. You wrap string around the arms for their skin. For the girls, you cut out only the shirt and you cut bigger holes in the flower petals for their skirt. For the boys, you cut out their shirt and pants and sew them on. Then you put the hair on, but we didn’t have any hair.

Wee folks like to hang out in the garden

We looked all over until I spotted the hair. We got black, brown, orange, and blond hair. After that we went to look for pipe cleaners but they did not have any. After that we went to Joe Ann’s Fabrics, where we found the pipe cleaners. My mom found a book that showed you how to crochet stuff. She told us that she would make us each a poncho. We all got really excited about that. We all went to go pick out a color that we wanted. When we came back my mom told us that we had to find this exact same kind of yarn. We looked around and could not find it. So Mommy got a different kind of yarn. She is making Stella’s first.

After our shopping, we drove to Coeur d’Alene, ID. We picked up some groceries and then we drove to a place where we had no idea where we were, and Daddy went into a store. We waited for him for a long time until he returned carrying six big, white cups with colored straws. He handed one to each of us and named a fruit for each straw color. Mine was orange. Then we realized they were all huckleberry shakes! They were really good! It was my first huckleberry shake. We all thanked Daddy over and over for the great surprise.

On June 4th, we walked to see a bike race. The bike riders had to go around the streets of Hood River, OR. We saw people riding their bikes in a race. There was an accident. We saw that a guy had run over a curb and fell off his bike. Sarah told us that she thought he had busted his chin open.

The people watching the race were noisy. The bikes made a noise that sounded like a car when they went by.

At the Hood River bike races with Lori and Sarah

We watched the guys for a long time. They went around and around. We watched the leader to see if he stayed in the front or not. The leader would switch placed sometimes with another guy, and on another round we saw that there was another guy and the leader was third out of them. We watched the leader come back to the front and lead for the rest of the race. But Dad says he didn’t win. I don’t believe him. We saw the guy that Daddy thought won. We tried to go and see him but it was to crowed. We also saw a girls race. It was the same but at the end of there race we did not know who won. We went into the art center and looked around. When we came out anther race had started. We wached for a while and then we left. I had a great time at the races. I liked seeing the girls race.

June 3rd, after the Catherine Creek trail, we went to the Shreiner Zoo in Washington. Me, Stella, Daddy, and Sarah were riding in the mustang when we pulled up to the zoo. We got really excited and happy. When we first got in there we saw these marmots. We drove some more and saw some zebras. We drove farther and saw a llama on a huge boulder. Then we went farther and saw some camels. Then we saw some deer-like things and then we saw a really tall neck poking out of nowhere. Now what could that be? A giraffe, of course.

Camels, giraffes, and Mount Hood

We got closer and saw some more camels. We saw this really old camel that had foam coming out of its mouth. We asked what the stuff was and Mom said that it was spit. She also said that they like to spit. I thought the camel was going to spit on us.

This says it all about camels and spit. (Thanks to Sarah, for the great photo!)

We saw this other camel that was molting. It was so gross.

I had so much fun there. Thanks to Lori and Sarah. I had never seen a camel in real life.

When we got to the Bonneville Hatcheries we had lunch. Me and Daddy went to get Lori some coffee. We went back and finished our lunch. We got ready and went to see the white sturgeon. We ran to the pond and then we went down under ground. Then a huge fish came by. It was huge! We wached the white sturgeon swim. We also saw some rainbow trout.

That sturgeon is huge, and that rainbow trout is pretty big, too

After that we went to see tanks that held a ton of fish. Then we went to the hacheries. When we got there we looked through windows and saw these trays that held salmon eggs. Daddy says there were 15 million eggs inside that one room. Then we went and wached a movie on the fish. It was really cool there.

On June 2 we went on a hike to go and see a waterfall. When we got there we all got out except for Stella. She was not felling well. We brought Olive and Roxanne with us. Me and Greta got to walk the dogs while Ana walked along and was petting the dogs. We walked through a green forest and we walked beside a stream. We were looking for acorns. We walked for quite a long time until we came to a small waterfall where we got our picture taken and got wet.

Then we came to a place where the path went two directions, so we waited for Lori and asked her which way to go. We saw a cave. Me, Greta, and Ana went inside. We had to crawl through it.

Wahclella Falls in the Columbia River Gorge

There was a really long bridge across the stream in front of Wahclella Falls. The waterfall was coming down fast and we got a little wet from the mist. We watched the water come down for a little while, then finished the hike and went back to the van.

Then we went to see another waterfall, Multnomah Falls. I was very tired and sleepy when we got there. It was really cold. The waterfall was really tall. We saw a really cool bridge that was high up in the air in front of the falls. We were going to go up to it, but decided it was already a pretty view.

Multnomah Falls with Lori

On May 31 we woke up and found out that the RV was right next to some horses. We had breakfast and then we went to go and look at the horses. They let us fed them. I came back and did some posts and then me and Stella went to go and play with the horses. I named them all. Here are some names. Sugar, Hot Coco, Blosome, Mocha, Big Red, Sanddune, Camomile, Brighty (is a mule), and there are some more but you might not want to hear them all. We fed them grass and we rubbed their bellies and we scrached their necks. After that we came and had blt bacon lettuce and tomato. We ate them fast and then we went back outside and played with them. Some of them farted real loud. We fed them for along time and then we left.

I named this beautiful horse Sugar

On May 30th we went to Crater Lake. When we got there we went to go to a lookout. We wanted the sun to come out so we could see the lake. We got ready to go and see the lake. On the way there we threw snowballs at each other. It was fun to throw snowballs at the parents. The sun had come out so we could see the lake. We got our pictures taken and then me and Ana went to play in the snow. We tried to make a snowman but that failed. Then we played horses and we threw snowballs at each other.

This building is the visitor center

Then we left to go to the Lodge. When we got there I climbed up a pile of snow and broke off two icicles. One for me and one for Ana. We left our icicles outside because we did not want them to melt. When we got in the lodge we went to the fire to warm ourselves up. We read books and then we went out and played in the snow.

Can you believe how much snow there is?

We went to the visitor center, where we met a very nice Ranger who taught us how deep Crater Lake is and other stuff about the park. Dad said Ranger Darby reminded him of Uncle Will.

With Ranger Darby at Crater Lake

We played in the snow some more and then we headed back to the RV, wet, cold, and hungry. Me and Ana had a fun time playing in the snow.