Aaron and I had the best weekend ever!!! First off, thank you, thank you, thank you to Matthew and Bethany for watching our kids Friday and Saturday!!! You guys are amazing!!!
Aaron and I started off our weekend with a trip to Benihana's for yummy dinner!! The lobster was delicious as was the sushi...our favorites!! We got up at 6:00am on Saturday to start our kid-free adventure. We packed our bathing suits and towels and jumped in the van. We headed about an hour and a half away to the Estacada area. We went camping there this past summer and learned that there are some pretty cool hot springs up there. We weren't able to go to them because you have to hike about a mile in and didn't know if all the kids would make it and also there are only a few tubs. So, if you don't get there early, chances are you wouldn't get one. Well, things were going fine...until we turned down our road that said basically no one maintains it during the winter. There were downed trees all over the place. Then the snow/ice appeared. It looked like snow...but really it was solid ice!! The picture below shows what it looked like right at the beginning of the "course."
I say "course" because that is what it was. There was really no way to get off the course. It was like playing pin-ball. If Aaron veered too much to the right, well then the ice bumpers pushed him right back to where they wanted him. It was pretty crazy!! Then it got a little scary because the snow/ice got a lot deeper (sorry...no pics!!). We could feel the ice scrape the bottom of the van. But, as long as Aaron maintained a steady speed, the ice bumpers kept him on the road. There were some areas with lots of big rocks on the road and I about died thinking about what it was doing to the bottom of the van!! Well...we made it to the final turn off and realized that there was no way we would make it...even if we did have our chains in the van...which we realized we should always keep in the van!! So, we decided to turn around...and got stuck!! After about a half an hour and the use of some kind man's shovel in a huge 4 wheel drive truck, we got our tires back into the grooves to go back down the mountain. We made it down just fine. Too bad...we'll have to try again when it warms up some!
Check out this sweet "snow chicken" we saw on the way back to civilization. It was totally glowing on the side of the road! I almost peed my pants when Aaron was riding it because he put too much pressure on the "chickens" head and it broke off and Aaron fell down with the head!
I found a huge agate (well the biggest we have ever found) when Aaron was stacking rocks.
Here is one of the three creations he made. When we were about to go, he let me throw rocks at the them to knock them down. I hit the first one and my big rock that I threw ricocheted off and hit Aaron right between his knees. Oops!
Here's the big river...so pretty!
Then we stopped off in Oregon City to see the paper mill. It was pretty cool looking. We hiked all around the city and discovered lots of cool things before stopping for lunch and Costco. Then we picked out kidlets up. They were so not happy to see us...because as they have told me..."Aunt Bethany makes way yummier food and they have lots more fun over there than with me!
Aaron and I started off our weekend with a trip to Benihana's for yummy dinner!! The lobster was delicious as was the sushi...our favorites!! We got up at 6:00am on Saturday to start our kid-free adventure. We packed our bathing suits and towels and jumped in the van. We headed about an hour and a half away to the Estacada area. We went camping there this past summer and learned that there are some pretty cool hot springs up there. We weren't able to go to them because you have to hike about a mile in and didn't know if all the kids would make it and also there are only a few tubs. So, if you don't get there early, chances are you wouldn't get one. Well, things were going fine...until we turned down our road that said basically no one maintains it during the winter. There were downed trees all over the place. Then the snow/ice appeared. It looked like snow...but really it was solid ice!! The picture below shows what it looked like right at the beginning of the "course."
I say "course" because that is what it was. There was really no way to get off the course. It was like playing pin-ball. If Aaron veered too much to the right, well then the ice bumpers pushed him right back to where they wanted him. It was pretty crazy!! Then it got a little scary because the snow/ice got a lot deeper (sorry...no pics!!). We could feel the ice scrape the bottom of the van. But, as long as Aaron maintained a steady speed, the ice bumpers kept him on the road. There were some areas with lots of big rocks on the road and I about died thinking about what it was doing to the bottom of the van!! Well...we made it to the final turn off and realized that there was no way we would make it...even if we did have our chains in the van...which we realized we should always keep in the van!! So, we decided to turn around...and got stuck!! After about a half an hour and the use of some kind man's shovel in a huge 4 wheel drive truck, we got our tires back into the grooves to go back down the mountain. We made it down just fine. Too bad...we'll have to try again when it warms up some!
Check out this sweet "snow chicken" we saw on the way back to civilization. It was totally glowing on the side of the road! I almost peed my pants when Aaron was riding it because he put too much pressure on the "chickens" head and it broke off and Aaron fell down with the head!
I found a huge agate (well the biggest we have ever found) when Aaron was stacking rocks. 
Here is one of the three creations he made. When we were about to go, he let me throw rocks at the them to knock them down. I hit the first one and my big rock that I threw ricocheted off and hit Aaron right between his knees. Oops!
Here's the big river...so pretty!
Then we stopped off in Oregon City to see the paper mill. It was pretty cool looking. We hiked all around the city and discovered lots of cool things before stopping for lunch and Costco. Then we picked out kidlets up. They were so not happy to see us...because as they have told me..."Aunt Bethany makes way yummier food and they have lots more fun over there than with me! 
5 comments:
Oh that sounds so nice! Glad you had a fun adventure just the two of you!
How fun for you guys. The van and weather thing reminds me of some of our "get-a-ways" I love the new blog picture.
I cannot help but smile every time you post (I have you on my bloglines). This looks like such a fun time. And you are the prettiest thing with braids. Love you, Brenna
How fun for you two! I'm a bit sad that you didn't make it to the hot springs, but it sounds like you had fun anyway. Too bad you didn't get aaron falling off the chicken on camera, sounds pretty funny. If he wasn't hurt of course!
This makes me want to have a truck that much more. You sure live in some pretty country.
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