May, 2012

This was a spectacular weekend! We loaded up and headed back down the Columbia River Gorge! We had two nights planned at Memaloose State Park and we were headed up to Rowena Crest during the day to hike through the wildflower fields.

Sunny, and beautiful!!

The drive up the Gorge was beautiful. I take the scenery here for granted since we drive through here so often, but sometimes I’m able to see it through the eyes of a tourist…especially when the sun is shining! We arrived at Memaloose late in the afternoon. The park was almost empty and the the spot we had was very private. We camped at this park last summer…in fact it was our first time staying in a state park. We didn’t like it very much because in the summer it is packed and there were a lot of large, loud groups. This weekend, much to our amazement, the park was virtually empty. No complaints here!

Our campsite with sweet light

Loved the white lights that we brought!

Fresh lilacs!

The weather was unseasonably warm and there was no wind…very unusual for this area. Daytime highs were in the mid 80’s and it fell to a comfortable 50 degrees during the night. We turned our air conditioner on for the first time, just to make sure it actually worked. Last year was such a wet and rainy summer that we never turned it on.

We enjoyed a beautiful hike on Saturday and had lots of time to just sit and relax around the camp. It was a perfect weekend.

Wildflowers at Rowena Crest

Burst of sunshine

Lovely lupines!

Small pond along Rowena trail.

Rowena Wildflowers over the Columbia River

 

Our Campsite

Tent sites near the Columbia River

Back at our campsite..

Love the campfires!

Drive home

Sunday was Mother’s Day, and to top the weekend off we arrived home around noon to a nice lunch set up by our kids. Decks and patios had been cleaned and all the outside furniture had been set up. A perfect ending to a wonderful weekend!