Double Daddoo Date to the Columbia Gorge

Annagrace went to the beach with her friends, leaving the girls with me. I decided to take them to one of my favorite places in the world. The Historic Columbia River Highway. There’s so much to see and do in a relatively small amount of space. So, we hit some highlights that I thought PAK and ACK would love. We had a great time.

We were prepared. Warm clothes, yummy food made by Mama, water bottles, camera, full gas tank, and coffee…lots of coffee.

Oh, and we did this all on the day Adeleine turned 18 months old.

Note: If you want to see all of the pictures from today, click on any of the pics below. You’ll be taken to our Flickr! site. This will also allow you to see full-size images if you want to get in closer.

Portland Women’s Forum Overlook

The view was beautiful. It’s usually quite windy up above the Columbia River. Today it was completely calm. The clouds around Crown Point (below) were cool. It’s hard to take awesome pictures with an 18-month old in your arms.

Both of the girls were in a great mood. Adeleine tried her best to keep up with Penelope.

Crown Point / Vista House

Penelope was always running ahead of Adeleine and me. I was amazed at how well she obeyed me and protected herself and Adeleine. Her eagerness made it easy to get her in the photos.

I have been inside the Vista House since I was a little kid, myself. I’d never been downstairs so we checked it out.

Both of the kids run FAST. The next three photos show a very determined Adeleine — she was chasing Penelope.

The amazing stonework and masonry in this area is gorgeous. However, it was built as the U.S. was coming out of the depression. Amazing things can come of hard times.

Latourell Falls

I don’t have a single good picture of the falls. I was having so much fun with PAK and ACK that it just didn’t matter.

I know this next picture is out of focus but her eyes are still incredible.

Wahkeena Falls

This is one of my favorite areas to walk around. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to do the loop.

Multnomah Falls

Penelope in motion reminds me of some of the professional dancers I’ve worked with.

The meaning of true love

I love that our girls truly watch out for each other. Penelope, without any prodding from me, saw that Adeleine was going to need help up the stairs. She was with her sister, uh, every step of the way. What really got me was that Penelope only helped when it was clear that Adeleine could use help. Adeleine, who usually wants to do things on her own terms, was elated with Penelope’s help.

These two pictures work nicely together. If I had the time to do it, I’d fix them up as a single shot. Oh, well….

I’m happy for the Adeleine/Daddoo self-portraits but I wish I could’ve gotten someone to take a photo of me with Penelope.

Popcorn. Cheap, yummy, good.

This, followed by naptime, yummy dinner, play, and sleep. Near perfection (…where’s my wife?).

Daddoo!