4th of July Weekend

After a week at Mom and Dad's we are relatively settled, and all of the animals are doing well. (We did have quite the adventure moving all of the critters and stuff from the cracked tank into the new tank however....)

For the 4th weekend, Mom and Dad had planned to go out and help gram paint her house along with Terry, Diane, Chris, and Bev, so we decided to go along and help. Matt and I have really missed the beach, and we left a little early Friday so that we could stop at a beach and take Tillie out. However, we didn't get going until later in the day, and decided the beaches were probably going to be pretty crowded, so we stopped for a short hike at Munson Creek Falls instead. It was a fabulous decision! There was only one other car there, and it was fun to take Tillie back to the place she went on her very first outing!


The evening light was beautiful, and Tillie was excited to be out and about!!



There were salmon berries everywhere. They were pretty tart though...


Tillie, who it like me and HATES to be hot (which to us is over 70 degrees), was very excited to wade into the creek! She loves to take a sip, and then lay down to cool off quickly!




The park is located just off of 22, right before Tillamook, at the end of a long gravel road. I was shocked to see that the adjacent hill was in the process of being completely logged. I wish logging companies would stick to strip logging. It leaves the hills some habitat, not to mention some dignity. Fortunately, the logging did not impact the park trail in any way, and we enjoyed the peaceful stream, and woody underbrush.




The trail is only 1/4 of a mile long, and ends with a few wooden steps that take you to a lookout across from the water fall. Tillie took a rest in her usual fashion on steps - she sits on one step with her back legs, and puts her extended front legs on the next one down!




This trip reminded us that although we loved Spokane, there really is not a more beautiful place than the west side of Oregon.


As a responsible pet owner, I always walk Tillie on a leash. However, when we can see that there are no other people or animals around, we sometimes give her a few minutes of freedom off leash. As soon as I let her off, she raced to the creek and laid down in the water. Silly dog.



After we dried Tills off, we made it to Grams house were we enjoyed clam fritters and a game of crib...which Gram won. Of course.

The next day we all started working on the painting and really enjoyed each other's company. At the end of the day, when we were all out of house paint, we were able to complete the entire house and trim with two very small exceptions. It was fun to walk around and see our handiwork, and Gram was pleased. It is amazing how many hands can get work done so fast! Look at my mom's blog (linked) to see painting photos.

That evening we had grilled brats, potato salad, and other yummy food, sang a few songs, shared a few stories, and then Matt and I set off a few fireworks that Diane had found lurking in a closet. It was a fun weekend.