Nature's Garden

I've just completed a sucessful vacation - my mom came for a visit and we had an action packed five days. We went to Seattle and did some touristy things there - visited Pike's market, saw the space needle (didn't go up, but got a good look), went to the aquarium and saw a very active octopus and some playful otters. I love watching them at feeding time - they are so goofy and graceful in the water. The train ride back was amazingly beautiful, the sky was so clear, and we had great views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood. On Saturday we went to Silver Creek Falls State Park. It was so hot out that day! We didn't make it to all ten waterfalls, but I think we saw seven or eight of them. Double Falls was my favorite because you could get so close to it. The spray felt great. We also saw the cutest baby birds! If you weren't paying attention you wouldn't even notice them when you walked behind Lower South Falls. Luckily somebody pointed them out to us and I snapped a great pick just as the third chick was poking it's head out of the nest! The park also has so many beautiful wildflowers, like the wild iris. There are supposed to be cougar and black bear as well, but we didn't see any around. Today we ran Reach the Bridge, a fundraiser for the ALA. We got an early start (good thing too, because it was hot and humid) and I'm happy to report that both my mom and I reached the Burnside before it went up at 9. It was a really fun race, despite the fact that I almost got hit by some jackass as he drove through the course. After the race we decided to WALK back to the start, putting our daily total to over 10 miles. We went to the Rose Garden in Washington Park. I've never been, but the roses there are so beautiful! I really enjoyed running around and smelling them all. If you ever visit Portland, make sure you go to the Rose Garden!