We went there on Wendy's birthday (the thirteenth) and had a pretty great time. For one thing, our girls were enthusiastic to go for a little hike. Under normal circumstances, the suggestion that we go for a hike is received with the same enthusiasm as a trip to the ... in fact, there's no comparison. The girls would rather go to the dentist, or the furniture store, or to church than go for a hike. But because Lily and Kai were psyched, our girls got psyched. That was nice!
Oaks Bottom is a small nature preserve in inner Portland. It's a sort of marshy place on the edge of the Willamette River, below a steep embankment upon which most of South East Portland resides. There are some few trails and lots of birds and the trails intersect with the many-miles-long Springwater Corridor.
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| The kids saw the embankment, and they had to climb. The picture does not do justice to the height and steepness of that slope. |
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| Suzanne was the first to get to the downed tree, which I declared was "as high as you can go." |
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| Elizabeth found a good path down the hill, and took a break on this madrone tree. |
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| Going up was the easy part. Suzanne in this picture is finding a way down the embankment that doesn't involve tumbling like a ragdoll. |
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| Elizabeth swinging off the madrone perch. That slope was steep. |
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| I, for one, was sometimes frustrated by how we couldn't proceed 15 feet down the path without the kids wanting to scramble up an impossibly steep slope or walk on to a slippery log over a cold bog or swing from some low branches. It's an adventure! |
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| We saw a few white herons (cranes?). It was cool. ... That white spot in the middle is a bird. |
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| See what I'm talking about?! We couldn't walk 15 feet without the kids doing stuff like this. Adventure! |
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