Two Rivers in Two Days

The girls and I found ourselves in the unusual situation of being without Barb this weekend. She and her girlfriend went backpacking (!) on Mt. Hood for two nights. As the weather was warm and sunny, we hit the water. On Saturday, we accepted an invite from Aaron and Wendy to go to the Sandy River.  The Sandy can be a very dangerous river -- two children drowned in it this Summer, and that's not unusual. But the stretch of river we went to was broad and shallow, with a firm but not dangerous current.  We had a great time exploring, swimming, and floating down the "rapids." The only downside was that Elizabeth lost a treasured pendant she had worn every day for more than a year. She was sad, but recovered quickly. There will be more jewelry.

Not the greatest photo, but gives you an idea of the scene. There were a good number of people and a few dogs enjoying the water alongside us.

This odd picture was taken with a clip-on fisheye lens of Aaron's. Kind of cool.

That night we did some grillin' and chillin' at the Larrison residence with our river rat friends and Brian and Riley, who joined us after their own day of adventure. (They are ex-husband and son, respectively, of Barb's backpacking partner, Teresa.)

The next day started slow: not having Barb around keeps a single dad busy! So the kids had their screen time while I did dishes and laundry and tidying and etc. After the morning we were at loose ends -- Suzanne wanted very badly to go to Oaks Amusement Park, but Elizabeth and I didn't. We settled on a swim in the Willamette River, which runs through downtown Portland. We were a bit upstream, but the water was busy with boats large and small. The best thing was every time a boat powered by, its wake sent waves surging onto the riverbank.  We bobbed around like corks. Suzanne was having so much fun that at one point as she was laughing a wave filled her mouth with river water, which wasn't much fun. At least the Willamette is cleaner than it used to be: our tax dollars at work!

 

After the river we met Pat and Karen at the house. The original plan was to go out to dinner, but we decided to order pizza and stay in. It was very nice, and by the end of the day, bed was very appealing.