Waterfalls of the Columbia Gorge (Part 2)

STOP!!!! This is actually part 2 of our blog this week, so skip down and read part 1 first- Cause like Fraulein Maria says, "lets start from the very beginning, the very best place to start..." We haven't figured out our blog software and have trouble loading all the pictures we want. Does anyone know how to load as many as you want in one post??





This is Horsetail Falls- aptly named. Schaefer has learned how to really get some great shots with the camera, especially with the water effects!

Latourell Falls. This one had a lot of color around it! We may just make a waterfall calendar with these pictures...

At the pools at Latourell Falls. It was great for taking pictures and will be even better with more sun and less rain.

The water effects turned out great in this picture!

It stopped raining for about 4 mins, the sun even tried to come out.

We love this picture! Bilbo and Gandalf came to chat with us, but they charged an unruly amount to have their pictures taken.

Waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge (Part 1)

This is part 1 of our Saturday excursion to Oregon to see the many waterfalls along a small section of the Columbia River Gorge. We loved it! We really can't wait to go back on a better weather day, so if there are any takers to come see the falls, let us know and we'll plan to take you there!


Our first lookout point along the Columbia River Gorge. As you can see the weather was not in our favor. It was a rainy day which made for some OK pictures, but we love our new camera (obviously) and have been learning some new tricks that helped us "weather the storm."

The Gorge. I think this picture looks better when we are in it :)

It was so incredibly green here, even in the winter, so we set our camera to accentuate the green. We think we got some pretty cool shots...

Shouldn't this be the cover of some good book? Hopefully not a book about some road that you shouldn't go down...

Our attempts to be artistic

Old meets new in this fabulous vintage Bell photo taken in 1952

This is Bridal Veil Falls- That is the Washington side of the river (the rest of the waterfalls are on the Oregon side). I think there is a Bridal Veil Falls in just about every state. Too bad we can't get a closer shot.

The best scenery I've seen yet!

This is Oregon's version of Spanish moss. Moss grows on just about anything out here.

Follow the.... green brick road. No munchkins though... Must be hibernating.

Wahkeena Falls. Probably one of the more picturesque falls.

Wahkeena Falls up close.

The grand-daddy of the Gorge waterfalls is Multnomah Falls. As you can read it is one tall waterfall. You've probably seen it before...

By this time we're getting pretty soaked by rain, as well as many of our photos... Despite the rain, we came away with a few good ones. Next time we'll bring an umbrella... for the camera. Not for us of course because only silly tourists use umbrellas.

Standing on the bridge looking down at the lower falls.

Unfortulately we cannot do this waterfall justice with the photos we came away with. With so much rain it was either a blurry or rain-spotted picture. Next time...

Look at us locals... Drenched in rain, no umbrella, and still smiling :)
Side note- I'm still learning to enjoy this rain. Ironically for our two-hour car ride home the sun decided to come out, and I may have complained about it more than once.

This is the best one we managed to get. It was truly a majestic waterfall and even bigger and louder in person! It's a total of over 600 ft! 

My favorite scenery again. Love that smile!

To finish reading the adventures of Rob and Schaefer, continue back up the most recent post which is part 2.

Our Best Adventure Yet!

I asked Rob what he wanted to do for his birthday weekend, and he immediately said... SNOWSHOEING!!! So we rented some non-tennis-racket-like snow shoes and headed up to Mt. Rainier.


I can't even count how many National Parks we have been to in the past 4 months...we pretty much have the best life!

Waterfall and icicles on the way up the mountain

This was some serious snow!! I don't think I have ever seen so much snow in my life!

Why yes that is an 8 foot road sign covered by snow...It was higher than our van and made me a little nervous!

THESE are snowshoes people! You strap your feet in to the top. The bottom has spikey things that dig into the snow.. and they work like magic!

If you look closely, you'll see cross country skiing tracks on the side of a VERY steep mountain...Rob wants to do this next time. and he is serious.

All layered up and ready to go! I was scared of being cold so I had three layers on bottom and four on top...I was quite cozy.

About to begin our adventure!

The start of the hike was intimidating..we had to hike up that steep hill of snow just to get on the trail. It was fun coming down that let me tell you...

We hiked to Reflections Lakes..not much of a reflection this time of year, but we are definitely going back in the summer!

Here's my vote for Outdoorsman of the Year 2013...

Don't these trees look like they belong in Whoville?

Thank goodness for those shoes or I'd be up to my hips in snow!

Aren't we cute?!

Look at that beautiful reflection...errr snow covered lake. See you again in July!

Rob's friend the Stellar Jay (Thanks mom for the book on wildlife ;) He took about 50 pictures of this little guy. Glad he got one good one!

Looking out over the lake that I walked over! I just knew that I was going to fall in, but Rob convinced me it was safe, and now I can say I walked on water!

Don't you just love evergreens covered with snow?! I do.

Where'd his feet go? We ended up "skiing" down the ridge since with this much snow there really is no trail..you just go down the fastest way you can!

We had a BLAST snowshoeing and can't wait to do it again. The best part definitely was "skiing" down (mostly on my butt).

Don't forget to look at the post before this about our bald eagle sighting!

Nisqually Wildlife Reserve

Welcome back! Our next two posts are all about us trying to have fun in the freezing cold!



Last Saturday, Rob went for his first ride since moving to Olympia! It was short and sweet, but he was prepared...can you tell?!

Can you spy the bald eagle in this picture?! I (schaef) was the first one to spot it!

This reserve is just down the street from us. It's home to a lot of bald eagles!

This is all salt water from the Puget Sound...unfortunately the tide was out when we were there.

The reserve was originally farmland...it's not anymore. The farmer's donated the land to the state to be used as a wildlife refuge.

Don't I look so cute in my new hat?! Just tryin to stay warm!

Rob's becoming a pro photographer!

They consider this a "sunny day" in Washington.

Shannon and her husband were our tour guides. Shannon works with Rob and has volunteered to take us all over western Washington. We've agreed.