Our Washington Trip - Days 1 - 4

We left for Washington after Bump got off work on Friday night, August 4th.  We were excited to go and wanted to see how far we could get the first evening.  The kids did really well on the drive and we slept really great at a hotel along the way - Twin Falls, Idaho, I think.

The next day we took our time driving and stopped at a few places to give the kids some breaks.  The kids loved the park in Baker City, Oregon.  We were really happy to finally arrive in Washington and see Grandma and Grandpa.

 The next day was Sunday, so we had a nice relaxing day after church.  We recovered from our long drive and spent a lot of time like this...

 Quincy remembered last summer when Great-Grandpa Dickson let her drive him around.  It didn't take her long to take over his electric chair again.  They spent quite a bit of time together.

On Monday we took off to drive up into the mountains and go hike the ice caves.

First we stopped at the ranger station to look at the large log that my Mom's family helped haul out after it died.  You can see a section of it behind Gabby.  The plaque has a picture of all the guys that were there at the time, standing on this huge log on the back of a logging truck.  I love this picture of Gabby looking through her binoculars.  She looks just like the owl on her shirt!  The ranger gave the kids Smokey the Bear slap bracelets and we were on our way.

 Just past the ranger station we stopped at the lumber mill where my uncle worked.  Bump and I toured this mill just after we were married when my uncle still worked there.  The kids loved watching all the tractors, trucks and machines move logs around the yard.

Then we headed up into the mountains.  We were able to see some of the logging roads that my grandpa had built years ago.  Bump took some beautiful pictures.  We took our time and stopped at little spots along the way to enjoy the day and the scenery.

 At the bottom of this mountain were the ice caves that we were headed to.  The trail head was just to the left of this picture.

 The kids found this cool hollowed out log and each wanted their pictures taken in it.

Quincy

 Gabby

 Corban

 The trail was beautiful!  We saw lots of really neat trees, moss, rocks, roots, plants, mushrooms and bugs.  We even had some yummy wild berries to snack on along the way!

 We finally arrived at the ice caves.  The boys went on ahead.

 We stopped at the first little ice cave to cool off after our hike.  I started to take a picture of the girls and Grandma threw a snowball at just the perfect time!  Those caves blow out a really cold breeze!  It cooled us down quickly.

 Then we went over to the bigger caves.

 I really like this guy!  Can you believe the beautiful views?  The sky was clear and nice right up until we were ready to leave and then the clouds started to come in and hide the peaks of the mountains around us.

 The kids had a nice drink of glacier water.  Is it safe?  Well, I only let them drink it right out of rocks at the top.  Nobody got sick. . .  They thought it was pretty cool.

 This little gal was tuckered out, but made it down the trail just fine after her rest.

 The kids kept throwing water and snow balls at Bump.  He finally picked them up and gave them swirlies in the ice water.

Coming down the trail we all stopped and took off our shoes to soak our feet in the bitter cold water.  Even Harry (the dog) got in.

 Our little hobo decided on the way down to collect sticks just in case we needed to make a fire.  He brought them all the way back to the car and to Grandma and Grandpa's house.