A few days after Brian’s mom unexpectedly passed away, my mom came to Portland for a week, which allowed Brian and me to drive out to Mt. Hood (about an hour) to hike the Salmon River trail.  It was approx 8 miles round trip. This has been our favorite hike so far. It’s so beautiful. The river was clear and flowing pretty well.  The first half of the hike was sunny (but cold) and the second half back was rainy and cold.  Both parts were a beautiful experience.  Yes, the water is really that pretty – these images have very little editing.  We only saw maybe 2-3 other people during the hike so it was quite peaceful.  This was our first long hike together without Brady or George. It was a blessing to get away in nature for a few hours just the two of us. We had adult conversations. We talked about Brian’s mom (Marilyn). He recounted childhood memories and how she encouraged him to read Western (cowboy) novels and watch coming of age boy movies. She was encouraging of our move out West to explore nature and adventures and to do the same for our son.

This hike was at the beginning of September just as a couple of the trees started changing colors. I bet the forest is painted with so many colorful trees now!  We hope to return to this area to explore more hiking trails.  Guys, we live in real-life FernGully!

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