Wahkeena Falls, July 2013

Wahkeena falls is one of my favorite places in the whole world. It's a beautiful wonderland that is filled with woodland creatures. I don't believe in fairies, but I like the idea of them. A simple description of Wahkeena falls would be a fairy wonderland. It's so sparkly, and the way the sun shines on the trees, it's gorgeous. 

My dad loves making fajitas, and he makes the best fajitas. He wanted to try to make them "out in the wilderness", and he did an awesome job. This was his first time making fajitas "out in the wilderness", and I think we should do it again. My mom cut up the peppers and onions, my tended to the chicken and it was amazing! My dad is always asking me to blog about his creations, but I say "Dad, I really only blog about my recipes, and I would need the whole recipe, and from start to finish." so, this time, I humored him. I am going to blog about this fajitas, but not give out the recipe, that is our family fajita recipe. Man, those fajitas were so good, cooked on a fire on a stone barbecue, kissed by the sun, dusted by the wind, so delicious.

We had lots of other food at the falls. We made hot dogs, s'mores, and our friends, the Cooks brought doughnuts from Joe's doughnuts. Joe's has the best doughnuts around, and the shop is located in Sandy. It looks like a little hole in the wall place, but oh my word.... their doughnuts are amazing! We ate the doughnuts after our hike up to the falls. 

I love nature crafts! There are so many things you can do with fallen twigs, flowers, leaves, and things. At Wahkeena falls, there are so many daisies around. I decided to make a daisy chain crown. I picked a handful of daisies with long stems, and I sat down at the wooden, picnic table and started tying the daisies together in a chain. 

I love how rustic the picnic table looks with the daisies. Country chic. 

Brittney and I gathered our daisies and began working on our daisy chains. I was more detailed with mine because I picked a ton of daisies, and wanted to almost every one of them. I wanted a full, daisy crown. 

I found that on the underside of one of the daisies, it had lavender color on the underside tips. It was really pretty. I have noticed that on other daisies too. 

The daisy chain turned out beautifully.

I got real artsy with the photography of the daisy chain, and took all of these myself.

That was a fun project. The simple beauty that nature provides. I love it. 

After we ate, we cleaned up our picnic area, and I drove the car out of the lower parking lot to the upper parking lot. The park ranger closes the gates to the lower parking lot at 8:00 PM. Speaking of park rangers, I had a fun idea that a family could volunteer as a park ranger at the falls, or somewhere and blog about the experience. I'd read it. Heck, I'd do it! There are so many things I want to do in my life, and I'm glad I'm still young so I can do them all. 

We have hiked up to the falls countless times, but every time, it's beautiful. I always enjoy it, and there are new, little things to explore. 

There is this cave right next to the falls on a ledge. I am always afraid to go in there, in fear of some kind of creature popping out. Last time we were at Wahkeena falls, I made my dad go in the cave to make sure it was alright, and this time, I went in the cave. I wasn't afraid of it anymore. 

And a mini trail that takes you basically right underneath the falls. You get your shoes wet for sure.

I was very careful while taking this picture.

It's of the water hitting the logs below it.

On our way back down to the picnic area, we spotted a frog hiding in a canopy of leaves and twigs. See what I mean about this place being a fairy wonderland? 

We ate the doughnuts with the Cooks, and told funny, embarrassing stories. It was grand, ol' time. We said our goodbyes to them, and drove home on the Columbia River Highway. It was great day on Sunday.