Hell's Gate State Park

(This is my precipice. I am rather selfish when it comes to rocks. I love rocks and this is a very large rock therefore I love it more. :D This rock rests to the west of the Snake River and is in Washington state for those who are curious.) Anyway, with that, I will move on.



A couple of Saturday's ago, my mom, sister, my guys (minus Jackson who was working), one of their friends and I hopped in the van ready to make a drive to Hell's Gate State Park. There was an air of excitement and anticipation as we loaded the van with food and people like a pack mule. We thought of ourselves as explorers in search of what had only been mere tales up to this point. Sadly, we were to find out that our excitement was to be matched and surpassed only by our surprise at the park's location and size.
Prior to our excursion, we had seen signs for Hell's Gate State Park in the Lewiston and Clarkston areas and rightly assumed that it was somewhere in our general vicinity understanding general vicinity defined as "within a 30 min. drive or so". Altogether, it took us about an hour to figure out that this state park was about 10 min. from my house. Much to our chagrin, we came to the realization that the Lewiston city park was nearly as large as this "state park". Disappointed though we were, we decided to drive into the park and have a look around. We drove through the campground and were appalled at how close the sites were to each other. My boys kept asking why there weren't any tents. We are very opinionated wannabe campers. Our motto? If you're gonna camp, you have to make it rough and live amoung the trees and sticks and bugs and be toilet free...which is why we have never officially been camping since the kids came along. :) Finally, we decided on a parking spot and got out. It was chilly that day, but that wasn't going to stop us from playing in the "sand" on the Snake River "beach" though some got dirtier than others. ;)While the process of our trip wasn't what we had in mind, the end product turned out to be a delightful, enjoyable memory maker. I was afraid the only memory the kids were going to have was driving around looking for the park and them not getting enough air in the back of the van. Fortunately, they survived thus we survived. :)


Footprints in the sand. Human, bird and otherwise. I haven't put my feet in "sand" for years. It was wonderful!



My lovely precipice viewed from the Snake River beach.





The End (and a happy one at that!) :)

My Men

Here are a few pictures taken last week. We are squinting because I wasn't smart enough to have us facing any other direction than directly into the sun. ;)





My sons, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice.
Proverbs 23:15




In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.
Proverbs 14:26





Proof that Jackson is nearly as tall as I am. I am 5'9" and he's pretty happy that at 14 1/2 he is just shy of that.




He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
Proverbs 13:20
(The boys with the new bikes they recently bought themselves.)




Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
Proverbs 31:9

(Gregory explaining to Micaiah that no matter how much sun is in your face, to wear sunglasses with a cowboy hat is totally and incomprehensibly unacceptable. Now to get him to use his oratory skills to plead the cause of the poor and needy.) :o)






Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: and by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
Proverbs 24:3,4

(If you look closely, you will see that Greg has his eyes closed. He was waiting for the photographer to say, "Three." to let him know that he could open them, but we forgot to tell the photographer he had them closed. Proof that we were facing the wrong direction...and yeah, I know my glasses are crooked. I got that taken care of once I saw this picure.)