Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Mount Shasta: The Waterfalls

We had a fantastic playground almost two blocks from our house, where I took the kids often.  It was really easy to meet the locals, who were friendly.  One lady I met told me the falls down the road ten minutes were not to be missed.  Taking her at her word, we went the next day. They were fantastic, if uncreatively names (Lower, Middle, and Upper Falls.) 

Here’s our group, minus the photographer (me). I love these people!

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We started at Lower Falls, where we got lots of wading in icy water…for the fun of it. Seriously.

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Esther is such a cutie. 

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Hey, look!  Another free ride for Wesley!

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Kyla doesn’t get the idea of a slow, plodding hike.

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Just to remind you that Wesley does suck his fingers while holding someone’s hand everywhere.

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It’s funny to me that Dwayne and Dan look more like their father than they do each other.  (I’m loathe to admit that northern CA is at  least as pretty as western WA.)

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The girls took lots of breaks from hiking to climb the tallest rocks they could find on the trail. 

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Not to be left out, Wesley insists on climbing, too. Since he won’t stop sucking his fingers, he needs a Sherpa to help him on the final ascent.

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Again, what about “hiking” do we not understand, children?

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Do you like how I just take pictures of my kids climbing and trust Piper to take care of Wes on top of a rock?

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Hey!  What’s this?  Piper has figured out that Wes has a good thing going…and doubled it.

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Did I mention we went to some waterfalls?  This is Middle.

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My sweethearts.

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Big people and non-mothers went swimming in the pool below Middle. 

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From here, most of the party hiked back to the car, but Dan, Kara, Isaac, Kyla and myself when on up to Upper.  I didn’t know if Kyla could really do it, but we had a deal that if she went with the big people, she couldn’t complain.  Not one tired word crossed her lips.  She was amazing and made it all the way to the top, just steps behind her cousins.  I was almost as proud of her as she was of herself!

We made it!

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If you’ve managed to make it this far, thanks!  I will try to abbreviate further posts.

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