Silver Falls

Yesterday we took a little drive up to Salem, headed East about 26 miles and pulled up to a beautiful trail system of water falls.  It was packed!... and I was amazed how many foreigners we heard talking all different languages from around the world.  It was my favorite hike with the kids yet; just incredible scenery & getting to walk behind the massive south Falls was a blast!  The cool thing about Silver Falls, is that it's really established & there are routes that are paved you can easily do with kids, or longer trails you could take on the 7 mile (10waterfall) tour if you had time and either no little ones with you or your kids were at ages to make it farther.  I'm excited Ken is able to share his passion for the outdoors with our kids - they love it & I love the adventures we're having together as a family and getting to literally soak up the Divine beauty in nature!  We are thoroughly enjoying living in Oregon and exploring this beautiful state!!

Lower (South) Falls; this is the big one we got to walk behind... see pics below..

They have a (mostly) paved trail for this particular waterfall - and you can see where Ken & the kids are headed... was very misty & wet behind the falls but so much fun!!!

Jack took this pic - he did well with the camera, right? ;)  We love it, just wish he were in it!

..and these falls were the Upper (North) Falls.  Both waterfalls were short hikes with the kids - this one was beautiful up close... the water right near the falls turns almost turquoise-jade.  The woods around here, definitely are like the Twilight movie woods - mysterious, stunning, very lush, lots of fern & ground cover, beautiful variety of trees & plants, ... it just feels like an adventure, even when you're on a well-traveled trail.

This was just a lookout stop on the drive; I think this is the Willamette valley in the background; the drive from Salem to the Falls is a beautiful one!  Lots of charming farms and vineyards even.  I could live out there for sure. :)

Do these two not look alike or what?! 

As soon as we got in the car (not kidding, maybe a minute into the drive "home") - this little turkey was out.  The other two crashed hard too; what a fun day of hiking & fresh air!

I haven't blogged on this yet, but Jack lost his front tooth last week!  It didn't, um, fall out on it's own.  But rather had to be pulled by the dentist after Jack had a little run-in with Ken's knee during airplane rides & play time with Daddy.  The dentist said the tooth would have fallen out on its own within a few months anyway, so no biggie, just can't believe my little guy is old enough to be missing teeth already!

This was the only family shot we had...  good times on these treks. :)