The Last of Our Vacation

We were having so much fun on our trip, but like all good things, it had to come to an end.

Meg and Janet did a few bike rides together.  The last one they did was from Hood River to Mosier, about 5 miles in each direction.  The really cool part about this bike ride was they could leave from our rental house and bike to the start of the actual road, which is now a State Park and National Historic Sight.  The original road was built in 1913 and in the '60s was closed as there was a new interstate highway.  There were two tunnels that were filled in.  A few years ago, with donations, the tunnels were cleared out and the road re-opened - to foot and bike passengers only.

Phil and our new son-in-law, Derek wishing them a good ride!

Here is Meg, on the bike ride.  What is it about our children that draws them to the edge of cliffs.  This was as close as Janet was prepared to go.

Noodles didn't read the instruction booklet that came with the house, so Janet was really busy getting rid of all evidence that she had slept on the sofa.  She was good with the floor during the day, but snuck up on the sofa when everyone had gone to bed.

We were sad to leave our cute house with such a great location - except for those killer stairs that lead to downtown.

See our steep driveway?  We don't have a bike rack, so Phil removed the tires from Janet's bike to drive to Hood River.  He put the tires back on the bike at the top of the driveway and told Janet to start at the top and go for a short spin to make sure everything was working well.  Wisely, Janet took it to the street below and guess what?  One of the brakes wasn't hooked up!  More and more, we are inclined to think Phil has secretly upped Janet's life insurance!

Meg and Derek left on Sunday, so Meg and Janet went on Saturday to the Outlet Mall, Grocery Store and "Mother Daughter Pedis"!

The first time all of the girls and Janet went for "Mother Daughter Pedis", Meg was going nuts when they touched her feet.  She was so ticklish, she could hardly sit still.  Meg bought some super-cute sandals in Hood River that will look great with her pedi!

Pretty!

On Sunday, Bronwyn, Mike, Janet, Noodles and Pash went for a hike.  Janet used to say she was afraid of heights.  She no longer thinks she is afraid.  She now knows she is terrified!  The photo below shows the only flat, non cliff portion of the hike, that took about 3 minutes to do.  The rest of the hike was on a pathway that hugged one side of the mountain with sheer cliff drop offs on the other side.  They went for about 1 1/2 miles up the mountain until Janet (with an even greater upcoming cliff view in sight) declined to go any further.

It was really pretty, but Janet wasn't brave enough to let go of the shrubbery long enough to take any more photos.

On the way up, and down, Janet hugged the side of the mountain as close as possible.  One passerby pointed out there were Poison Oak warnings posted, but she said **** it, she was taking her chances with Poison Oak.  Other people that might have wanted to hug the side of the mountain were out of luck as Janet was holding on like grim death and nothing short of shooting her would convince her to let go.

As Janet is typing this for us, she clearly made it out - and we might add, without benefit of a helicopter rescue.