here's what you may have missed - in photos!

photos!

and photos!

and more photos!

the last few potsts have been courtesy of my cell phone and one can only type so much on a wee little keyboard. but, han and i are camped out at roy's old roommate's place in spokane (super random, i know) and watching hoarders on netflix ... so let's do some photos!

we played peek-a-boo with mt. hood all morning while driving from the dalles to along the barlow road. fyi - the barlow road was the option for folks who weren't up to floating/rafting down the columbia. they could wind around mt. hood and take the toll road (built by mr. barlow). after han and i took a look at the columbia ... we'd probably would have done the toll road too!

 

the unknown pioneer woman's grave is one of the more haunting sites along the trail. so close ... she was so close. uncovered in the 1930s when road crews were working on a road near mt. hood, people today keep adding roacks to the ever-growing pile. han and i took one of the rocks roy gathered from south pass to add to the collection.

laurel hill ... and yes, it's just as terrifying in real life as it looks in this photo. when the settlers chose to take the route around mt. hood, climbing this hill (wagon and all) was part of the deal. usually, they would rig up ropes around tree tunks and pretty much pull the wagons up the hill. i was pretty good just standing at the bottom looking up ...

then we had a picnic and, per usual, it was delicious.

i tried to cross the barlow toll gate but hannah was a poopy-pants and wouldn't let me ...

 

 

and then ........

 

WE MADE IT !!!!!

 

oh, you know ... just 2000-some miles along the trail.

and all was well in the world ...

hannah was just as happy.

we pretty much took photos in front of everything we could get to ... everything ...

i think this pretty much sums it up ...

 

 

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and because it's super pretty ... here's some of the awesome-ness that was seattle ...

 

poppies from the market

it's a mountain and a needle

and yes, we went to an all-you-can-eat fancy cheese buffet ... all.you.can.eat

 

 

whew! the days are counting down. we are heading to great falls tomorrow where i'll leave han on friday (nooooo!) ... then bismarck friday night ... and home ........... on saturday!