South Cascades Loop - Day 3

With a steaming cup of coffee in my hand, and a blanket
wrapped around my shoulders, I sat on the deck of the Ranch House at Wind
Mountain Ranch and watched the sun slowly come up in the distance. Puffs of
purple and pink clouds dotted the sky as cool, fresh country air filled my
lungs – and I couldn’t wait to get out for my first morning adventure. Since
the boys were still sleeping, I laced up my running shoes and started up the
nearby road that led to the trailhead for the Wind Mountain Trail. After a few
miles of climbing and taking in the epic views, I decided to call it a morning
and head back to the Ranch to hang with the boys and get ready for our day in
Skamania.

To start
our day off right, we chose to have a big, hearty breakfast at Skamania Lodge.
We enjoyed a breathtaking view of the Columbia River while feeding Ryder his
first meal of French Toast (he loved it of course)! The late morning sunshine
took us outside where we checked out the tree houses, the Zipline, the High
Ropes Course and even watched a few golfers teeing off.

Pretty
soon, the road was calling our name once again, so we hopped in the Subaru and made
the jaunt over to the Bonneville Dam Washington Shore Visitors Center. Inside,
Ryder was in awe as he watched all of the fish swim by in the underwater
viewing room. We then walked around the visitor center’s museum and read about some
of the local fishing history before we headed off to Stevenson for lunch and a
stroll around town.

Once in the
downtown corridor of Stevenson, we couldn’t help but stop in at Bigfoot Coffee
Roasters to show Ryder the wooden Sasquatch out front and to also grab some freshly
roasted java to brew once we got back home. After checking out a few shops, the
waterfront started calling our name so we walked down Russell Avenue and across
the railroad tracks to Teo Park – to watch the kite boarders, the wind surfers
and the float planes. Then a very delectable smell started wafting our way from
Clark and Lewie’s, a cute little restaurant right next to the park. We ordered
some food to go and had a picnic near the dock so that Andy and I could eat,
relax and explore the park at our leisure with Ryder in tow.

With a bit
of a drive ahead of us, we decided to load up and continue our journey east on
the South Cascade Loop. And as Ryder finally got a nap in for the day, Andy and
I enjoyed watching the landscapes slowly turn from lush, green landscapes to
the desert beauty that is eastern Washington – sagebrush, tall grasses and
those spectacular rocky walls and cliffs that are so breathtaking that they
don’t even look real. 

Once again,
as we pulled into our last stop for the day, the golden light of an impending
sunset welcomed us in. We parked our car, pulled Ryder out of his seat and
walked over to the Maryhill Stonehenge. Perched on a beautiful hillside,
overlooking the Columbia River, this astronomically aligned replica of the Stonehenge
built in England was a marvel not only for Ryder, but for Andy and I as well.
And as we stood next to it’s concrete megaliths and watched the sunset paint
the sky over the Columbia beautiful colors of the rainbow once again, Andy and
I looked at each other and smiled, because we knew that 10, 20, 30 years from
now, these are the moments that we would remember. And although neither of us
make millions, memories like these make us the richest parents in the
world.