The best way to spend Thanksgiving Break is outside in the company of great friends. We were so glad to head out to the cabin with Meg and Chris and their boys. We caught a break in the otherwise very wet weather and did some four-wheeling up the back of Dirtyface Mountain on Pole Ridge. Just being up on the ridge with the hush of the snow and the fresh air was invigorating. Bonus for seeing a large deer who snuck up on us!
We had snack at Meadow Creek campground on the Chiwawa River.
On Saturday morning we drove up the White River Road to the end and did some exploring up there in the woods where we found this huge red cedar.
And these noisy falls. Since we'd had so much rain, the volume of water was sizable.
Stop for lunch at White River Falls campground. Eben and I had come up this way a couple of summers ago and spent a lazy afternoon playing in the creek while the kids floated tin foil boats. Not today - much higher water and lower temperatures! But it was still an enchanting spot and the Falls were roaring!
Last stop: a look out clump of boulders a short ways up the Twin Lakes hike. Usually the view includes the entire White River Valley and surrounding peaks. Not so today. We were ecstatic when the clouds lifted a little bit and we could see the other side of the valley.
Gingerbread house attempts - not such a great kit to work with this time = sad kids. But it was still an engaging activity....
Meanwhile Eben and Chris got the seasonal burning done for the blow downs and branches cut off the dead trees he'd split earlier in the fall.
