Memorial Day Weekend Part 1

For this Memorial Day Weekend we wanted to do something fun. Looking at the forecast we saw it was going to be upper 70's lower 80's. So why not go camping?!?! So we packed up our things and headed out to Central Washington at a little place called THE GORGE. For those of you that are not familiar with the State of Washington, here's a quick run down. Western Washington is filled with Green-Lush Rain forests, Snow Peaked Mountains and plenty of water. As for the rest of Washington, it is basically the desert. The Gorge is placed in the exact middle of the state (~2.5 hours from Seattle). It is the low land area located in the canyons over looking the Columbia River. The Gorge is also a famous outdoor music venue that is the favorite spot for many famous artists such as Dave Matthews Band.

Me, Chrissy, Kristin, Andy and Art had meet up with Antoni, Arthur, Leslie, Lauren & Matt to do some FREE camping (free is the key word there). We found a spot between giant rock formations over looking a giant valley that lead to the river. This area brought a huge amount of respect for what the early settler when through when they traveled our great states. It even seemed as though the original wagon trails were still there, documenting our history. It was a beautiful sight to see, but an even better place to camp.

So even though the forecast was for upper 70's, it turns out that was for Seattle and not the desert. It got up to the low-mid 90's. That is HOT! Therefore we needed to cool off by taking a dip into the Columbia River. You might think that since it was so hot outside, the water would be fairly warm too. NOT! In actuality it was more like mid 40's. Therefore we more or less sat on the rocks with our feet in the water. I decided that I was getting to hot so I just jump in. After the initial 10 second shock, it actually was pretty nice. It felt slightly euphoric to be swimming in such a remote area (although it might have just been the cold water making me feel funny). Chrissy made a couple of attempts to get in but lasted no more than 5 seconds. Andy decided to just jump in randomly. He then fell back into the water as he scrambled to escape the freezing depths.

On the top of the Canyon Ridge was a gaggle of Wind Turbines. The amount of turbines was quite impressive. Green Energy is such a wonderful thing!

Saturday night was filled with fun stories around the campfire. Sunday morning came like a train wreck when we all awoke to being boiled alive in our tents. Who knew that tents made perfect incubators? After clean up, we headed back to the bridge crossing the Columbia River. There was a little boat launch/beach area that seemed to be hosting Spring Break 2009. It was packed full of teen/20 year olds all there to soak up the sun and play in the ice cold water. There was a giant fountain spewing icicles on everyone's burning bodies, as well as a cliff jump for adrenaline junkies. It turns out that Me and Matt are the latter of the two.

We made our way to the top of the cliff as others were heckled into jumping (or not jumping) by their fellow friends. Matt stepped up, took a look over the edge, took a couple steps and launched himself over the edge. If you'll notice in the pictures below, he likes to do the running man as he falls. So I step up, look down and say to myself "It's not that far down... Just don't think about it". So I jump. My body feels like I gain 300 pounds as Gravity accelerates me to the depths below. I have time to think to myself "Wow, this is A LOT taller than I thought it was. Wait.... I'm still falling..." I have enough time to ponder the meaning of life before I have to tuck and hit the water below. What an adrenaline rush! I'm so amped I don't even notice how cold the water was. After careful consideration we estimated the cliff jump to be around 5-6 stories. Crazy.

MATT





Ben

Be on the lookout for Part 2