I felt like I was in a Disney movie today! Really! First off, we arrived to the falls park and I noticed there are butterflies everywhere...I don't mean just one or two, I mean hundreds! Everywhere, all kinds, all colors, some even would land on you. We needed to take this little train up to the falls, it is like the train you take at the zoo and those butterflies even followed along beside the train! I just knew at any minute Snow White was going to appear and they would trail along behind her as she headed for home. But it even got better, once we got off the train at the start of the trail, there were even more of them and I saw down this one little pathway a little group of people and so I went on to see what was there...and there they were, more than I could imagine...it was like you could not step anywhere because you didn't want to step on them, I almost wanted to stop breathing because I didn't want to breathe one in. They were feeding on some big mud puddle. Anyway, you can bet I took about as many pictures as there were butterflies out there! When John finally pulled me away to see the falls, the reason we REALLY came there, I told him that if we didn't see anything else I would be happy. That was spectacular!

But then I was blown away even more when we reached the first falls...the Devils Throat...I could not believe it, it was AWESOME! and I mean AWESOME like you have never seen before. HUGE and LOUD and undescribable. A picture does it no justice, even though I tried my hardest, I can see now that the 450 pictures I took did not capture the true essence of what it was like to see it for yourself. While we were there, the water would spray up and we ended up pretty wet. John's hat was blown off and we watched it get sucked to the bottom of the throat. From there we went to another trail that took us to see the Circuit Superior...The upper trail...and EVERY photo seemed to have a rainbow included. I mean it a RAINBOW in all my shots!!! A photographers dream.

All of the information about this park says there are all kinds of animals, MONKIES, snakes, tigers, tucans, etc, etc....well, we saw one tucan fly by, and there were tons of turtles sunning on the rocks in the river, we saw a bird nest with two eggs in it under the bridge/walkway as we walked along, we saw two pretty big lizard things, and a couple of things that looked like beavers without tails, and one coati, (that is the animal running over the pavement there in the picture) but we didn't see a single monkey!!! The top left photo shows how the trail out to the falls was. It seemed like a bridge, but even when it was over land it was like that. We are headed back to see the rest tomorrow, so maybe the monkies will make my day. But after today, it is going to have to be pretty special.

OK, so the photos loaded backwards. I don't have time to reload them, so I will just report yesterday from the end to the beginning. Here is the newest part of town, the bridge is called the Women's Bridge and all the streets are named after women in this part. New, high rise and expensive here.

This is La Boca, a part of town that is painted in really bright colors and full of party atmosphere.

This is San Telmo, it used to be a place to live, but is now anitque shops and a place for tourists. We stopped in the main square and had something to drink while we watched a tango demonstration.

We started the day in the center of town. The pink house is the eqaul to our White House and it is actually called the Pink House. The balcony is where Eva Peron made her famous speech. And Madonna made it even more famous.

This is how big our cute little balcony is....so funny huh? Andrea did such a fantastic job of showing us around her city. I told her a few things I had hoped to see and she topped it showing me things I had not even heard of but was so happy that we had the chance to see them. We never would have been able to do it all without her. THANKS ANDREA!!!!!

We made it! A LONG flight, at the moment it seemed longer than I now remember it to be. Here is a picture of our hotel. Our room is the second from the end just below the black railing at the top. The cute little balcony holds two people standing, side by side.

The book I read said that it would be hard to find coffee except for instant Sanka...to my relief they were wrong! There are places everywhere that serve cappucino and espresso. I was surprised to have them serve it with a little shot glass of soda water...I even had to ask the waitress what it was for. She said it always comes with espressos. Also, the book said that they didn't have much in the way of beer, well, to John's relief, they have plenty of selections of beer. At least that is what we have found so far in the city, maybe tomorrow when we head out of here we will find it a different story when we arrive at the falls. This is why we decided to spend a couple of days here in Buenos Aries. Here is a photo of Andrea Cifarelli and her boyfriend Julian Yrrazabal. As you may already know, she and I met via this blog. They met up with us yesterday afternoon and showed us so many things that we may not have seen if we had been here on our own.This is a giant sculpture near a univeristy. It is broken at the moment, but normally it opens at dawn and closes at sunset. I actually was happy that it was broken, because we were there at sunset and it made for really great photos when it was opened up. It has lights in it that change colors and the reflection on the water is so pretty.Some of the other things we saw on our walking tour. The Recoleta, a cemetary for weathy and famous people, like past presidents. Eva Peron is probably the most famous person buried here. Well, buried is not tru, they are interned above ground in huge marble sculptures. It is such a huge cemetary it takes up a whole city block. We also sae the oblisco which is in the middle of the widest hwy in the world....something like 10 or 12 lanes of traffic...I will count the lanes today to make sure.

Time to go!!!

Just like the geese, we are headed south.  But we are going so far south that the geese there are headed north.  Maybe the only birds left there will be the penguins. 

Our flight leaves tomorrow. 

 FALL IS HERE!

The spiders are spinning.

The grapes are ripe.

Emily and Joshua are running their cross country meets.

Josiah picked out his pumpkin.

And the leaves are changing colors and falling.  Fall.

I studied the globe and decided on Argentina.

I read the book and picked out the places.

and then I booked it!

  We leave on the 19th, fly to Buenos Aries and stay there for 2 days.  While there I will meet up with a young woman, Andrea Cifarelli, whom I met via this blog.  She left comments on my blog and I began going to hers and one thing lead to another and so now I get to meet her.  From Buenos Aries, John and I will fly to Iguazu Falls.  I can't wait to post photos of it!!!  It is HUGE...bigger than Niagara Falls...1 1/2 miles wide!  We will explore the area for 4 days and then fly south to Patagonia and stay in that area for 6 days.  While there we plan on trekking the glaciers, hiking and maybe drive to the Atlantic side and see penguins or north to see flamingos and black swans.  From there we will fly to Santiago, Chile and visit with my previous Spanish church pastor family, the Valencias. They are really from Colombia, but are serving in Chile, as head of missions in South America. 

Bag is packed and now we wait.  The latest report from Argentina is that the airport was closed yesterday due to volcanic ash from a volcano in Chile.  I hope there is a big wind that blows it out to sea really quickly! 

Our yearly spa day, finally!  Normally its the first of the summer, but this summer was wayyyyy to busy for all of us, so we had a nice fall wind down instead.



Hiking from Larch Mountain to Multnomah Falls
7miles...5 hours
glad it was all downhill

Have you ever been on a 'Lion Hunt"?  If not, sorry, if so, you know just what I am talking about when I say we went over  rocks, a bridge, a swamp, crossed a river, climbed a tree, ate lunch on a cone bed, went into a cave...it reminded me over and over of that little story.



fall is on its way




Finally a glimpse of the gorge



you can see how close the fire got to the falls a few years ago

MADE IT!!!!



Tired Feet?



Tunnel Reflection on the way to the truck



We made it home by sunset.





 

Off to the Zoo!



Josiah invited me to the zoo with them last week. It was a perfect fall day, warm and sunny and not very crowded because school has started.   

After seeing all those animals, we then watched our own little monkey devour an ice cream cone.

Another thing that I have not done in quite a few years is can.  Jessi decided that she would like to learn to can some things for Josiah.  So last week, we drove to Hood River and bought some peaches, pears and apples.  The peaches were ready by today and so we got them all in jars today.  And even after all the years, EVERY one of them sealed!  What a magical sound that little 'pop' is.  If you have never canned, you probably have no idea what I am talking about, but it is the best noise ever to hear the lid 'pop' down as they cool and seal shut.  Next will be applesauce and as soon as the pears are ready we will tackle them.

  Oregon fire season is here.  There are fires burning in Eastern Oregon and a few in the Mt. Hood Forest.  There is so much smoke that it has blocked the view of the mountain for at least a week now. It is sad to know that so many people have lost homes to the fires.  One of my relatives had it come all the way to her driveway!  The sunrises have been so orange and colorful.  Pretty, if not for knowing the reason for it, I would enjoy it.   

Mt. Hood is normally where the sun is.

 Oregon State Fair  When I was growing up, we went every year, some years, I had my 4-H project entered.  Later, my parents used to take the WHOLE family, my sisters, our husbands and our kids.  I am not sure why we stopped going together, but for some reason, it has been years since I have gone.  John & Rachel live in Salem and they have never gone since they moved there.  Emily and Joshua had never been to a fair!  I don't know why we didn't think of it sooner, but this year we took the kids to see it.  Of course it was the hottest day of the year, but we had a good time.  For me it was a walk down memory lane, the 4-H exhibits, the cotton candy, the flowers and walking and walking.  For the kids, it was the rides, Emily is fearless and will go on just about every ride.  Joshua took it a little more cautiously at first and by the end let Emily talk him into a few more than he originally wanted.  For John, it was unreal how much they can get away with charging for everything.  But at least it was free parking, right? 

So we went to the beach with two of our kids and their families. (missed you Dennis, Abby and Gabe!)  We stayed in a rented beach house.  Now this was not just an ordinary beach house, this house was new and gorgeous and full of all kinds of niceties.  It had two bedrooms and two more hide-a-beds.  It was  really really nicely decorated and had a beautiful view of the bay.  Sometimes the view was better than others, depending on if the tide was in or out.  We took turns cooking dinner and had plenty of time to relax with each other on the deck, along with time on the beach, visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory and we saw the Weinermobile.    

I found out that I could get along fine without my good camera.  I pulled out my old camera and used it.  I knew I could not go without some sort of camera.  It only takes 40 pictures at a time...with my other camera, I have unlimited practically, so I roughed it with the old dinosaur and actually discovered that I CAN get by with fewer photos than I normally take.  That does not mean that I was not rejoicing when I received the news the next week that my camera was repaired and ready to be picked up.  I think I will super glue it to my hand to keep from dropping it this time.

Here are a few more shots of our fun weekend.