Over Labor Day weekend Shad and I planned a little family trip over to the west side of Washington to spend some quality time with family. Shad's sister Heidi and her family live over there as well, and we really wanted to spend some time with them. So a few weeks ago we all decided that we really wanted to hike around and explore Mt. Saint Helens together, Shad has never been there and it truly is an amazing place. However, the summer coming to a close, and the northwest being the rainy unpredictable place it is... the weather did not cooperate. We were just going to tough it out and go anyways, but after calling the visitors center and finding out it was a high of 40 degrees and too cloudy to see the mountain... we opted for another destination. Heidi's husband, Steven, came up with the idea of doing a nice short hike (due to the cold and rain) up near Mt. Rainer called Goat Falls. We packed a lunch and two cars and set out on our way. It was perfect. Although it was a little rainy and cloudy, the weather actually ended up being perfect hiking weather, and PERFECT lighting conditions for my camera. I finally wised up and brought along a tripod and got some really nice shots of the scenery. We had a great time with them, and it was beautiful there. Once again it reminded us of despite the rainy weather... we LOVE the northwest!
First, the candid family pics:
Owen was a trooper, he did pretty well.
Gosh, I love these girls!
The Group Shot:
The Gaffney Bunch:
My Cute Parents: 
And what's a hike in the NW with out some behemoth slugs?!
Owen with cousin Julia:
Now, the scenic shots, I'm pretty proud of some of these:
Nice, right? I'll admit it was a little addicting to keep taking pics. The greens were just awesome and the lighting was just right!
11 comments:
Wow the green in your pics is amazing! and I love the water, I have to figure out how to get it that good on my camera.
omg those pictures are AMAZING!!!! you need to hang them in your house! I miss hiking. Too bad it always seems to be too freakin' hot in Las Vegas to go. Maybe I'll make more of a conscious effort to try this year. OH btw, your mom's hair is so cute!
Those pictures are beautiful, great job!
Awesome landscape pics!!
yeah, I'm pretty sure the Northwest is the best place EVER to live. behemoth slugs? That's what they're called? They are SO creepy. We've seen them quite a bit on our hikes. We call them S.O.U.S.'s (Slugs of Unusual Size)
And good job on the pictures! They look awesome.
Your pictures are beautiful!! We have really wanted to do some hikes around Mt Rainier, and your pictures make it look even more enticing. We'll just have to wait till we move back. (sigh)
Oh, this made me miss everyone so so so much!!! Thank you for sharing these with us! Love You All! :}
I have not been on a hike with scenery that beautiful in forever. Everytime I look at your blog, when you are outdoors, I think of how lucky you are. I like the sunny-ness of Las Vegas, but do not find the desert to be appealing anymore. Love the photos. I am so glad that your parents live close, so they can see Owen often. We feel spoiled to have McKinley here in town.
THose are amazing shots Krista! I want to print them, frame them and hang them in my house. You are so talented. When are you starting up your own business my dear??
Oh man... I had forgotten about the slugs. EEEWWW.
it was a really nice time ...when we finally found it!
;-) i think you dad was gettin tired of driving back and forth on that little stretch of dirt road.
those are AWESOME pics of the falls! and the group pics turned out as well! you do such a nice job!
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