outdoor adventures

Steve and I went biking together on Sunday afternoon, a trail ride on the Lief Erikson, which was sweet and also made me so excited for all our future rides together. And then Seb and I went out on Monday morning to the Banks-Vernonia rail trail. We have ridden that trail many times, always starting from the Banks side and riding up into the hills, usually stopping just past Stub Stewart State Park. The trail continues on another 10 miles to Vernonia, and we've never been on any part of that section. Well, today was the day. We started at the Tophill trailhead and embarked on unexplored territory, discovering that this half of the trail was remarkably flat (in comparison to the steady uphill climb when coming from Banks), and meandered through a lovely green forest. We rode about 12 miles and had a really fun time laughing and talking together.

In the late afternoon, Liesl and I went paddleboarding on the Multnomah Channel, part of the Columbia River as it splits around Sauvie Island. We paddled toward the bridge, gazing at all of the houseboats and picking our favorite decorations and attributes (for our future dream houseboat). It was hot and sunny, but the water kept us cool, and we enjoyed a lazy float.