Very possibly one of the most beautiful weekends of my life. There were so many moments I spent a little stunned at the magnitude of natural beauty surrounding me.

But those all came after Duke and I clambered through the airport and up five “out of order” escalators with all our luggage, his camera gear, and multiple wide brimmed hats on both of our heads.

Jack swung up to the loading zone and threw our bags in the back of his car, even though Duke had shared his elaborate plan with Jack and I for our weekend I think we both didn’t realize just what it would entail…

Our alarm would sound well before 5 am each morning and I would stumble around making sure everything we needed for our different locations were all shoved into our packs, shovel down a bowl full of cereal, and then hit the empty roads.

Driving for hours til we would near a location and then actually pinning down how to get there. Specifically journeying to Vance Creek Bridge (which is now being torn down) even with Dukes elaborate research which road we took was a gamble- one that we thankfully won with our first bet.

Just a few of our many experiences this weekend that I loved would be:

1. Diving into bushes shortly after leaving VCB to avoid getting a ticket (later Duke informed us these range between $1,200 and $2,000)

   

   

   

   

   

2. When I climbed onto the edge of the bridge at Multnomah falls & watched as a storm of people started screaming and pointing because they thought I was about to jump.

   

   

3. Clambering around to the other side of Walhalla falls and feeling like I was in Jurassic Park.
4. The Subway sandwich that ranked a 10/10 on my scale after not eating for over 12 hours of finding and exploring the painted hills.

With all we put Jack through that weekend I owe him, and his parents a very large thank you for one of mine and Dukes favorite weekends yet.