I’ve learned first hand that grief has its soft edges, and it also has hard edges. I still feel the jagged ones about my dad’s suicide, even though it’s been over fifty years now. I’ve been feeling the sharp edges about my special friend, Carol, for the past week, too; it’s hard to believe that it’s been almost four years now since she walked through that door without us all. Because the edges have been so hard to bear, I suggested to Nolemana that we drive up to Rowena Crest, knowing that the Arrowleaf Balsamroot and the Lupines would be at full bloom. Carol loved it there so much, and I wanted to not only go in her memory, but also hoped that somehow she’d be able to be there with me. I knew I’d cry, and I did, but it ended up being a good decision to go.

We started up the Columbia River Gorge, and just before we got to Corbett, we saw a train!

It’s so hard to get a good photo of Multnomah Falls while we’re zooming by; the parking lot was closed/full so we couldn’t stop there.

We stopped in Cascade Locks for a hamburger at Eastwind Drive-In. We’d never been there before and while we were waiting for ours to be ready, I saw this crow flying by. Great hamburgers and very friendly service.

We passed through the tiny town of Mosier after we got off the freeway; it was busy with hikers everywhere. Then we saw our first balsamroot and lupine!

Try look this amazing lilac bush!

The Balsamroot was everywhere! We sure did pick a perfect day for our drive.

We got up to Rowena Crest, and ho da windy! We’ve been up there at other times when the wind was blowing, but this was the windiest we’d seen. I could hardly open my car door!

But we got out to walk a little bit, and of course, Musubi wanted to have his photo taken with the Balsamroot; his cape was blowing in the wind.

We could see Mt. Adams in the distance.

This is the Columbia River, looking east. No can say “mauka” because get mountains every direction!

The wildflowers were so beautiful! Last year when we came, we were too late to see them in full bloom.

What loveliness! I would’ve loved to sit on that bench, look out at all the beauty, and think of Carol, knowing how much she loved this place and wishing she was here with me.

I tried to take a photo of Musubi and the flowers, but forgot to focus on him!

I put Musubi down among the flowers to take his photo, but it was so windy that I was afraid he’d blow away, and I sure didn’t want that! We had to wait until the gigantic gusts stopped for a second, and then I took a fast photo and scooped him up wikiwiki!

Several people were walking around in the Tom McCall area, but we didn’t go down that way.

I think these were my favorite photos of the day:

More to come…