The Little White Cabin: The "Backup Plan" Father's Day...

We had tentative plans to go hiking in the Columbia River Gorge with our friends today... however when the rain hit early this morning, coupled with temperatures in the 50's we all agreed we should take a rain-check on that plan (or in this case more appropriately called "wait-for-the-sun-check.") It was a bummer as we would have liked to have spent time with friends, enjoyed the gorge views and gotten Samuel out on a hike...

Okay not in the cards this weekend... and we were not feeling all that great, nor motivated to make any big plans at this point. So we had sort of decided just to do NOTHING. And then I felt like a really lame wife... It is Father's Day for goodness sake!

So we sat...

And tried to think of options.

Watch movies all day long? Hmm... as much as we would like to believe we "could" enjoy doing that - we would be done with that after the first movie and be bored. Not to mention we have a two-year-old who could care less about the TV and movies.

Go to the mall? Gag...

Go to the zoo? Nope... bad weather and the zoo don't go together.

WHAT ELSE? What do people do when the weather is bad for Father's Day???

Go to the Oregon Coast! The weather is always bad there anyway... But we what about Samuel's nap? We wouldn't be able to time it very well.

SIGH...

Okay, let's use the food we had for our hike/picnic... and just go on a drive and find a park (preferably under a tree in case it rains.)

By this point we were up for "whatever."

So we loaded into the car and drove. No plans, no idea where we were going. We looked at a map of Oregon State Parks, but we still didn't know where to go. So we drove... We went to Lake Oswego, West Linn, Oregon City, Canby...

Oregon City

OH WAIT... TURN! There is a State Park sign and a ferry!

We ended up at a State Park in Canby (I have no idea what is was called as I type this.) But there was the Willamette River nearby.... bathrooms, picnic tables and wide-open space (important to me as I hate being crammed near a bunch of people you don't know.) Oh wait... who is crazy enough to be having a picnic in 56 degree weather besides us anyway?!

So we unloaded our food... and agreed on a 20-minute lunch. About 10-minutes into it, I was freezing (I have Raynaud's disease and my hands get all discolored and I have no feeling in them.) Samuel's teeth we chattering... and we were about done with this picnic thing. Joe tried to run around and play a bit to warm up, but that didn't work either. But we were laughing about it and that is all that mattered...

So we left and got on the ferry across the river (we had no plans to do this, but hey, why not?!) We had to literally scrounge for coins in the ashtray drawer to pay our $2 fee... (whew made it with 15 cents to spare!)

So we drove home...

You know - it wasn't exactly the "best" of my planning moments in life (I mean honestly - this is Joe's FIRST OFFICIAL Father's Day!) But we both agreed we won't ever forget it. So I guess that alone made the adventure worthwhile!

Our Very Private Picnic Area