A Beautiful Wedding Weekend in Washington

We took a little road trip to Washington this weekend to celebrate Greg’s brother and his new wife’s wedding with a reception at Silver Lake.

We left Friday and checked into our hotel in Kelso. I wish we had looked a little sooner and found a nicer place, but it is what it is. The staff was wonderful, but the hotel itself was pretty run down and wasn’t exactly in the nicest-looking area.

Thankfully, we weren’t planning to spend much time there.

After checking in, we headed downtown Longview for dinner. Downtown was really nice, and it was a good way to start the weekend. We got a couple of meals to share. One was Buffaloaf. Meatloaf made from Buffalo. It was really good and we had a lot leftover that we took back to our hotel.

After dinner, we crossed the river into Oregon and met up with Scott and Jen at their place in Rainier. We spent the evening sitting around their fire, visiting and catching up. It was a really nice, relaxed start to the weekend.

The “Easy” Hike

Saturday morning we had some time before the wedding reception, which didn’t start until 2:00.

We had brought our paddleboards with us and originally thought we’d find somewhere to use them, but the weather wasn’t quite cooperating. The high was only supposed to be around 70 degrees. That’s lovely weather, but a little too cool for me to get into the water.

So instead, we decided to go for a hike.

Greg did some Googling and found a trail about 30 minutes away. It was supposed to be an easy hike that ended at a waterfall.

Easy.

Waterfall.

Perfect.

When we arrived, we couldn’t find a clear sign showing where the trail started. We spotted what looked like a trail and started heading down. Along the way we met a man who said he was local, so we figured we must be going the right direction.

We were not.

At least, this was definitely not what I would call an easy trail.

It was basically straight down. We climbed over roots, ducked under branches, slid across muddy rocks, and tried not to fall as we made our way toward the creek.

Eventually we made it down to the water.

And then there was no trail.

So naturally, we decided to just follow the creek.

We met a family from Florida who had apparently made the same questionable decision, so we all continued along together.

Following the creek was not easy either.

We slipped into the water and soaked our shoes. Then we tried climbing up along the bank instead.

That’s when we discovered the stinging nettle.

I managed to get it on my hands and arms, and before long my legs were covered too. At that point I was ready to get the heck out of there.

I started rushing to get away from it…

And fell.

So now I had stinging nettle on pretty much every part of me.

This was supposed to be an **easy hike**.

Something clearly wasn’t right.

Greg looked up the hill and noticed people hiking along a much more established trail above us.

That’s when we realized we’d taken the wrong path.

We told the family from Florida, and they decided to follow us back up too.

Once we got back to the car, we stopped for some water and finally found the actual trailhead.

By this point, we were running out of time.

But I had come all this way, and after everything we’d gone through, I really wanted to see that waterfall.

So we kept going.

I had showered and gotten ready for the wedding before we left the hotel, assuming this was going to be a quick, easy hike.

I was now covered in sweat, dirt, and who knows what else.

But eventually…

We made it.

The waterfall was beautiful.

After all that, I was determined to enjoy it.

We took some pictures, got close to the waterfall, admired the scenery for a few minutes, and then turned around and headed back.

When we got back to the hotel, I had to shower all over again.

There wasn’t enough time to wash and dry my hair, so I improvised. I basically blow-dried the sweat out of it and curled it again.

Nothing like getting ready for a wedding twice in one day.

Silver Lake

We arrived at the reception a little late, but it was absolutely worth the scramble to get there.

The reception was held at a beautiful home on Silver Lake overlooking Mount St. Helens. The property belonged to friends of Scott and Jen from their Eagle Club, and it was the perfect setting for a celebration.

The weather couldn’t have been better.

The lake, the mountain, the beautiful setting, good food, family and friends—it was such a wonderful afternoon.

And the food was delicious.

But my favorite part was seeing how happy Scott was.

He has such a great laugh, and I loved seeing that big smile on his face throughout the afternoon. It was obvious how much fun he was having and how happy he was to celebrate this new chapter with everyone.

Of course, I had my camera with me.

I made sure to take plenty of pictures.

After surviving our adventure that morning, it felt pretty good to just sit back, enjoy the beautiful weather, visit with everyone, and celebrate.

After the reception, we went back to Scott and Jen’s house for another evening around the fire.

Two nights in a row sitting around a fire with family and friends was pretty wonderful.

Sunday morning we met Greg’s parents and Aunt Jan for breakfast before starting the drive home.

We decided to take the Washington side of the river and stopped along the way at a spot where we could look out over the gorge.

It was such a beautiful drive.

And honestly, it felt really good to be somewhere with cooler air and clear skies.

Boise had been covered in wildfire smoke for weeks, so being out of it was a welcome change. On our way home, though, we could see just how bad things were getting in other areas. When we drove through the Baker area, the smoke was incredibly thick. You could barely see anything around us.

Not long after we passed through, that stretch of freeway was closed because of wildfires.

It was a sobering reminder of what we had been missing back home. We wanted to turn around and go back.

Our little weekend trip ended up being quite the adventure.

We got to spend time with family, sit around fires with friends, explore a beautiful part of Washington, survive an “easy” hike, get attacked by stinging nettle, see a gorgeous waterfall, celebrate a wedding, and enjoy some much-needed fresh air.

I’m pretty sure the waterfall was worth it.

Although next time Greg tells me he found an **easy** hike…

I might need to see the trail myself first.

You can see the river from Scott & Jens.