Angel's Rest (7/5/11)

Awhile back, Gregg spoke in church about the need for adults to invest in the lives of the children in our congregation.

Hmm.

I really don't have the gift of working with little kids (or, to be honest, the desire). Hey wait... I work pretty well with teenagers... and I really enjoy taking people out in the woods... and I have six weeks off in the summer. I should offer to lead some youth hikes!!

Eryn and I took out our first group today... four teens to Angel's Rest in the Gorge.
Teenagers have age on their side. But sometimes they can also be a little lazy -- or just not used to a lot of physical activity. So we weren't sure what to expect. Well... we had a high school cross-country runner, two soccer players and a 14-year-old!

They pushed me up the 2.3 miles and 1,500 feet to the top. Poor Eryn, who was prepared to take up the rear with the slow kids, was left in the dust.

We spent about an hour at the top, enjoying our lunches, the view, the sun and the chipmunks (we did have a discussion about rabies...)
And then they ran, literally, back to the NFC Suburban waiting at the trail head.

It was our pleasure to spend the morning with Aren, Mikayla, Anthony and Matthew!
We hope more great students join us for next week's outing :)

After dropping off the kids and the rig, Eryn and I spotted Uprooted, Newberg's brand-new food cart just highlighted in Mauri and Sherry's blog. We had to stop.
One Fresh Tomato Sandwich to share:
Oh, yeah!
We'll be back... and I hope you try it, too! (corner of River and Hwy 99, open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.)

:)