Our plan for the weekend had been to go camping up at Mt. Hood, hopefully on a lake so we could rent some boats and take the kids out on the water. The campground we wanted to go to ended up being full (thankfully we called before we went out!) so we decided to try again another time and stay closer to home this weekend. We had both been really excited about the idea of taking the kids out on boats, so Matthew got online and started searching for a place in our neck of the woods with rental boats. He found Hornings Hideout in North Plains, and it was just the place we were looking for!
After doing a few errands around the house in the morning, we went to our local farmers market to have lunch and see what fresh veggies they had. I was surprised that there was hardly anything in the way of actual produce from farmers, other than a few berry stands it was almost all crafts and homemade desserts. We did find some organic Rainer cherries, and picked up about 4 pounds of those, along with some cookies to take with us on our boating adventure. After lunch we dropped the cherries off at home and drove out to Hornings Hideout.
The drive wasn't bad at all, I love country drives and Matthew and I spent the time daydreaming about having our own land someday. Once we left the main road things got a little dicey, the road to the hideout is gravel, and full of hairpin turns with steep drop offs. I had the car in low gear and was still riding the brakes the whole way...it was a little stressful for me! We made it to the bottom in one piece, and after paying the $3.00 per person entrance fee (which would later be credited back when we rented our boats) we headed down to the lake.
We all piled into a paddle boat, kids in the back and Matthew and I up front working the paddles. There was a little bit of a learning curve while trying to figure out the steering but soon enough we got ourselves going straight instead of in circles. We paddled out across the lake, which was beautiful:
Killian and Matthew:
Rowan and I:
We stopped towards the back of the lake in a shady spot to relax for a few minutes. We soon found out it was a popular place for salamanders too! We spotted about half a dozen in the water, and slowly peddled around following them:
The kids thought they were so cute, and I had to agree! It was pretty hot out on the lake, and you were only supposed to take the boats out for 30 minutes at a time. We headed back in and decided to find a shady spot to eat our cookies at. While we were walking back to the car, we spotted this gorgeous fellow:
The place was full of peacocks but this guy was obviously different from the rest! We talked to one of the owners later and she said that out of the 120 peacocks they had on the property, only 4 of them were white like this one. He was beautiful, and had the longest tail feathers I have ever seen:
Here he is with one of his buddies - I cant decide which one I think is prettier!
After our snack it was back on the water, and this time we split up. Killian and Matthew went together while Rowan and I headed out in our own little boat. She was super excited because she got to ride in front this time!
Killian was excited because his boat had a squirt gun in it! He got into a water fight right away with a boy on a passing boat. Matthew and Killian on the water:
Rowan and I paddled all around before resting for a minute in the shade of an overhanging tree. She was having a great time up front...her legs were too short to reach the peddles so she had nothing to do but sit back and relax:
When we got out on the water again, I let her steer while I peddled...we ended up going in a lot of circles but she was happy to feel in control!
We were sad when it was time to head back in with our boats - it had been so much fun paddling around the lake together! I definitely want to take the kids out on boats again soon, hopefully we can make it up to Mt. Hood in the next few weeks and rent some kayaks or canoes. But I wouldn't mind coming back to Hornings Hideout either! The place was a little run down, and pretty crowded (there was at least one wedding going on while we were there) but we had a great afternoon of fun and sun for just $10. You cant beat that!
After doing a few errands around the house in the morning, we went to our local farmers market to have lunch and see what fresh veggies they had. I was surprised that there was hardly anything in the way of actual produce from farmers, other than a few berry stands it was almost all crafts and homemade desserts. We did find some organic Rainer cherries, and picked up about 4 pounds of those, along with some cookies to take with us on our boating adventure. After lunch we dropped the cherries off at home and drove out to Hornings Hideout.
The drive wasn't bad at all, I love country drives and Matthew and I spent the time daydreaming about having our own land someday. Once we left the main road things got a little dicey, the road to the hideout is gravel, and full of hairpin turns with steep drop offs. I had the car in low gear and was still riding the brakes the whole way...it was a little stressful for me! We made it to the bottom in one piece, and after paying the $3.00 per person entrance fee (which would later be credited back when we rented our boats) we headed down to the lake.
We all piled into a paddle boat, kids in the back and Matthew and I up front working the paddles. There was a little bit of a learning curve while trying to figure out the steering but soon enough we got ourselves going straight instead of in circles. We paddled out across the lake, which was beautiful:
Killian and Matthew:
Rowan and I:
We stopped towards the back of the lake in a shady spot to relax for a few minutes. We soon found out it was a popular place for salamanders too! We spotted about half a dozen in the water, and slowly peddled around following them:
The kids thought they were so cute, and I had to agree! It was pretty hot out on the lake, and you were only supposed to take the boats out for 30 minutes at a time. We headed back in and decided to find a shady spot to eat our cookies at. While we were walking back to the car, we spotted this gorgeous fellow:
The place was full of peacocks but this guy was obviously different from the rest! We talked to one of the owners later and she said that out of the 120 peacocks they had on the property, only 4 of them were white like this one. He was beautiful, and had the longest tail feathers I have ever seen:
Here he is with one of his buddies - I cant decide which one I think is prettier!
After our snack it was back on the water, and this time we split up. Killian and Matthew went together while Rowan and I headed out in our own little boat. She was super excited because she got to ride in front this time!
Killian was excited because his boat had a squirt gun in it! He got into a water fight right away with a boy on a passing boat. Matthew and Killian on the water:
Rowan and I paddled all around before resting for a minute in the shade of an overhanging tree. She was having a great time up front...her legs were too short to reach the peddles so she had nothing to do but sit back and relax:
When we got out on the water again, I let her steer while I peddled...we ended up going in a lot of circles but she was happy to feel in control!
We were sad when it was time to head back in with our boats - it had been so much fun paddling around the lake together! I definitely want to take the kids out on boats again soon, hopefully we can make it up to Mt. Hood in the next few weeks and rent some kayaks or canoes. But I wouldn't mind coming back to Hornings Hideout either! The place was a little run down, and pretty crowded (there was at least one wedding going on while we were there) but we had a great afternoon of fun and sun for just $10. You cant beat that!