I apologize in advance for the heavy picture post! I just couldn’t resist posting them all!

Our days living in the Gorge are rapidly coming to an end and I suddenly feel this frantic urge to revisit some of the beautiful places to see here. I truly feel so lucky that I have been able to call this undeniably gorgeous part of the Pacific Northwest home for the past 5 years now.

Yesterday found my husband home for half the day so we took advantage of the morning and went on a little mini field trip with our younger two children, Ariella and Gabriel. We ended up at Multnomah Falls first and then stopped at Horsetail Falls on our way back home. We went at a very casual pace for the little ones and it was so much fun to see the waterfalls through their eyes.

The last time I stopped to visit Multnomah Falls I was 7 months pregnant with Ariella. (And can you believe we actually hiked to the top of that waterfall that day! That is quite a hike for a pregnant lady!) Multnomah Falls was a little overwhelming for Ariella. It is so massive and high up. I believe it intimidated her some. Gabriel would have had us hike to the top if we would have let him! He had so much fun on the trail. (Multnomah Falls has some wonderful native legends to it and I recommend reading about them here if you are interested.)

We had the most fun at Horsetail Falls because it is not as well-known as Multnomah Falls which translates into: not as many tourists there. You can also get right down to the bottom of the fall which we did and let the little ones run around.

They enjoyed climbing on the rocks and tossing pebbles into the water. It was wonderfully cool by the waterfall and I could have stayed there all day.

The Gorge is full of amazing waterfalls, some much more accessible than others. One day my husband and I would love to go and try to see them all. Hiking in the Gorge is a beautiful treat to explore.

I hope to squeeze in a few more local field trips in the weeks before we move. I’m beginning to miss this wonderful area already.

I did not intend to take so many days to post the last part of this wildflower walk that my family and I went on. Last week proved to be a very busy week in my garden and much was accomplished. Although it did wear me out and leave no time for anything else! I hope to share some of what I did in the garden later this week.

Now to continue on with our last nature walk: in the last post I showcased two very bright wildflowers that jumped out at us as we wandered the path we were on. I am more drawn to softer colors and really enjoyed the wildflowers found in today’s post. I like the soothing colors of blue and purple flowers and the wild lupines in full bloom certainly fit that bill.

Broadleaf Lupine (Lupinus latifolius)

I have never before seen a wild larkspur and had to look these pretty flowers up to identify them. We did not find very many of these blooming so I felt rather lucky to stumble upon the few that we did.

Upland Larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum)

The final flower to show from this nature walk was one of the sweetest little wildflowers I have seen. Small little white bells tinged with blue dotted the landscape here and there and would remain unseen if you were not paying close attention.

Bicolor Triteleia (Triteleia grandiflora var. howellii)

I hope to have my family go on a couple more wildflower hunts this spring while we still have the chance to spot a few. If there is one thing I have learned about nature from gardening is that Mother Nature does not wait for you. One must go out and enjoy all Mother Nature has to offer while you can because if you snooze you lose! The wildflower displays may be short lived but they are so worth going out and finding them.

A few days back I took my children out for another wildflower hunt. This time we were searching for a few specific flowers that I had read were in bloom at the moment. What a treat we had waiting for us!

Northwest Balsamroot growing next to Harsh paintbrush

It leaves me in complete awe over how beautifully and effortlessly Mother Nature will design her garden. Everything seems to flow so perfectly together. Colors complement each other with ease. Nothing looks out of place or arranged. A gardener can learn so much just by observing how Nature designs her garden.

Northwest Balsamroot in full bloom. In the background you can look across the Columbia River and see Washington.

The two wildflowers highlighted in today’s post are Harsh Paintbrush (Castilleja hispida) and Northwest Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza deltoidea). Everywhere we turned these two flowers were blooming close to one another like a perfect pair.

Bright and cheerfull colors in Mother Nature's garden

They certainly jumped out at us from a distance being as bright as they are.

Northwest Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza deltoidea)

Honey bee paying a visit to a Northwest Balsamroot flower.

Wickedly bright red is the flower of the Harsh paintbrush (Castilleja hispida).

It was a gloriously beautiful spring day to be out wildflower hunting. Later this week I will show some softer colors that we also spotted on our wildflower hunt.