Once Kirk was finished with work on Friday, the whole family hopped in the car with overnight clothes and enough food, and headed to the Washington-Oregon border. First, we drove through Toppenish for a quick view of the murals, stopped by Brooks Memorial State Park for a snowball fight and a brisk walk near the creek, and then checked into our hotel in Goldendale, Washington. We grabbed a quick bite at the local Dairy Queen and then eventually made to the 7-10:00pm tour at the Goldendale Observatory State Park. It was too cloudy for telescope viewing of the planets, but the tour guide showed us a computer simulation of what tonight would have looked like and what to expect the next few weeks, using Starry Night software. Kirk wants the software for his own computer. We went back to our hotel and slept.
In the morning, we ate the continental breakfast and then drove to Maryhill State Park, located next to the Columbia River. The kids threw rocks and we hiked around the rocky piers. We then drove West along the Columbia River, got a good look at the Dalles Dam, stopped at Bingen Washington for fastfood, and then finally arrived at Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We drove into the forest and walked around Camp Oklahoma for bit. It was nice to be away from the traffic and the noise you hear every day. The kids were all tired by the time we were done, so we played a DVD for them in the back seat DVD player and started for home. We did stop by Maryhill again to get a nice close-up of the closed Maryhill Museum of Art. We also stopped by the Stonehenge replica and snapped a few pictures. The remaining 1 1/2 hour drive home was nice because nearly everyone slept in the car (except Kirk).
We finally got him to stay still for a picture, but this is all we got. @Brooks 
A walk in the woods in January.
Doing some horizontal rock climbing. @Maryhill
@CampOklahoma
@CampOklahoma
Charith, one of the pillars in our marriage. @StonehendgeReplica
@StonehengeReplica
Eli, walking the trails behind the replica.
