This is a truth that I just came to realize today. I never thought about it before really, but today it hit me.
Today was son 2's 8th birthday. We did the church thing, we did the gifts thing, and we planned out the special dinner and cake thing. We realized that summer is almost over...pretty much only a week left here (I know it doesn't officially end until September 20th or something, but for all intents and purposes it ends when school starts, which is just over a week here. Heck, in places like Utah and Idaho, summer was over a week ago.) This summer has been a busy one for us. I don't know exactly why it has felt that way. Yes, we have had some things going on, and D has been busy with work and working extra hours, but even so he is less busy than he was with his previous job, and we usually did more summery things back in the busier days.
So today we decided to take a little drive and see if we could find Young's River Falls. We have lived in the Astoria area (although we don't live right in Astoria) for almost three years now, and although we have heard about the falls, we have never actually gone there to check it out ourselves. So we loaded the boys into the van, and off we went. The falls is probably about 15 to 20 minutes from our house. A nice drive on winding roads with nice pastureland and forest. We got there and pulled into the parking area. There were about five other cars there, making the parking lot over half full since its a small one, but still it seemed like it wouldn't be too crowded. The first thing that greeted me when I opened the door of the van and got out though, was the sight of several beer bottles strewn around the parking area. There were a few other items of litter...okay, maybe just one empty chip bag, and all the rest was booze bottles, cans and the cardboard remains of a multipack box of beer. "Hey kids! Want to go walk around a dump? You can find out what beer bottles look like since you have never seen one up close! Its educational!" I pretty much wanted to get back in the car and just go home. Okay, I can't really judge people for their beverage choice although I have yet to see the attraction of booze in any form. But pick up after yourselves!
Since we were there, and I knew the kids would freak out if we just left without looking at the falls, we went ahead and started down the trail. There were a couple of signs at the top of the trail that had something to do with Lewis and Clark. I am not sure what since the signs were full of bullet holes, and parts of them had been destroyed as well. I didn't really try to read much of it, I just thought that I didn't really want to bring the kids somewhere that was obviously a big drinking and shooting while under the influence kind of party place. All the other people there looked to be pretty normal. Families with little kids wading in the water and etc. We went on down the trail and got to see the falls. They aren't spectacular, but they are pretty, and the kids enjoyed trying to skip rocks and make big splashes by throwing rocks into the water. We saw a couple of spots that would be good for a future family photo and such, and one time when D skipped a rock across the water a huge fish jumped our right after the spot where the last skip went down. It was a pretty cool sight. The boys had fun, but I just couldn't get over the sight of the broken bottles, the trash, the cans, and what looked like the plunger part of a hypodermic laying around the area. How hard is it to take your trash with you? Obviously pretty hard. I bet its hard to hike up the hill after you have had a few beers, and try to carry the bottles too? Thats absurd. I have to say, that there are times that I think I would enjoy it if my family and all the nice people I have ever met were the only people on the earth. I know, what a horrible thing to think...but it sure would be a cleaner place.
I am not perfect. I know that there have been times when a stray gust of wind has blown a fruit snack wrapper, or some other trash out of our van, and if I have seen it, then I have gone after it (even if it means making one of the boys crawl under the car for it-hey-I don't fit under the car anymore). I am sure there has been a time or two that I didn't notice the flying debris, and maybe I have offended someone else by it. I hope not.
You know...today's visit to Youngs River Falls reminded me of Glass Beach. What a quaint sounding name right? Glass Beach is a little spot along the Columbia river where some of my high school friends and I sometimes hung out. And it was called glass beach because of all the broken booze bottles that littered the shore from underage drinkers hanging out there. I wasn't a drinker, and my friends didn't drink around me if they were drinkers...it was just a place we hung out. I didn't really think about it back then, but the glass bothers me now. And it bothers me that a pretty place like Youngs River Falls is well on its way to becoming Glass Falls. I think we can all take better care of the world, and keep the pretty places...pretty. I for one, am going to watch where those snack wrappers blow when the car door opens, or better yet, keep the car cleaner inside so I don't have to worry about it anymore. I hope that the next time we try visiting those falls we can actually enjoy the beauty of it.
Today was son 2's 8th birthday. We did the church thing, we did the gifts thing, and we planned out the special dinner and cake thing. We realized that summer is almost over...pretty much only a week left here (I know it doesn't officially end until September 20th or something, but for all intents and purposes it ends when school starts, which is just over a week here. Heck, in places like Utah and Idaho, summer was over a week ago.) This summer has been a busy one for us. I don't know exactly why it has felt that way. Yes, we have had some things going on, and D has been busy with work and working extra hours, but even so he is less busy than he was with his previous job, and we usually did more summery things back in the busier days.
So today we decided to take a little drive and see if we could find Young's River Falls. We have lived in the Astoria area (although we don't live right in Astoria) for almost three years now, and although we have heard about the falls, we have never actually gone there to check it out ourselves. So we loaded the boys into the van, and off we went. The falls is probably about 15 to 20 minutes from our house. A nice drive on winding roads with nice pastureland and forest. We got there and pulled into the parking area. There were about five other cars there, making the parking lot over half full since its a small one, but still it seemed like it wouldn't be too crowded. The first thing that greeted me when I opened the door of the van and got out though, was the sight of several beer bottles strewn around the parking area. There were a few other items of litter...okay, maybe just one empty chip bag, and all the rest was booze bottles, cans and the cardboard remains of a multipack box of beer. "Hey kids! Want to go walk around a dump? You can find out what beer bottles look like since you have never seen one up close! Its educational!" I pretty much wanted to get back in the car and just go home. Okay, I can't really judge people for their beverage choice although I have yet to see the attraction of booze in any form. But pick up after yourselves!
Since we were there, and I knew the kids would freak out if we just left without looking at the falls, we went ahead and started down the trail. There were a couple of signs at the top of the trail that had something to do with Lewis and Clark. I am not sure what since the signs were full of bullet holes, and parts of them had been destroyed as well. I didn't really try to read much of it, I just thought that I didn't really want to bring the kids somewhere that was obviously a big drinking and shooting while under the influence kind of party place. All the other people there looked to be pretty normal. Families with little kids wading in the water and etc. We went on down the trail and got to see the falls. They aren't spectacular, but they are pretty, and the kids enjoyed trying to skip rocks and make big splashes by throwing rocks into the water. We saw a couple of spots that would be good for a future family photo and such, and one time when D skipped a rock across the water a huge fish jumped our right after the spot where the last skip went down. It was a pretty cool sight. The boys had fun, but I just couldn't get over the sight of the broken bottles, the trash, the cans, and what looked like the plunger part of a hypodermic laying around the area. How hard is it to take your trash with you? Obviously pretty hard. I bet its hard to hike up the hill after you have had a few beers, and try to carry the bottles too? Thats absurd. I have to say, that there are times that I think I would enjoy it if my family and all the nice people I have ever met were the only people on the earth. I know, what a horrible thing to think...but it sure would be a cleaner place.
I am not perfect. I know that there have been times when a stray gust of wind has blown a fruit snack wrapper, or some other trash out of our van, and if I have seen it, then I have gone after it (even if it means making one of the boys crawl under the car for it-hey-I don't fit under the car anymore). I am sure there has been a time or two that I didn't notice the flying debris, and maybe I have offended someone else by it. I hope not.
You know...today's visit to Youngs River Falls reminded me of Glass Beach. What a quaint sounding name right? Glass Beach is a little spot along the Columbia river where some of my high school friends and I sometimes hung out. And it was called glass beach because of all the broken booze bottles that littered the shore from underage drinkers hanging out there. I wasn't a drinker, and my friends didn't drink around me if they were drinkers...it was just a place we hung out. I didn't really think about it back then, but the glass bothers me now. And it bothers me that a pretty place like Youngs River Falls is well on its way to becoming Glass Falls. I think we can all take better care of the world, and keep the pretty places...pretty. I for one, am going to watch where those snack wrappers blow when the car door opens, or better yet, keep the car cleaner inside so I don't have to worry about it anymore. I hope that the next time we try visiting those falls we can actually enjoy the beauty of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment