If you hadn’t heard, Seattle’s had quite the heat wave. It’s 101 degrees right now, which is fine if you live in Texas or somewhere along the equator, but here in the temperate Pacific Northwest people freak out at anything above 85 degrees. It certainly gets this hot elsewhere and people stay indoors without much complaint. But here we have no air conditioning in houses. Just at malls, the movies and, of course, at Applebees. Which is exactly where Elle and I went last night for our first ever date alone since River was born. We had talked of going up in the mountains to swim in a creek and drink wine in the shade. But it was so damn hot the coolest thing we could do was head out to a chain restaurant. It was a grand time.

Today, though, we decided we wouldn’t just slog through the heat in a cranked out daze. No. We were going to do something fun. Which we did. A forty minute drive up into the Cascade mountains brought cooler temperatures and a delightfully cold river to play in.

Denny Creek runs crystal clear through tall stands of cedar and hemlock and boasts several sections of natural water slides. The best thing about this river is that you can step off the trail at any point and claim your own pool, rather than crowding at one swimming hole. So we swam and sat in the shade, and marveled at the scene while River slept.

My only thought now—while I sit melting into a couch back at the village—is why we didn’t stay until nightfall. Oh well. We head to the north woods of Wisconsin on Friday where it is rumored to be in the 70’s with daily thunderstorms. Sounds just perfect to us.