We are moving a bit backwards in the story a few weeks.

I had been seeing Joseph for only a few weeks and we really wanted to do something during the day together.  So, I decided to take him to the world famous Multnomah Falls for a hike.

Before I came to pick him up he asked if he could bring some of his friends with him.  I panicked inside!  Not because I didn’t want to meet his friends (because I really wanted to), but I had never really openly acknowledged that I was dating a guy to anyone before and now I would be meeting his friends.  As silly as this could sound for a 29yr old, this was a huge step for me.

I went to pick them up and met Kaylee, Paige, and I unfortunately don’t remember the third friend’s name (sorry!)

I had heard a lot about Kaylee and Paige since they were his best friends and they were always hanging together.  The three friends squeezed in the back seat and Jojo sat in the front with me.  While it was a little quiet in the car, I was so happy that this had pushed me to take a step in my journey of coming out.  Plus his friends were so nice, and I got to spend time with my favorite guy!  Couldn’t be better.

We finally made it after about an hour long drive, and immediately we were all taking pictures and stuff.  Even though I’ve lived here most of my life I hadn’t been to Multnomah Falls for a few years.  It was breath-taking and ever since that day I try to get there at least once a year (sadly the aftermath of the fires last year closed much of the hike for the time being )

While I had gone to Multnomah many times in my life, I hadn’t hiked to the top since I was a teenager.  We decided that we were just gonna go for it!  Afterall, that’s where the best views were.

We began the journey up the mountain, which in all is a little over 2 miles with a lift in elevation of about 700ft (thanks Wikipedia).  We got to the bridge and all took some more pictures.

As we continued up further and further, we took a couple breaks.  There was another group of hikers that was also going up at the same time.  Joseph and his friends spotted this guy that was pretty good looking but also climbing around all the trees off the path.  He was deemed “the guy with amazing calves”.  What’s funny is that Joseph and I laughed about him and that time in one of his last few months.

After multiple miles and many stops we finally made it to the very top of the hike!

It was so fun watching Joseph’s eyes light up as he saw the beginning of the falls.  I also was so happy and blessed to be able to see him with his friends first-hand.  They all have such an amazing relationship, and I was always so happy he had such a good group of people to spend each day with.

We walked along the stream, touching the freezing water with our hands.  At last we made our way to the lookout point where you can see the all the way to the bottom.  Everyone took a variety of pictures, then Joseph looked to me and said “do you want to take a picture together?”  I was so happy, and of course said yes.  Sadly, I never got a copy of that picture and this would be the only picture we took together for some reason.  Definitely something I would have done differently if I could go back.

After we were all finished taking in the sights and sounds of the falls, we made our way back down to the bottom.  We got in the car and headed back home, and I dropped everyone off.

Joseph gave me a peck and said to make sure I text him when I get home 🙂

As Joseph said in his post, “Not a bad day, not a bad day at all!”