Vacation; Days 3-4

Day 3: Driving Down the Coast

We were a little sad to leave the beauty of our oceanfront hotel in Seaside, but were looking forward to seeing other parts of Oregon. At the suggestion of our server at breakfast, we stopped at Haystack Rock in Cannon. It was kinda neat, but as we drove further down the coast we saw many such rocks so, without reading up on the history of the rock and adjacent town, we have no idea why it's so special.

Next stop on our tour was Tillamook. This is another place I'd like to go back to see again. We stopped at the cheese factory (I love Tillamook cheese. Their ice cream is delicious, too!) and took a tour. 

The kids loved all the cow stuff at the factory.

Having worked in a cheese factory once upon a time, for about three months, I was fascinated by the inner workings of the place. It was a lot different than the factory I worked at, mostly because the one I worked only took the process as far as curds, which were then shipped to other places for them to turn into blocks of cheese. The tour was self guided, and there were interesting facts and artifacts placed throughout the observation area. It was very cool.

So much cheese!!

The big blocks are called "Forties"--they weigh around forty pounds, give or take a few ounces. These ones are in line to be cut into smaller cubes, then they'll go down the belt to be wrapped.

All that cheese made us sort of hungry, so we headed down to the cafe and got some ice cream. Then it was back into the car to keep heading South. I sort of regret that we didn't make it to the Air Museum. David and I just wanted to get on the road because we wanted to see as much of the coast as we could before it got dark. So we told the kids we couldn't find the museum (it was sort of true, we didn't look up the address so we didn't know where it was!). They seemed fine with it, so we kept driving. 

I expected the coast to be gorgeous. It didn't disappoint! We were blessed with some sunshine that day, and the perfect amount of clouds to make the skies beautiful. 

 

 

I would love to live in Oceanside. All the houses were built on a hill, overlooking the ocean. 

I also loved how the road took us along the edge of the mountains, through the rain forest, and the rare occasions we could see through the trees, we saw ocean. 

                   

These pictures, as was the case with most of my scenery pictures, were taken from the passenger window as we were driving along. These ones turned out better than most.

We took the long route, but we finally made it to our hotel in Newport just after dark. By the time we got there it was pouring buckets, so we pretty much just holed up in our room for the night. We did go to Burger King, figuring the kids could spend some energy at the play place, but I think it just make them more hyper. Then, I gave Samantha a manicure and pedicure which made the boys a little jealous, but I just refuse to paint their nails. Finally, after a lot of wiggling, giggling and nagging, the kids, and therefore the adults, were able to get some sleep.

Day 4: Hanging out in Newport

Newport is a pretty cool town. We liked the bay, and the bridge that went across it, and the aquarium. We didn't spend more than about 20 minutes at the beach there, because the weather was a little drizzly. 

There were sea lions on the rocks, and they were quite loud. Their bark is not a pleasant noise, but I think it would be one I would never get tired of if I lived there.

At the aquarium. Drew, for some reason, refused to be in the picture.

Great White Shark jaws. I think these are an aquarium staple; they seem to be at every aquarium I've been to.

In front of all the funky fish that can be found in the waters around Oregon.

Samantha was fascinated by the "underground" fish.

The kids loved seeing the seals and sea lions up close. "So that's what was making that noise!"

They also really enjoyed the birds that "fly" underwater. All the birds squawked and dove into the water at once. The kids thought it was a show just for them. It pretty much was, because we were just about the only people there!

We also saw anemones, sea stars, various other fish and crustaceans and a big ol' octopus. Unfortunately, my camera batteries died right after the water birds. We took some pictures with Dave's cell phone, but they didn't turn out that great.

After the aquarium, we went to dinner at a place called Mo's. They had pretty tasty fish and chips, and their kids meals came with toy sharks that the kids thought were awesome. The clam chowder there was good, too, but it came out of the kitchen garnished with fresh parsley and a butter pat, which I thought was a little odd and probably unnecessary.

On Day 5, we went to a light house, then headed North and East to visit David's aunt and uncle. Stay tuned!