Vacation; Days 5, 6 & 7

Day 5: Yaquina Bay Lighthouse and Visitors Center

Our plans for the next few days of vacation were to stay with David's aunt and uncle in a tiny town called Molalla. Before we left the coast, though, we wanted to check out at least one lighthouse. The closest one turned out to be Yaquina (pronounced ya-KWIN-a) Bay. It was beautiful. There were stairs leading down to the beach, so we were able to check out the tide pools, then head up to the lighthouse for a tour. The boys were just barely tall enough; I think the tour guide actually fudged a little when she let Owen in; the minimum height was 42 inches, and his cowlick just put him over 41. David and I took turns holding Samantha at the bottom, so the other could take one of the boys up the steps to check out the view. 

I thought these black things were little rocks.

Upon closer inspection, I realized they were little shells!

I'm pretty sure I saw a sign that prohibited climbing rocks, but David claims he saw no such sign.

So we all took a turn. Samantha wanted down immediately. (Gotta love those wind-blown locks...My hair was a complete tangled mess by the time we got back in the car.)

I loved the look (and the sound, which of course a photo can't capture) of the waves crashing on the rocks.

Drew was all about the photo ops on this trip. "Take my picture, Mom!" he kept saying.

The view from the top of the lighthouse.

Drew thought the top was very cool.

This picture makes me dizzy. This is at the bottom of the lighthouse, looking up. I can't imagine hiking those stairs a few times a night, carrying 2-3 gallons of oil, like they did in the old days. I get tired just thinking about it.

The entire lighthouse wouldn't fit in one shot from that close up. I even had the camera on the ground.

A family shot--minus a few faces.

I hope he had a dry-suit.

After checking out every nook and cranny at the lighthouse, we headed to the visitors center where we learned that instead of paying $7 to visit Yaquina Bay State Park and Lighthouse, we could have gone to another lighthouse down the road for free, and all of our kids could have gone to the top at the same time. Sigh. Oh, well. We also learned about different games that kids whose families took care of the lighthouse would play for entertainment. Drew and Owen learned a little about the tide pools, and the wild life in and around them, and were given Junior Ranger badges for reciting what they learned to the Park Ranger. They were pretty proud of themselves.

By early afternoon, we were back on the road and heading to Molalla. Molalla is further inland, about a couple hours from the coast, and is mostly farm land. The road into Molalla has a breathtaking view of Mt. Hood, as well as picturesque farms and ranches. 

Day 6: Molalla

David's aunt and uncle live on a farm with a few horses. The neighboring farm is home to a couple dozen llamas and alpacas. I wish I had a good picture of the little baby that looked like an Ewok. I'll try to get it off David's phone. 

Drew and Owen got to sit on a horse, which they were very proud about. Owen actually let the horse walk around, but Drew just wanted the horse to stand still. Samantha was too scared to get on, but she did feed the horse some grass. 

We enjoyed a couple really laid back days in Molalla, just visiting with David's aunt, uncle and cousin, and looking at the animals.

Day 7: Goodbyes, Travel and Hellos

We had planned on leaving Molalla early Sunday morning to head to Albany, to visit our friends Brytton and Madeline. We didn't get up as early as planned, and by then our friends were at church, so we hung out in Molalla a little longer which was fine with me. We don't see David's side of the family very often, so it was nice to spend more time with them.

We made it to Albany in time to eat some delicious barbecue and hotdogs, and watch the Super Bowl. Madeline is co-founder of the cooking blog I sometimes write for, so she and I had lots of fun talking about recipes and food, and making cookies to eat during the Super Bowl. 

The kids played tried on clothes to wear for Evie's Fancy Nancy birthday party the next day. They loved their outfits!

The kids had loads of fun playing with Evie, who turned three while we were there. If anyone asks Owen what his favorite part of vacation was, he still says, "Brytton and Madeline's house!"

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!

Vacation; Days 1-2

Since David is still considered a "young guy" after four and a half years at the railroad, he gets pretty much the worst vacation times. Usually he's lucky enough to get at least one week during the summer, but this year he had both weeks back-to-back at the beginning of this month. We thought long and hard about where to go for vacation, and Oregon won. We figured we could have the most fun for the cheapest, without being too much of a burden on friends and family. 

I took over three hundred pictures over the course of our ten-day trip (yay, digital cameras!), but many of them ended up in the Great Unknown that is the recycle bin of my computer. I still have plenty on my computer, but don't worry. I won't post them all. Just a few of the best from each day.

Day 1: Lots of Travel, and a Basketball Game.

We got up at 5 a.m. to begin our journey to Portland. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep. The kids must've felt the same way. They didn't sleep at all for the first few hours of the trip, and after that, only about an hour or so each.

This is my attempt at being artsy, as I watched the sun rise in the rear view mirror.

I loved how the sun was shining in my mirror, while the scenery in front of me was so gray.

I enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise while David took the boys in for a pit stop.

We stopped along the Columbia River just to get out of the car for a bit. We loved seeing the barges on the river, and seeing the cars driving in Washington on the other side. Simple pleasures...

I'm amazed that there are people smart enough to make things like this bridge. It lifts up, like it is in the picture, so boats can get under, then it goes back down and cars can drive across.

We actually made it to Portland in pretty good time; in time to go to the Trailblazers game with some friends. The kids loved that they could yell and cheer and, rather than getting annoyed, people thought it was cute.

Day 2: Portland, Some More Travel and Seaside

We spent the first night in Portland, then the next day we bummed around Chinatown for a while. I was sorely disappointed. I think we should have found a map before hand, because the GPS on my phone directed us to the quiet, boring part of town where we saw nothing particularly Asian-looking. Later, we learned that there is an actual entrance with a big gate and some dragon statues. There's also a garden that's supposed to be quite beautiful. But we didn't find it the day we were there. We did get a chance to walk along the river, and watch some people feed seagulls. It was still fun, and the kids had a great time.

After we saw everything we thought there was to see (boy, were we mistaken--can't wait to go back...), we headed to Seaside where we had booked a hotel room at the spur of the moment. We had heard Seaside is a great little town (and it's true!), so we figured we'd better check it out. As soon as we got there, we wished we had planned on spending more than one day there. The hotel was pretty empty, so when David called to make sure we got a room with two beds (the room in Portland only had one. Kids had to sleep on the floor),  the concierge told us that they had upgraded us to an ocean view room with a kitchenette. It was an amazing room, and an even more amazing view!

 

Below this balcony was a five-foot wide patch of grass, a five foot wide walkway, a rock wall, then the beach. And the ocean!

Our hotel, from the "back yard."

I like to take pictures of people walking from behind them. It's something I inherited from my Granddad. 

I also like it when the people turn around and walk back toward me. Especially the cute ones...

Some more pictures of the view from our balcony. I wouldn't mind living in one of those houses. Except that things seemed perpetually damp with all the rain.

After we got cold and tired from playing on the beach, we went to an arcade in town. Drew won a whale race (he was playing against Owen and Samantha, so basically Mom and Dad paid three bucks for that little penguin), and was very proud of his prize. He also loves making the peace sign in pictures suddenly; I think he got that from me. 

Day Three we traveled along the coast, spent a while at the Tillamook cheese factory, and ended up in Newport where we stayed for a couple days. More on that tomorrow!