Oregon Vacation 4 of 4

Saturday was another fabulous day in Oregon. We headed just over an hour west to the coast. Our first stop was Cape Mears Lighthouse. From the parking lot you walk down this little trail to the lighthouse.

Here is Jason looking out at the ocean view.Unfortunately a few months ago someone shot at the lighthouse and damaged it. Because of the criminal investigation we couldn't go to the top, but the guides still told us all about it. The views around the lighthouse were absolutely beautiful! Afterwards we drove a few minutes over to Oceanside Beach. Jason was terrified of the water and didn't want to get very close, so he lead the way back to the car. Next we headed over to the Tillamook Cheese Factory and Creamery. We watched them making cheese, tried a bunch of samples, and ate delicious sandwiches and ice cream.The kids fell asleep in the car and we headed about 45 minutes north along the coastal highway. The views were just lovely all along the way. We stopped up at Cannon Beach. That large rock below is called "Haystack Rock".Parker and Brad wasted no time and began to build a sand castle. Jason was not pleased when we arrived, but after a few minutes he calmed down and happily played in the sand.

I started to fly a kite, but wasn't holding it tight and the wind blew it away. It blew probably half a mile away and got caught on a building. We could see it on the horizon the rest of the time, but it was irretrievable.

Brad took Parker out to play in the water.

Parker loved grabbing the sand and throwing it into the ocean. He did it for at least five minutes and surely could have kept at it for longer.

This was Jason's first time to the ocean. I let him stand in the water, but he was definitely not a fan.

I brought him back away from the water and he enjoyed playing again.

After a while the boys came back to play.

Here are Brad and Parker with their feet buried in the sand.

Our last stop was Ecola State Park just north of Cannon Beach. Parker thought the binoculars my aunt had lent us were just about the coolest things ever!

Here's the view without us in it. Isn't it gorgeous?

You can take a short trail out to a lookout point. Here is one of the views:

When you look out to see you can see Tillamook Rock Lighthouse in the distance. Lighthouses were built every 30 miles along the Oregon Coast.

Here we are at the lookout.

We had such a fun vacation! On Sunday morning we woke up to a good breakfast and then headed to the airport. We flew standby and unfortunately we weren't going to make a flight home. Brad really didn't want to miss more work, so we rented a car and drove home. It took us about 12 hours, but the kids were great! Even though it was unplanned, it made me feel like driving places in the future will work out. Anyway, enjoy the pictures from our fun trip!

Oregon Vacation 3 of 4 (Favorite Day!)

Here is a little preview of what we saw on Thursday! Keep reading for more!

We drove about 40 minutes out of Portland to the east on Thursday. We started off at the Crown Point Vista House. It's on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Columbia River. Here you can see my boys looking out at the view.

Here are a view shots from the top:

Then we continued on our way down the Historic Columbia River Highway. I just took this inside the car, but you can still appreciate the beauty. Notice how all of the trees are covered with ivy and moss and there are ferns growing everywhere. There are several waterfalls that you can see either right from the road or with a very short walk. The first one we saw was Latourell Falls. We all walked to near the base of the falls. Here are Parker and Brad getting sprayed because they're so close to the falls. The next stop we made was Bridal Veil Falls. It was only a little over half a mile hike down to the falls. It isn't fully paved and has several sets of stairs and we made the mistake of bringing the stroller. Most of it Brad carried Jason and I carried the empty stroller. It was still a lovely hike though.

This is a view of the stream just below the falls.

Here are the beautiful Bridal Veil Falls.

Wahkeena Falls was next. These pictures were just taken from the parking lot. The biggest attraction is Multnomah Falls. These falls are divided into two tiers that fall 620 feet. It truly is amazing to see.

The trail that leads up to the foot bridge is very mild, but we decided to continue up the 2.2 mile round trip hike to the top of the falls. This little "cave" is right near the base of the trail.

The 700 foot elevation gain turned out to be a bit ambitious for a four-year-old and a six-month pregnant woman with a cough, but we kept on going.

It wasn't that we had to stop to rest much, but I just couldn't get my legs to go very fast up the hills. Brad took care of Jason and I encouraged Parker. He was such a trooper. I was pretty happy to finally see that sign that said we'd reached the final switchback. Honestly, despite the difficulty, it was a beautiful hike and we'll definitely do it again next time we're in Portland. The temperature was perfect at about 70 degrees and the scenery all along the trail was absolutely gorgeous. See for yourself:

Here are some views from the top of the hike:

Hiking back down was, of course, just as beautiful.

After Multnomah we passed by Horsetail Falls. This shot was just from the parking lot.

Next we went to the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. They had several kinds of fish in different stages of growth. They had a big pond full of sturgeon. "Herman the Sturgeon" is about 11 feet long and 500 pounds. We saw him, but didn't get a good picture. Apparently sturgeon can get to be 18 feet long-crazy.

Jason was taking a little nap while we were there, but here he is next to some Rainbow Trout.

The Bonneville Dam is there next to the hatchery. This view is actually from the Washington side.

Our last site was the "Bridge of the Gods" that crosses the Columbia River into Washington. Before we left my uncle had said that he thought the name was a little self-important. We have to agree. After seeing so much of God's actual handiwork the bridge seemed rather anticlimatic. Here's a view as we drove over the bridge:

We drove for a little while on the Washington side and then headed back to Portland. Even from the interstate you can still see some of the beautful waterfalls.

It was such a wonderful day- both Brad's and my favorite! The scenery of the Columbia River Gorge is seriously amazing. Taking a trip to Portland for that alone is worthwhile. I had been to most of the places before, but certainly worth return trips!

The last part of our trip is coming up. The beach has more gorgeous scenery, so get excited!