The Oregon Central Coast and reunion with the kiddos

Matt and I spent the second half of our vacation on the central coast of Oregon while the kids stayed with Grammy and PawPaw Floyd. They rarely took the time to stop playing to talk with us on the phone! We were glad that they didn't miss us too much! We had a relaxing time - the weather was how you would expect - drizzle in the morning, sun popping out at times, mid-50s - sort of like our honeymoon in Ireland! We are glad to be back but immensely enjoyed our time away!

 Roasting hot dogs with PawPaw - those dogs are huge!!!!!

 Looks like trouble at the Vogan ranch!

 Our first night at Waldport, where the Alsea River meets the Pacific ocean. Our room overlooked the beach and ocean - I can still hear the waves!

 We explored the tide pools at the Yaquina Lighthouse. This was a first for me - so cool!

 Seals were everywhere at Yaquina. They seemed to like checking out the tourists as much as we checked them out!

 Common murres on rocks near the lighthouse. We also saw a pair of bald eagles.

 Peregrine falcon nestlings were also at Yaquina. We walked all the trails in the area and took a tour of the lighthouse - it has it original prism from 1868!

 The next day we went to Cape Perpetua which may have been my favorite area we explored. The tide pools were awesome - here are some sea anemones and a starfish.

 Purple sea urchins and more sea anemones.

 And while were were there Matt spotted a gray whale. Good eye, babe!

 We hiked about 5 miles around Suislaw National Forest. The trees were huge!

 Here we are at the giant spruce - it was 500 years old!

 We collected beach rocks and spelled out the kids name before packing up the rocks and bringing them home. We found a few shells but not too many - mostly mussels.

 A pretty sunset on one of our evening walks.

 On our last day, we drove to Florence to explore the Oregon Dunes. It was pretty - and sunny! There were high school kids going into the water - us old folks thought they were nuts! We didn't care for the town of Florence much....how did Matt put it....there was a bit of scuzziness in the air! The other towns (Newport, Waldport, Yahauts) were more quaint.

 I promised a picture of our blown glass projects - they turned out well!

 We didn't really buy the kids anything - we did bring the rocks, shells, and some salt water taffy (marionberry and huckleberry!). They liked it!

 Brenner and Nola goofing off in a rain shower on Saturday!

 Snuggling with Papa at bedtime!

 We are saying goodbye to an old friend - our kiddie pool that we bought 12 years ago when Emi was a pup. It finally split on the bottom! Not a bad $10 investment!

 Nola being silly!

 Nola and I went to a Saturday morning exercise class at a fellow church member's house. She was styling as always!

 Raspberries are coming on!

 Mommy sandwich! Notice Nola without a jammie shirt. "I get too hot, mommy." Okay, sweetie.

 A 12 year old neighbor girl watered our plants and got our mail while we were gone. She drew us this picture as a welcome home note - what an artist!

Nola is also doing well staying in the lines!

Hood River Oregon

Matt and I headed to Oregon to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Yes, yes, we got married in the fall but June worked for travel. Matt had never been to Oregon and I had only been to Portland so it seemed like the perfect location. Brenner and Nola stayed with Grandma Val and Grammy Vo this week - thank the good Lord for wonderful grandmas! Hope you enjoy some of our pictures!

 Grandma Val sent pictures so we wouldn't miss the kiddos. Nola has taken to the kitty Midnight.

 Brenner playing in the yard. The kids rarely wanted to stop and talk to Papa or Mommy - we take that as a good thing even though we miss them!

 On Friday, the kids headed to Grammy's house. Not sure what they were dancing to but they sure are cute little stinkers!

 We flew into Portland and stopped at Multnomah Falls on our way to Hood River. We ate lunch at the Lodge then decided to hike to the top - 1.2 miles and 11 switchbacks - good thing we had lunch!

 Here we are at the top looking down - yikes. Note someone put a wooden cross near the edge - no way would either of us venture out there.

 Here we are about 30 yards upstream from that last picture.

 We then headed to Sakura Ridge Farm and Lodge and this view greeted us on our back patio. The owners told us that you can't see Mt Hood half of the time because of clouds - we lucked out with several sunny days!

 We drove into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest looking for a hike that my boss recommended. We finally found it but too late in the day for a 5 mile hike so we decided on some other adventures.

 Like exploring the Big Lava Bed.

 Posing at Goose Lake.

 Chilling in the Ice Caves.

 We had lunch at the Trout Lake cafe and had a famous huckleberry milkshake (it was yummy). We even spotted Mt Adams on our drive back to Hood River.

 The next day was whitewater rafting on the White Salmon River. Here are the steps down to the river - the water was less than 42 F.

 We arrived a bit early and started talking to these funny ladies - we decided that we should be in the same raft. Dave was our fearless guide. Full body wetsuits, booties, fleece jacket (I took one but Matt didn't), splash guard, PFD, and helmet - we were set!

 Being newbies, the gals gave us the front of the raft so we could get the "full" experience.

 Here we are going into the "Granny snatcher".

 We got snatched!

 But she must not have liked us because we were spit back out! It was a great time and I didn't really notice the cold until the sun went behind the clouds near the end of the trip. We were on the river almost 3 hours traveling 9 miles. It was an awesome time!!!!

 After a day like that, we thought we had deserved a nice glass of wine back at our B&B.

 There was even a rainbow to see :)

 The rain came into Hood River the next day so we headed west to take in some wineries on the Washington side. Was neat to taste different styles including Italian (Cascade Cliffs), Rhone (Domaine Pallivon), and Bordeaux (Cor Cellars). Loved the first two and bought a bottle from each. The last....well the guide serving was not very pleasant so we didn't dally there!

 That afternoon we had made a reservation to take a glass blowing class (yes - after wine tasting)! It was near to learn the process. I made an ornament.

 Matt made a rock glass with Kevin's help. Kevin was a hoot educating us on the business. I hope to take a picture of our final creations and post them next week :)

Our last morning in Sakura Ridge. The Farmall tractor out front reminded me of Grandpa Hilbrenner. It was a fun place to walk around - they have a pear orchard and raise lambs. Several of our gourmet breakfasts included lamb. Other guests were from France, Russian, and nearby Yakima, Washington. Funny about that last one - the gentleman used to work for the Yakima Nation and had copies of some of my USGS report - certainly a small world. Matt and I seemed to be the odd couple with our jobs as biologist and gunsmith (beats being software engineers any day in our book)! Anyway - we got lots of questions and it was certainly fun talking with the other guest and learning about their stories. Can't get that at the Holiday Inn Express :)