This is mi familia, ready for a ragin' good time!
This is me, self portraits are my obvious favorite, although I'm not sure why, they aren't the most flattering, are they?
This was one of my favorite roses, we went on a tour of the International Test Rose Garden in Portland. They try out new rose plants. This one was called Abbaye De Cluny. (We also went to Powell's Books on this day which is the biggest bookstore in the world, they claim, and we hiked 3 miles in a beautiful arboretum, but my batteries had given out at this point.)
On Tuesday we drove to Astoria. This is the Astoria Column. Apparently a bunch of memorials (twenty-something) were built across the country in honor of the explorers/pioneers that came west.
The column had a sweet, sweet view, which we had to enjoy for only a brief second because after hiking 164 steps to the top, standing on a small little balcony of sorts, we were freaked:
If you didn't know, Astoria has had a few movies filmed there, including a movie called Goonies. Our car was not allowed to go up the little pebble drive and this is the sign informing us of that. The next two pics are for my SIL Julie:
Behind the bushes on the left there is a very large Greek flag that I didn't catch in the picture. Apparently a very Greek family lives there now. No Sean Astin :(
On Wednesday we drove to Kings Valley to visit the Jillicious bakery and its owner, Jill (and Jeff of course). We ordered a couple of items from Jill, but she went WAY out of her way to make sure we were super taken care of. I'll let the pictures do the talking (but let me just say that I didn't even get a picture of the brownies or the yummy lunch):
At Jill's place she has a sweet pond where the kids spent HOURS frog hunting:
Sweet lily pads:
H., me, Jeff and Jill:
Then we ventured to the coast (again) and saw Cannon Beach (where we made pigs of ourselves at Pig 'N Pancake) and saw Haystack Rock:
Then we went on a super mini hike just off the highway and saw salmon berries. These look good, right? Brittany confirmed that though they are edible, they are extremely tart. Thanks B. for taking a hit for the team!
Proof that B. was there!
This is how H. and I look while on vacation, rested and happy!
Tour of Tillamook where we (I) had too many cheese samples and bought yummy ice cream:
Sav asleep, B., and Mack (who was faking it!):
Proof that B. actually has a husband. Poor Wyat was super busy with a crazy chemistry class so we didn't see him much, but thanks W. for allowing us to crash at your pad!
We also went to Voo Doo donuts (picture stolen from B's blog):
We spent money on gas and food (obviously) but only $1 at the column (for a whole year's worth of parking on site) and $10 for clothing rental at the Portland temple. We were super happy to find so many wonderful things to do in Portland without having to spend money on entrance fees and such. Who wouldn't prefer to spend their hard-earned dough on food anyway? We also hit up two different french bakeries while in Lake Oswego (we went to one of them twice and the other three times). The kids, H. and B. also floated the Clackamas River, courtesy of W.'s family and their "fun tires." Despite H. thinking he was going to miss the "get out point" and freaking out to the point of almost drowning (thanks B. for saving your big bro's life), they enjoyed the river float a ton.
Thanks to B., W., Jill, and Jeff. Also thanks to the unknown owners of the beach house we stayed at (unknown to me, but not to B.).
And, thanks to Miss Georgia, who assured me that this would be money well spent. Miss Georgia, you were right!
I told H. that this was our best vacation yet and that includes the freebie we had last year at Disneyland.
7 comments:
We LOVED having you and your family here--it feels like I've known you forever!! You are welcome here anytime (and I really do mean that--not just being polite). My one question is why didn't Jeff introduce us sooner?? :)
i am honored. though 60% of your trip was enjoyed while i was at work. i'm glad you had fun, i too had a lot of fun. i got all emotional as you were leaving (no tears though). i was really sad to see you go. come back again so we can have some more fun. or i'll just fly to utah for you 40ths.
My cousins grew up in Troutdale (outside of portland), so we spent a lot of time there during the summers, when we were younger. We had a few family reunions at Cannon Beach. It's so pretty there, right?! Looks like you guys had tons of fun, even though you didn't get to see Sean Austin! :)
Have you ever seen "the amazing race"? I am pretty sure that one of the stops was Voodoo doughnuts. (Is there more than one??)
What an awesome trip. Packed with good food, awesome sights (thanks for the pics) and amazing people. I'm glad you guys had fun!
Don't you just love vacations like that where you all connect. There's still lots of the Pacific NW that is to be discovered. Prosser is one of them and you could even invite Jeff to come here. :)
Sounds perfect and those baked goodies looked divine...I swear I gained 50 pounds through sheer osmosis.
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