Wednesday, July 15, 2009
(Posted August 30, 2009)
Day 11 took us to several points along the northern coast of Oregon. Our first stop was Astoria.
Besides being a beautiful, old-fashioned seaside town, it is also where Goonies was filmed. We wanted to see the Goonies House, so we followed the welcome sign . . .
. . .and snapped a photo in front of the house. Unfortunately, there's that huge bush now that blocks a lot of the view. Just try to imagine Data zipping from his house next door to this one.
Then we marched up 164 steps to get the the top of the Astoria Column. (Kaylynn opted out of this one because she has a mild fear of heights.)
The column has a spiral of scenes on the outside depicting the area's history of exploration and migration, but we were more awed by the views of the Columbia River, and this four mile bridge that we later drove across. (We kind of had a thing about crossing any and all bridges that we could.)
We were amused by this sign on the Washington side of the bridge. It really gets the point across:
After driving back over the bridge and back into Oregon, we just had to check out the shipwreck of the Peter Iredale at Fort Stevens State Park. I mean really, what's cooler than an actual shipwreck? (It ran ashore during bad weather in 1906, and nobody died or anything, but the kids had fun climbing all over it.)
Next stop: Fort Clatsop--where they have built a replica of the fort that the Lewis and Clark Expedition stayed in before returning east. The kids had fun testing out the beds, including the one Sacajawea slept in, and hanging out at the tables wondering what kind of food the members of the expedition ate.
And then, as if we hadn't seen enough that day, we took a tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory.
We've never seen so much cheese at once in our lives, and never such huge blocks of it. I think it's just the camera and the lighting, but it sure seems like everything was orange like the cheese.
One of the best parts of the factory is the ice-cream counter! Tons of flavors to try. I had a sampler of three different scoops, and Dan had two ice-cream cones just to try another different flavor. It's no wonder I gained ten pounds on this trip! Here's Jeremy enjoying his selection.
All in all, quite a busy day. At this point the sugary, caffeinated beverages I was guzzling had ceased to have any energizing effect on me, and I was ready to crash by the time we got to the hotel.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
(Posted August 26, 2009)
This is what Mt. St. Helens looked like the day before it erupted in 1980:
Here's a picture two years later, missing a chunk from its north side, letting off a little steam:
And here's our view in July of 2009:
We started out at a visitor center at the base of the mountain, where we could have spent hours, but . . . oh yeah, we have these kids who can take it all in in about five minutes.
Here's a picture of Anna avidly learning about the different volcanic eruptions in history and how they compare to one another. She's sitting next to the representation of Mt. St. Helens, and I believe the big one is Krakatoa.
After that we went on a little nature hike behind the visitor's center that the kids really liked because of the many lily pads and a frog sighting:
Here's some of the other wildlife we observed:
We then drove even closer and had spectacular views of damage from the volcanic mudflows. We visited yet another visitor center (the kids were so excited), where we watched a chaotic film presentation that made a couple of us paranoid (namely me and my seven-year-old nephew). The film ended with a dramatic opening of curtains, revealing a huge window with a view of the horseshoe shaped crater formed by the eruption:
It was here that Amy picked up one of her favorite souvenirs of the trip--a little mouse puppet that I believe she named Mrs. Mouse.
Before we went to Mt. St. Helens, I wasn't sure how we would enjoy it, but it was very fascinating as well as tragic to hear about those who lost their lives and livelihoods due to the eruption. Dan remembers seeing it on the news; I remember being vaguely aware of what had happened (I was seven at the time). Its definitely a reminder that we're living on an active planet that has its own agenda. You just hope that you're not in the wrong place at the wrong time!
Monday, July 13, 2009
(Posted Monday August 17, 2009).jpg)
Day nine took us to the place I've been dreaming about going for several years: Mt. Rainier National Park. I'm not sure where my dream originated, but I knew we had to stop there even though we only had a day. We discovered before we left Chris and Tiffani's that a major road at the south of the park was closed due to damage from the bad winter, so we were limited in what areas we could explore.
We came into the park from the East at the White River Entrance, and then wound our way through fog and mist to the Sunrise Visitors Center. I cried when we got out of the car, whether from the breathtaking beauty or wacky hormone levels due to living on junk food for over a week, I don't know. Between the snow-capped peak and colorful wildflowers, I felt like I stepped into Heidi, or maybe The Sound of Music.
From there we took a short hike to some lookouts, but our view was blocked by clouds, darn it. We waited to see if they would pass, but no luck, so we took some pictures of the kids instead. What's more beautiful--Mt. Rainier or my children (and their cousins)? Hmmmmm....
From the parking lot we got a better glimpse of Mt. Rainier, which is considered an active volcano. It is "sleeping, not dead." It could erupt at any time. And yes, I am talking about the mountain and not Kaylynn.
From Sunset, we made our way to the Ohanapecosh area at the southeastern corner of the park. The highlight there was the Grove of the Patriarchs Nature Trail.
We hiked upstream about a half a mile before come to a suspension bridge that we had to cross one at a time. This took a while with nine of us. The bridge took us to an island in the Ohanapecosh River, where giant red cedars and Douglas firs that are about 1000 years old can be seen. Amazingly, everyone had a pretty good attitude on this hike. Attitude was becoming a big issue by this time.
On the way out we got a picture by the park sign. I was so happy to have a reason to be wearing a jacket. I hear it was blazing hot in SoCal at the time. I was sad to leave, but someday we'll go back there for longer and see more of Mt. Rainier's beauty.
That night we stayed in lodge type hotel that was quaint, but had spotty internet access (I think this is when I lost my resolve to blog at the end of each day) and cold showers. We had bologna sandwiches, chips, and ice-cream bars that night. We really pamper ourselves on these road trips.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Now to the main purpose and highlight of our trip--visiting Chris and Tiffani, who ABANDONED us and moved to Washington far, far away and then had the nerve to have a BABY that we wouldn't be able to see all the time. (I can give them a hard time because they don't read our blog.) This is the first time we have been to their new house, and we had a great time visiting.
The focus of a lot of our attention was Megan, who is quite a ham and exceptionally cute.
A tent was set up in the backyard for the brave to sleep in. That only lasted one night because it was pretty cold. I slept in the basement, and eventually we had sleeping bags all over the house.
On Friday we went to Riverfront Park in Spokane, where they have carnival rides, a little train to ride, a carousel, and the biggest Radio Flyer wagon in the world.
On Saturday we crossed over into Idaho, and went to the beach at Coeur d'Alene. The kids had fun playing in the water and making sand castles. We also played at the hugest playground I have ever seen, and did a little shopping at a toy store called Figpickles.
We also visited Manito park, which had beautiful gardens and a water park. We had fun there until it started to rain AND the sprinklers came on. There are definitely no water shortages here.
Other things to remember about our stay and Chris and Tiffani's: trampoline, Megan liked Anna's Nintendogs game, popping two air mattresses, playing in the basement, Tiffani's yummy breadsticks, watching Literal Videos, taking divot out of driveway with hitch, blueberry sauce that wouldn't thicken, hiking forever to find water area at park, visiting Spokane temple, Jared not wanting to be in picture, Megan doing the chicken dance.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
I have fallen behind due to a combination of circumstances, but I need to catch up since this is taking the place of the scrapbooking that I don't plan on doing ever again. (Luckily my date doesn't show up on my posts, so I can just pretend I'm posting this on the actual day these things happened.)
Today we explored the Fruit Loop, a scenic road the hits some of the farms of the Hood River Valley. Thanks to Kaylynn's suggestion, we visited an alpaca farm. This was the highlight of her day, and we all had fun feeding the alpacas, and checking out the yarn shop, where I bought some alpaca yarn to make a hat. 
The next stop was Packer's Farm, where we bought fresh raspberries and cookies, and I just had to try a pear-sweetened marionberry turnover. We had our treats out a picnic table outside, and took some pictures by their cute signs.
We left the loop for a trip to visit Timberline Lodge, a historic hotel located on the south flank of Mt. Hood. We checked out the hotel, which had a huge fireplace in the middle of the lobby and a few historic exhibits. We had fun playing with the old-fashioned mailboxes until we realized that they were currently in use (oops!) We had trouble getting a good view of Mt. Hood because of the clouds, but managed to get a shot in the parking lot just before we were about to leave.
To get back around the mountain and back to Mt. Hood, we decided to take Lolo Pass Road. Dan told us that Lolo means crazy in Hawaiian, and we decided that we were indeed crazy to take this road. The unpaved portion had major damage and dips in the road, and we were having flashbacks of our last road trip getting stuck in a ditch in the middle of nowhere. We made it through okay, with a possible leak in the exhaust system. Anyone reading this, take our advice: If you see this sign, TURN AROUND!!!
Back on the Fruit Loop, we visited Alice's Farm, where we bought delicious cherries and took a ride on The Gator to see the cherry orchard. This farm was just beautiful, with a picnic area and a cute white house. 
Next, we stopped to pick our own blueberries. Each of the kids went off with a bucket, and all together we picked about five pints. 
After crossing the Columbia River and taking the Washington side of the Gorge, where we saw lots of trains and wind surfers, it was back to the hotel room. When the kids aren't swimming, they are usually watching TV and eating microwave popcorn.
Today was a little exhausting but worth it. The Columbia River Gorge has some great views and waterfalls. We started out at the Vista House, where there is a stunning view of the river. Here's a picture of us on the balcony:
The pictures definitely don't do justice, but here's one view with Amy and Ethan perched on a rock:
We were pretty amused by this sign at the Vista House. We were very sure to keep a tight rein on our kids:
We drove along the Historic Columbia River Drive, and you can get an idea of how windy the road is on our GPS. No puking today, though.
This is a shot of the Latourell Falls. This was supposed to be a quick stop, but Kaylynn and Jeremy took off on a trail ahead of us that had no information on distance or anything, and so we went after them. It took a while for Dan to find them, and they had a little trouble finding their way back. While they were up there they saw another waterfall, but we haven't figured out which one it is yet:
We went on a short hike to Bridal Veil Falls, even though we had promised the kids no more hikes. We're entitled to change our minds, right?
The next major waterfall was Multnomah Falls. the second tallest year-round waterfall in the U.S. There's a cute little gift shop and restaurant here, and we sampled a little bit of fudge.
After going to enough waterfalls to make the kids never want to see a waterfall again, we stopped at the Bonneville Dam. I didn't get many good pictures here but it was pretty interesting. Here is Anna in front of the fish ladder, where the fish are able to bypass the dam and make it upstream. You can tell she finds the whole thing thrilling. By this time we had a few bad attitudes.
This is the inside of the powerhouse of the dam:
Random things to remember: Jeremy sliding down stair rail at dam and hurting himself where it hurts the worst, Jeremy taking the luggage cart down the stairs instead of the elevator, buying rings and bouncy balls, watching Inkheart in the hotel room, trip to Walmart and finding not one jacket or sweatshirt, bug bites, huge slugs.
