There and Back again Day 7

I think this pictures sums it up...  The Drive to Garden Valley

We had a great trip and look forward to the next

There and back again - Day 6

We made the last day a trip north to Astoria and Fort Clatsop which was where Lewis and Clark wintered.  It was interesting to see and hear some the history of the area at Fort Clatsop.  The Fort has been rebuilt since the original, but it is the closest to the orignal they have had in replication so far.

 They had a walkway that followed the river and showed where they actually docked the canoes.  It was amazing to think we were walking in the same places and seeing some of the same trees.  Exploration was a hard life and there was much they learned. 

 

We climbed the Astoria Column.  It is covered in images for the history of the area. 

there were 125 stairs up a circular staircase that had only room for one person.  When someone was on their way down, I found myself grasping the center pole of the stairway and holding on for dear life.  It was a long way down.

the view from the top of the column was breathtaking... We took several shots. 

 

From there we went to the Maritime museum.  The history of ships and their purpose and cargo were fascinating.  The thing that caught our attention the most was the fact that there are special boat pilots for navigating the Columbia, and even more special boat pilots for piloting the boats between the Columbia and the ocean.  It is the only place that has such severe currents as the river enters the ocean.  Coast guard rescues are a common occurrance.   The picture is a real life simulation of a coast guard rescue. 

 

After the museum, we were hungry, so we found the Wet Dog Pub and Brewery and stopped for a bite.  We all ended up with a fish and chips plate...which included chips and halibut, cod, tuna, salmon, oysters, shrimp and scallops.  We were full and completely satisified.

 

We stopped along the pier to get some pictures... once again we found sea lions galore.  They were noisy and boy did they stink. 

 

 

Our last stop in Astoria was to the Goondocks..

Anybody that has seen the Goonies would appreciate this...

 

We did make it back to Cannon Beach in time to see a beautiful sunset on the ocean.

Another end to a perfect Day...

 

 

 

There and Back Again - Day 5

Day 5,
We all went to breakfast and Pig N Pancake.  Pretty good breakfast.  I had eggs benedict.  In place of the ham I had fresh crab. Something I will duplicate at home.

Paul had noticed an Aircraft museum on our trip to Tillamook.  Like bees to honey Mom and Paul decided to go to Tillamook to see the airplanes.  Ralph and I stayed back at Cannon Beach.  I checked out the tide pools that were exposed from low tide, which really wasn't that low.

Me at the beach
 

 

That evening we went to Mo's and had dinner before we headed to the local community theater to see You're a Good Man Charlie Brown.  It was a fun little cozy theater and the cast did a good job.
 Another perfect day at the beach.

There and Back Again Day 4

This was to be an exciting day...we were going to Tillamook and Newport and Mom was taking us out to dinner at a place called Tidal Raves which is located in Depoe Bay.

Unfortunately, when we got to Tillamook cheese factory we forgot all about taking pictures and fed our faces with samples of cheese and a big old ice cream cone.  We walked away with several different kinds of cheeses, crackers, and sweets.

We decided to take a small detour to see Cape Meares which ended up eating our time up.  We did get a couple of shots, but you can tell it was very misty and cloudy along the shore.

 

We then drove on to Depoe Bay which is where we decided to eat dinner.

 

this is a shot from just outside the restaraunt

We watched the ocean the whole time we ate.  Perfect!

 

I and Ralph had a seafood pasta.  The fish was so fresh and tasty.  Paul, of course had fried oysters and Mom had fish and chips.  Dessert could not be passed up...we were so full when we finished.  We headed on to Newport.  It was getting later at this point and most of the shops had closed, but Paul and I walked the pier. 

We got so many great shots...I will just share a few...

 

docked for the night and all snuggled in

we came back to Cannon Beach exhausted and grateful for another fun day on the coast.
 

There And Back again - Day 3

This is where things get a little fuzzy...More activities than photo's so I will do my best to not make it boring.

It was a beautiful sunny day and I spent the morning of Wednesday doing homework.  PHT! 

Paul and Mom went to the beach...without their camera - sillies.  They looked at tide pools and walked for miles and miles up and down the beach. 

One thing I noticed this time in Cannon Beach was there were bunnies everywhere...

Riley was very curious, but they didn't trust him within 20 feet.  Sadie  - all she wanted to do was chase them.  Darn that leash!  Chasing Rabbits!


When they came back we had a healthy lunch of salad and chicken and then headed into town for a little site seeing.  We sampled some jelly sticks covered in chocolate and walked around seeing many galleries, candy/ice cream shops/expensive clothing/giftyshops and antiques.  I carried the camera and only got one shot, which isn't so great...but I have to have something to post.

 

On the way back - the sun was just gorgeous and Ralph suggested I get a shot from the window as he slowly rounded the curve in the road.

 

The beaches there are just awesome.  The sand was so soft and feels so great between the toes, especially when it is warm.

At this point Ralph and I dropped Mom and Paul off at the condo and drove into Seaside for some Papa Murphy's pizza. We made a Waldorf salad with apples and pears from the garden that we brought with us.  Easy and tasty!

That evening, I still hadn't been down to the beach, so Mom relented and came with me.  It was a bit cool, and again there was a big cloud bank, but who cares....we were at the beach

Another night spent in the hot tub and pool.  Then a hot shower and to bed.

 

 

There and Back Again - Day 2

The thing I love most about going on vacation is that I get to leave behind any kind of schedule. My entire life is scheduled from morning to night, and when I'm on vacation, there is no schedule.

Kelly Clarkson

We started out with a great breakfast compliments of the hotel and a few pics by the river before we got back into the car.  I would highly recommend this hotel for anyone staying in Hood River.

 

 Only a short jaunt to Cannon Beach but we pretty much spent the whole day playing around.  Our first stop was at Bonneville Dam. 

Since most of us have been through several dams in our lifetime we skipped the tour, but did take time to check out the lockes and fish ladders.

I would love ot have one of these on the end of my hook.  They actually have someone sitting my the window counting all the fish coming through and what kind they were.  I don't think I could do it.  The job takes major concentration and not a lot of breaks. 
We then took a minute to see the hatcheries and Herman the sturgeon. 

We were standing there at the window admiring the fish and the lady next to me said "they almost look pre-historic"  I wanted to turn to her and say DUH...but I refrained.

The flowers in the park there were gorgeous. 

We stopped in the gift shop and Mom and I found a pair of earrings to take home.  Here is a pic of me sporting them.

We then stopped at Multnomah Falls.  This has been one of my dreams to see this falls.  Even though the water flow wasn't heavy, it was still breathtaking.

 Paul, Riley, and I walked to the midway point.  I think we would have gone all the way if Ralph, Mom and Sadie hadn't been at the bottom waiting for us.  Riley was the star of the show.  People along the trail kept admiring him, one even asked for a picture of him.  Crazy.  He was not interested at all except in making sure he left his mark on every brick and bush along the trail.

We stopped at the Pendleton Outlet store and Mom bought me a birthday outfit.  I didn't find as many goodies as I thought I would, but I am very pleased with my pick.  At this point we were hungry and sick of eating snacks from the car.  We had a subway sandwhich and then headed for Cannon Beach.  I could hardly wait to breath the ocean air and see Haystack Rock.   This shot was taken a few days after we had been there.  Most of the days we were clouded in as you will see in subsequent posts.

We arrived and checked in to our condo, and decided on a bowl of chowder at Mo's.  We watched the sunset through the brick of clouds and stayed there until dark.  We made a grocery run to Seaside - the grocery store was much too busy at that hour. 

We spent a few minutes in the hot tub andthen  read before lights out. 
Another great day.

There and Back Again - a tale of our road trip to Cannon Beach

A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking. ~Earl Wilson

So here we are...our first day out.  We drove to GV to pick Mom and Paul up and get ready to head to the coast.  Here is Riley B. road trippin' in his bed.  He didn't get to ride this way  once we all got in the car.  He was limited to the middle of the back seat between Mom and Paul.

So...our first day officially on the road we stopped at The Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City Oregon.  There was a lot of information at his site, that you can also find in SLC at the Church's History museum as well as This is the Place Heritage Park.  We could see where the wagons had left deep tracks from that many years ago.  There were volunteers working at the park which made it fascinating.

One gal brought in a couple of oxen that would have been used to pull the wagons....I had no idea they were so BIG, but handsome looking beasts.  The handler was very entertaining and quite a character.

Mom with one of the oxen...Mom is about 5'2

This gal was offering biscuits with jam or molasses.  She was also offering coffee.  The display made it look like they were cooking them right over the fire, but to my dismay, they brought them out of the visitor center.  No authentic biscuits, but they tasted mighty fine with marion berry jam.

We learned there was a gal by the name of Sheryl K Curtis who was a Bull whacker - not quite a name sake, but close.

 

Here is a picture of most of the Motley Crew (someone had to take the picture)

 

 

We stopped in Pendleton for lunch at a little place called New York Richies.  We got Philly cheese sandwiches which were huge!  Took half of mine to go for a midnight snack.  They were quite tasty.

 

 

We ended our first day of driving at Hood River. A great little town right on the Columbia River.  Our hotel room overlooked the river on the ground level.  Riley sat at the door and begged to be out in the grass.  There were lots of good smells and he wasn't cooped up in the room.  This is a photo taken from just outside our room

 

 

 

We made sure to drive over the bridge to the Washington side of the river.  The bridge was much narrower than we thought.  Here is a picture of Mount Hood Paul took from the bridge

 

We found an ice cream shop and wrapped the day up with a Hucklebery shake. 

First day of the trip over...completely satisfied.