Hi there from the Pacific Northwest!
We're on our family vacation enjoying the great Pacific Northwest. We left hot, humid Houston for a week or so to enjoy the cooler temps .... but like the plans of mice and men (oft go astray), Mother Nature thought that we would miss the temps in Houston so she brought them up here for us to enjoy (?)!!
Our first stop was Portland OR where we drove on Sunset Highway (at sunset no less - beautiful!) then we went exploring. We found "CDEDBD Party Shop" in Yamhill, OR. It's a combination party store (invitations, balloons, decorations) and coffee shop....and the owner Carla is a very friendly lady! Made us feel very welcome in her shop....and the nice young lady that happened to be there heard we were interested in visiting Tillamook (and Carla is from there!) gave us a tip to follow Meadowlake Road through the mountains to Tillamook....what a journey! Lots and lots of "S" curves, streams, creeks where we threw rocks, and at some points we were over 1000 feet high! Sheer cliffs covered with Sitka spruce and other trees (looks like a Christmas tree farm on steroids!) as well as flowers and ferns for miles and miles.
After we got off Meadowlake Road, we road on Highway 101 - the same one we drove on a couple of years ago in California. It is known as the "Pacific Coast Highway" but, darnit!, it sure took us a while to finally see the Pacific Coast!
Our travels took us through the Oregon Dairy Land and, inadvertently, on to the Tillamook County Quilt Trail. (http://www.tillamookquilttrail.org/about.htm). There are historic barns and other buildings that have distinct "quilt squares" on them that identify their barns and buildings for travelers. It was really fun to spot them. While in Tillamook we went to the Tillamook Creamery and got cheese samples (really SQUEAKY cheese curds!), some "pudge"....and best of all, homemade ice cream. They have 38 flavors, and we sampled 4, so we only need to go back 9 times to taste them all!
Leaving Tillamook we headed to the coast. We visited Cape Meares Lighthouse (http://capemeareslighthouse.org/) as well as the "Octopus Tree" and then went to Oceanside Beach. It was during these travels that Rachel declared that she wants to live up here.....
Thursday we went in to Portland and rode the Willamette Jet Boat ( http://willamettejet.com/ ) up and down the Willamette River. We saw some small houses, some big houses and some REALLY HUGE houses....one that was over 40,000 SF! We saw several of Portland's bridges - all from the underside - as well as several ospreys and their nests and even one Columbia Black Tail deer on an island....he'll have to swim off ... or catch a ride on a boat! We visited a bald eagle nesting area and saw a female eagle and her nest. We then got to enjoy the antics of Capt. Bob - who managed to get every one of us on the ride wet.....I think he only gets paid if we all get wet! I was soaked for most of the rest of the day! He spun that boat for six 360 degree turns just to make us all feel the coolness of the river. Not all in succession, but it was fun!
After enjoying Oregon we have packed up and headed north and are going to enjoy Seattle for a few days......stay tuned!
Here is a link to our photo gallery on Kodak Gallery....http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/sharing/shareRedirectSwitchBoard.jsp?token=791841829803%3A1200274544&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee
More later!
Marie
No comments:
Post a Comment