20 December 2012

Oregon!

Confession: I took 5 days off work and got a week and a half vacation this summer.  IT WAS AWESOME.  How did I swing that? Mostly magic, and weekends with Fridays off.

We were in Bear Lake from Thursday to Thursday and instead of driving home with Brent, I came back to Salt Lake and was picked up in the tiniest road trip car you can imagine.  A Chevy Cruze.
And this picture makes it look massive. But let me tell you, the picture lies. There were 5 of us, with 5 bags, 5 people's camping gear and a whole bunch of peaches in that tiny car who's back seats push the two side people to basically sit on top of the middle person.  Let's just say that I will never purchase this car. Ever. 
 

We were driving to Oregon.  It's a beautiful place; not the ugly Idaho-ish side of Oregeon, but the place where anything grows just about everywhere.  Like moss on trees, and on the roofs of houses.  I live in a desert and I never knew it was really like that. It's like being in the rainforest.  Or what I imagine a rainforest would be like. 

We didn't drive straight there, but we probably could have.  We stopped at a campground near Sisters, OR for the night and it was only about an hour and a half to Mill City- our final destination which was nothing compared to the 15 hour drive it took to get to Sisters.  We got up and drove along the coastline.  It was pretty incredible.  My favorite part about the coast is that the trees grow sideways from the coastal breeze. 

It was really relaxing and we stopped when we wanted to, to look at whatever there was to look at in the little I Spy glass (which apparently, if you're Abbi, it's hard to find something). One of my favorite moments of the whole trip was when Abbi was looking through the telescope for a few minutes seeming to look at something and then says, "Oh, I see a rock!!" like it was the first thing she found. Matthew was pretty pro at finding things in the distance.  But he might have just made it up. 

There was a really fat squirrel that was bothering us to feed it while we were 'I Spying' and he kept me pretty well occupied while everyone else was looking at the horizon line.  He was seriously like 3 inches from me and probably had rabies (but in a cute way).

When we finally got to Mill City, we couldn't help but take a bunch of pictures of this tiny little red-head.  If he didn't have Bekah's birthmark and look so much like a tiny Elijah, I might not believe that he belongs to either of them.  And he's not so tiny anymore.

On Sunday, we went to church with the Brown's for Brigham's baby blessing.  Here's the only group picture I took.  It's crooked, off-center, and almost everyone is either blinking or not looking at the camera but just look at these fine looking family of mine! It was a great day and we got to spend some time with Elijah's mom and grandparents who are always so wonderful!  

Monday morning, we went to the coast and planned on camping at this awesome State Park that is a half mile from the beach.  It was gorgeous!! I'm so glad that Bekah and Elijah love Oregon so much because that means we can come visit whenever we want, since there's definitely not enough sun for me to live there.  But seriously, who couldn't love this.

Having a master chef around.
 Boy. stick. water. bedhead. Pure joy.
 and these people.
 We were pretty excited.
 Matt brought this shovel to dig up clams, I think, but only found flies. BUMMER.
It was so foggy when the sun went down and the beach looked so cool but my camera died (sounds like this is a trend) and all I got was this iPhone pic.

We also stopped by this beach with a bunch of tide pools.  We bundled up since it was COLD and walked down to the water. The rocks were covered in these shells and there were tons of little animals swimming around.  Matthew and my dad were expert starfish spotters.  After I left, they went to some other tide pools by a light house that were apparently 'better' but I have no proof of that. 

Since we were in Oregon, we had to go get some famous clam chowder in Newport.  So we stopped on over to Old Mo's to pick some up.  While Matt and Dad were waiting in line, Abbi and I went exploring.  The port is such a foreign environment for us landlocked, water loving people so we had a lot of fun. It was kind of creepy with all the seaweed and moss growing all over the docks.


We found this place called Sharks. It's cool cause some people call me Shark (Sharkie) so it's like I own it.  I know, 'big deal' but give me a break, my name is SHARNA.  I'll never find a restaurant/sign/street name  or even one of those little bike license plates with my name on it.  I take that back, my friend Skyler had key chain made with my name on it and I will keep it on my keys religiously until the day that it falls off.  As for the rest, I have to take what I can get it. 

It was tons of fun.  I wish that Brent could have come! I saw a trailer with a bunch of bikes and a sign for an Oregon coast bike tour.  I thought that was just the thing for him. We missed him so much; too bad he has to "make the big bucks," as I always say.  But I'm sure this won't be the last time we visit Oregon.  There are such wonderful people there, we couldn't possibly stay away for too long.

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