Our Vacation - Almost Over

Today we left Lincoln City around 10:45 am. Check out time is 11:00 so I considered myself 15 minutes early - ha! We're planning on taking two days to get home, so we took our time and stopped by a few places along the way as we headed south on Hwy. 101.

Went back to the Newport Bay front. Erin wanted to buy a backpack she had seen earlier this week. While she was shopping, we found a cache. This was our second one of the day.

Oregon hides are the best. All that foliage makes great camouflage.

Found this bike parked in Waldport. There was a sign on it that said it was part of the Waldport B.I.K.E.S. Program. These are bikes that are free for people to use. If you are using the bike, you are supposed to tie it up. The sign on the bike said, "If it's tied, don't ride." Basically, you can use the bike to ride around town - it even comes with a helmet - and when you are done you are supposed to park it in a public part of town for someone else to use. Cool idea. This was parked near Whittler's Workshop, which used to be our favorite shop in Waldport. Unfortunately, the artist that made these unique sculptures passed away. Some of his items are still for sale in the shop, but it's just not the same. A red flag comes up when I see a sign on the front counter saying "CASH ONLY." Hmmmm. Funny, the website doesn't say anything about him passing away.

Grand Central Pizza is half a block south of Whittler's Workshop. They have great pizza but their garlic rolls are a must have. We stopped and got an order to eat for lunch. Nutritious, wouldn't you say?

Couldn't resist taking another Twilight shot.

Funny story about this picture. We're driving on Hwy. 101 in Southern Oregon. We got behind a truck towing a horse trailer going under the speed limit. Yuck. Even yuckier still - the horse in the trailer was definitely not horse-trailer trained. We were the unlucky targets for this horse until the next passing lane, which was enough for the horse to aim about three times!

Another dinner pick for tonight, and McDonald's was chosen. Guess who picked that one! We'd been driving all day and with only garlic rolls for lunch, McDonald's tasted great tonight.

We landed up at the Best Western in Crescent City. I'm on the computer, Syd is getting ready for bed, Erin is playing Nintendo DS, and Adam is playing with his toys. It's been a great vacation. I love Oregon. I love vacation. I'm ready to be home.

Up The Coast

Today we drove up Hwy. 101 to Tillamook. Cloudy, lots of trees and so much green, with fog and a little drizzle made for perfect Twilight weather. We listened to the Twilight Soundtrack CD. As I was driving, I even found myself looking for this:

I would've been content to see even this:

But, no such luck. Instead, we saw lots of these:

After all, we were entering dairy country. Our first stop was the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We took the tour of the workers making the cheese, then proceeded to the sample table, conveniently located right before entering the gift shop. Got some garlic-chili cheddar cheese. Yummy. Had to get ice cream, too!

Cookie dough, marionberry pie, strawberry cheesecake, and blueberry lemon flavored ice cream

From there we stopped at the Latimer Textile Museum. There were lots of quilts on display, and handmade items of all kinds for sale - quilts, knitted and crocheted items, as well as yarn and roving for sale.

At the entrance of the Textile Museum

As we were leaving the museum, we saw this alpaca and had to get a picture. Alpaca wool is very soft. Wonder how this little guy feels???

Tanger Outlet Mall in Lincoln City. We ate lunch at Momiji Express here. Each of the kids got to choose one place to go out to eat. Can you guess who chose this place? Here's a hint: It's Japanese and Chinese cuisine.

One more stop before going back to our place for the evening. We picked up the float that Erin made yesterday. So pretty - great job, Erin! Think you might want to do this when you're in Lincoln City? Check out their website here.

Good Times

We're loving the coast! Made a quick trip to Radio Shack today to pick up a new camera chip reader to replace the one I mangled. Since I have two days' worth of pictures to post, I'll keep the writing to a minimum.

The weather has been great. The only rain we've had is a sprinkle tonight. Not too windy, either so we've been trying to do outdoor activities. Yesterday we visited the tide pools north of Newport.

I've just recentlly seen my first tide pools. I never knew that there could really be so much ocean life contained in them.

Yesterday it was sunny and with not much wind, it was warm enough to play on the beach. Lincoln City has what they call "Finders, Keepers." There are several glass floats made by local artists that are put out on the beach every day. If you find them, you can keep them. We looked as we walked on the beach, but no luck.

One Cool Crab - in Depoe Bay. Depoe Bay is supposed to be a great place to go whale watching. We looked for a while, but didn't spot any. Did spot a good place to eat lunch here, at the Chowder Bowl.

If you can't find a glass float on the Lincoln City beach, you can always make one, which is what Erin did today. This is the same place I went to last year to make mine. Can't wait to pick it up tomorrow after it cools to see what it looks like.

On the way to climbing all 114 stairs of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. Didn't find any ghosts there, though. We were almost to the top when Adam claims he has "height-a-phobia."

I was really planning to do quite a bit of geocaching during this trip. We've only done two!!

The perks of being 18! Syd buys her first lottery ticket.

Don't know if I call this a perk or not, but she was able, if she wanted, to go in the back room of a magic/joke shop. We were also told she could go gambling at the casino north of Lincoln City. Sorry, Syd, probably not this trip. I mean, really, why bother if I can't take a picture? :-)

No story for this picture, I just really like it.

We're in Oregon!

I'm having a hard time beginning. Right this minute, I am sitting in the "living room" of our cottage, watching and listening to the waves roll in. I don't want to do anything else but just sit here and watch. And because I'm on vacation, I can. I think I could live here.

We left home yesterday morning at 6:20. Only 20 minutes off schedule which is doing good for me. On the way we saw:

Snow. This was taking past Susanville. We also hit some on the pass in Oregon.

Sun. Oh, and that mountain? That's Mt. Shasta.

Here's a place I'd have a hard time living in. Can you imagine writing your return address?

After paying this much for gas (in Weed, CA - see above photo) I'll try not to complain when I get home and have to gas up the guzzler.

No real reason for taking this picture. Just liked the name.

Rain, gotta love it. It IS Oregon, after all.

Our first vacation buy - yarn! We stopped at the Happy Kamper Yarn Barn in Florence, Oregon. The lady usually always has a little dog who loves to greet people by barking at you then running under a chair. This time in addition to this little yapper was a 9 week old puppy, and a kitty. Adam loved the cat, followed the cat, then sneezed a few times and started rubbing his eyes and they got all red. Hmmmm, could I actually have a child that is allergic to cats???


This is what we drove all day to see. This picture was taken from the window at our cottage. The window I am sitting in front of right now. I think I could live here.