Our trip around Oregon

If you want to see bigger pictures, just click on the slide show above. We just returned from a week around Oregon. The first day we picked up Paul's mother and step-father at the airport and spent the day in Portland. After an early night, we awoke the next morning to drive to Mt. Hood, after stopping first at Multnomah Falls, Bonneville Dam, and Hood River. I had forgotten how beautiful it is there, and how much I love the mountains and rivers. We spent that night at Timberline Lodge. The next morning we got up and drove to Bend. I think we liked that area the best. While we were there we toured Deschutes Brewery, after which Paul swore he would never buy mass produced beer again. It was awesome and I think it might have been the best part of the trip. Also that day we went to Lava Butte and walked around the Old Mill District in Bend.
We actually spent two nights in Bend, so we had a lot of time to see things. The mountains were beautiful and we had good weather.
After that, we hit the road for Newport, which meant driving over the Cascades, through the Willamette Valley and back over the coast range. Unfortunately it was raining and with the curvy, narrow roads, it wasn't a fun drive. It was raining in Newport too, so we didn't do much that day.
The next day, however, was beautiful, thank goodness, and we went and walked on the beach for a while. There were tidepools just down the beach, so we got to look for starfish and fish. After a trip to the Oregon coast aquarium, we went out for lunch in the fishing district of Newport and had a wonderful view from our table of 15 sleeping but noisy sea lions. The kids liked it and no one noticed that our kids were loud, as the sea lions were even louder. We had fresh crab and fish and chips.
the next day we drove up to Tillamook and saw thousands of dairy cows. We toured the cheese factory, and Anna almost got lost. Luckily some people stayed with her until I found her, but she was pretty upset. Scary...
We had a great dinner in Tillamook and the next morning left for Portland. We were planning on driving up the coast more to Cannon Beach, and then over towards Portland, but since we all wanted to go to OMSI, we decided to skip the rest of the coast and just go directly inland. We had another great lunch at our favorite restaurant on the Willamette River downtown, and then played a great game of LIFE before bed.
What a week! We had a great time and we felt lucky that my inlaws decided to spend a vacation with us. It was an adventure, but we had a great time, and I have the pictures to prove it! The kids really enjoyed seeing their grandparents, and they miss them already, as do we. I am sure I forgot details of the trip, but I will post them as I remember.
Now, its back to school and real life!!!