Our Disney Cruise was cancelled due to Covid, but we were still able to get away on a fun vacation. We decided to drive to the Oregon Coast. Cameron had been when he was younger, but the rest of us had never headed that direction. It was about a 7.5 hour drive. We left Sunday morning and were able to listen to the first session of General Conference. We then kept driving for a few hours, stopped for lunch, and listened to the second session. We finally made it to the house we rented around 5:30pm. Cameron and I had spent time looking online and found a place that looked nice. Luckily when we walked in it was just as nice as the pictures!
We decided to head straight to the ocean before we worried about finding food. We all were anxious to see it. We started walking and realized it was less than a 5 minute walk from where we were staying. We got to run up the boardwalk ramp.
Nice to see you again Ocean!
It was beautiful, and cold! The kind of cold that makes your feet ache. But that didn't stop any of us from wading in and looking for shells and jumping over waves.
I don't think a bad picture can be taken at the beach. Cape Kiwanda Rock was fun to have in the distance. We all wished we could swim out to it and climb it!
There was a huge sand dune in the distance that we started walking towards, but since the sun was going down, we decided we better wait until tomorrow to climb it. So we climbed a smaller one right on our little beach.
So fun running down!
And the first beach sunset of the week.
We got back to our house and decided to look to see where to find food. We had no idea how small the town we were staying in was! Very few options at 7pm. Luckily I had thrown in a couple packets of instant potatoes and some kids protein drinks, so the kids were happy as can be. I went to what I hoped was a grocery store. Luckily it was just big enough to get some basics.
We didn't really get any pictures of the house. Not sure why. But every room had a TV which the girls were thrilled about. We also had a hot tub which was so nice to jump in to after being at the beach each day.
Day 2 We were playing in the waves and Aubrey and Ada came running in screaming that they had seen a crab in the waves. Cameron said, " Well, grab it!" He went in to check it out, and a bit later we had a crab friend for the girls to play with. They could have played forever, but we eventually made them return it to the ocean before he died. They named him Mr. Crab, even though a passerby later told us it was a female crab. They all thought that was funny.
We picked a great October week. The sun was shining the first 4 days of our trip. Wind made it chilly, but considering the time of year we couldn't have asked for a better week.
The sand dune!! This hill is a beast. Cameron and I tried to beat Strava records racing to the top. We barely cracked the top 10. The girls did amazing climbing to the top, and loved running (flipping, cartwheeling, etc) all the way down.
So pretty!
It was huge
We went on some trails around the dune as well.
So much fun just spending quality time with our girls.
Another top of the dune picture. We climbed to the top daily.
Our house had almost everything we could have needed. Kites to fly, lots of sand toys, and a wagon to carry it all to the beach.
I went running along the beach while the kids and Cameron played one day. I came back to Cameron digging a hole with the kids. Their shovel was the small blue pail in Cameron's hand.
He got into it and the hole got bigger....
And bigger.....
And bigger! It was well over Cameron's head by the end. I don't think the pictures do it justice.
One day it was sooo windy when we climbed the dune. Paige started crying cause the sand would hit her legs and it felt like sharp little needles. We carried her up.
The girls on top on the windy day. Penny was crying because she couldn't open her eyes.
Cameron and I were able to sneak out together on short runs everyday. This is when we found the majority of the sand dollars. We did find the hunting spots and tried to get the kids to find some with us. I think they each found a couple. Cameron and I even saw a baby seal hobbling along the beach one morning! Unfortunately we didn't have a camera with us.
Our sand dollar collection
We spent one day exploring the "big city" Tillamook. It wasn't very big, but compared to where we were staying it was! We were able to tour the cheese factory and of course ate some grilled cheese and tomato soup and ice cream!
We all loved watching the cheese get made and packaged.
It was mesmerizing. I'm sure its tedious boring work for the workers, but it was fun seeing the systematic way everything was done.
Cheese!
Eating our ice cream! We decided to let the kids get the bigger size of ice cream instead of the kid size, and I think Aubrey is the only one who actually finished hers!
Blue Heron was another small cheese factory in town. No tour, but they did have a small petting zoo and a fun little shop.
On the drive home we decided to go on a little hike. Most of the hikes we looked up were closed because of Covid. And we wouldn't have let that stop us, but by closed, we mean barricaded with signage warning of fines and towing. This one at least didn't have that, but it was less than a mile to see the tall waterfall.
But everything was so green. All the tree trunks were covered in moss. Green everywhere.
On another day we decided to check out a neighboring beach. It was called Proposal Rock.
Cool rocks in the water with all kinds of critters stuck to them.
The beaches were only a little crowded.....
More sand dune pictures.....but really, this was a big part of the vacation!
And our campfire on the beach is one of our favorite memories. Making s'mores to the sound of crashing waves. We were able to have good chats with all our girls. Paige fell asleep in my arms, which made toting everything home a bit more difficult. But I think we will cherish this memory forever.
We were hiking one day and Aubrey got excited because she said she found huckleberries. We explained that they probably weren't huckleberries, and that she better not eat them. We then turned the corner to find someone picking them. The bushes were huge! They were packed with berries, but all of them were pretty small. But you could easily pick a gallon. But they were not nearly as tasty as the huckleberries we usually find.
Paige was grumbling until she found this stick and she was happy as can be. I actually think the stick even made the trip home with us on accident.
Kids gave up looking for sand dollars. So while we hunted they kept warm under the umbrella.
And weird jelly globs we kept seeing washed up.
And the hot tub. We all loved the hot tub.
Right down the street from our house was Four Sisters Lane!
And we had to stop at the famous Multnomah falls on the way home. Of course the trail to the bridge was closed because of Covid. But worth the short stop to say we've been there.
Ada got to take the ramp to the waterfall.
What a great week in Oregon! I'm sure we will be back someday!!!
