Road Trip

Hello Again.

We left on a 10 day road trip down into Oregon two weeks ago.  We were trying to get a little family getaway in before Shaun leaves for Brazil next week.  So we borrowed a '79 motorhome and headed down to South Beach State Park, two miles away from Newport.  We didn't realize how similar the Oregon coast's climate was to the Lower Mainland's, and unfortunately it was a bit rainy.  In spite of this, we had a great time and have lots of great memories.

Seth was so excited that he just could not get to sleep the night we left, and then of course the other two woke up as we left.  We ended up leaving our home at 11:00 on Friday night, thinking it would be a good time to cross the border.  The border line-up was short, but we did end up all having to get out for an inspection.

We spent the night in the driveway of a cousin just across the border.  We thought we would see them in the morning, but when the kids somehow woke up at 6 in the morning despite the late night, Shaun and I looked at each other wryly and telepathically thought we should just get going.

When looking up the info on the motorhome online, the manufacturer reported they were not liable for the seatbelts in the back, and that the safest place for a carseat was in the passenger seat.  This worked out well as Lyla slept better up front and was out of my hair.  She is a very busy age.  Also towards the end of our trip in one of the instances that she was in the back with me, we discovered that maybe the reason she is so whiny in the back is possibly carsickness, as she threw up all over herself and me.

On Saturday we reached Salem and did a big grocery shop (no sales tax!).  We stayed in an RV park in Salem Saturday and Sunday night to attend church in Salem.  It had a pool and a nice playground for the kids.

After the kids were asleep in the trailer, Shaun and I took out the Scrabble or Cribbage board, the wine and huge blocks of cheese.

Monday we headed to South Beach State Park, 2 miles south of Newport.  Our site was centred around a playground with huge sandpits.  It was perfect as we could sit around our fire and see the kids on the playground.  There was a couple paths to the beach.

We went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport one of the rainy days.

Seth spent the whole week biking around, rain or shine.

One sunny afternoon we took the path to the beach.  It was gorgeous.

The last full day we were there (Friday) was sunny the whole day, and we went 10 miles south to Seal Rock.  We went because we heard about amazing tide pools.  Unfortunately, we did not time our trip for low tide, but it was beautiful.

The sand pit on the playground at the campground.

On Saturday we drove up the coast, stopping in Lincoln City to check out the outlet mall.  The lights were left on in the motorhome and we needed to boost our ride to leave.  We continued up the coast and hit a small farming community called Cloverdale.  I just had to take some pictures.

And then we stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory.  This was in the evening, so we didn't get to see the plant in operation, but we still got to sample the cheese and buy a few things.

After spending the Saturday and Sunday in Portland, we headed to Seaquest State Park at the base of Mount Saint Helens.  The park itself had no swimming as the lake it was on, Silver Lake, was marshy wetlands near the park.  It was a very nice walk around.

On the Monday we drove up to Johnson Ridge, the visitor centre towards the top of Mount St. Helens.  It was amazing to see the devastation the volcano had inflicted from 31 years ago and areas that are just starting to grow back now.  The effects of the volcano in some parts were up to 17 miles away!  Seth participated in a Junior Ranger talk/walk/scavenger hunt.

Definitely a highlight of my trip.  

So Monday we headed towards home and have spent the last few days doing the post-camping cleanup.  And we're already planning our next trip :)

Hope everyone else is enjoying their summer!