Oregon

I took the two youngest boys to Oregon last week. We drove about 2500 miles in a big loop.
July 1 That morning I took the car in for an oil change and ran a few errands. the car was loaded and we were ready to pull out. I turned the key and click, click, click. No go. I jumped it and went to a few car shops to have it diagnosed. the first guy said it was probably my alternator but they didn't have one. The second guy didn't have his battery checker there and he didn't have an alternator. the third place checked with his electronic thing and said it was only the battery. Once we had a new battery we were on our way.   We stopped in Boise the first night and Jeremy got his picture taken at Boise State. He told me he was going there after his mission. we also had the tires checked. there was a warning light for high pressure in the tires. They were really high, but letting a bit out fixed that problem.

July 2 We continued along I-84 and stopped in Baker city at the Oregon trail interpretive center. it was so cool, buy Jeremy wasn't impressed. we saw the trail itself.   that night we stayed in a state park on the Columbia river gorge. it was nice and windy. So windy it blew the poles out of their holder and collapsed part of the tent on us.  (came to find out we had a broken pole, thank goodness it was only a rain canopy pole.) {oh yeah I had to replace the cord in one set of poles after we left. We'd set it up the night before to make sure everything was there and double checked to make sure we put everything away and one of the poles cord broke on big tent of course.  so we took a big tent and a smaller tent.} Our next adventure with the car was interesting. the gas gauge dropped from half to empty in seconds and  I know we were actually empty.  So we found a station and filled up. it did it again, but I knew we weren't empty so I kept driving. The car stalled on the freeway. I pulled over, shut everything down, prayed and it started right up. we immediately went to a gas station and could only put in 6 gallons.  we were careful from then on to fill up frequently.

July3-4 the next day we saw the Columbia gorge falls and they were beautiful. I really enjoyed that part of the trip. We made it to Salem and stayed with Mark and Stacy, Chris's brother. they manage apartments and had an empty one so we stayed in it for three days. We went to Willamette state park  that evening. Its got a nice lake created by the river and the boys and girls (cousins) were trying to catch fish and frogs. It was nice. while there we saw an advertisement for a civil war reenactment for the weekend so we went back the next day. It was pretty cool. the actors live the part during the day. We could visit with them in their tents. set up union and confederate. we also saw a mock battle with cannons and everything. it was cool. Then the boys got to go "fishing" again.Jeremy was the fisherman of the day. We were using fish tank nets and he was catching blue gill and other small fish, even minnows. Of course no harm was done to the fish. that night mark drove us to the river to watch the fireworks.  fun day.

Multnomah Falls

Civil War reenactment

Bonneville Dam and fish ladder

netted fish

here fishy, fishy.

July 5 the next day was our first trip to the beach, Lincoln city. we went clamming, played int eh ocean, enjoyed the sun and blue sky and got a bit sunburned. Of course Jeremy enjoyed digging in the mud for clams, Cameron finally got into the spirit and got a few too. Usually they dig wit no purpose. each beach we visited was different. we saw the smallest bay in the world Depot Bay and the shortest river in the world, D-River, which flows from Devils lake. It was a long but fun day.

beach time

cameron clamming

cape meares light house

MREs someone gave us, Jeremy ate one for dinner...Yummy sort of

are we done yet? I am.

july6-7 The boys were so tired that I didn't make them go to church the next day. we relaxed and did a little laundry (I know, not sabbath day activities) we packed up, said goodbye to mark and Stacy and drove back to the beach to camp for a few days. We ended up at Devils Lake State park.  the fog rolled in and stayed the rest of the time we were near the ocean. the boys still played in the ocean. we drove to tillamook, stopped at eh cheese factory and had a few samples and ate their yummy ice cream. we stopped at Cape Meares lighthouse, and the tillamook air museum inside a blimp shelter, on our way back to camp we stopped at  kiwana beach. I think that was our favorite beach of all with the sand and tide pools. unfortunately we were coming through after low tide so the tide pools weren't that great. but the giant sand mountain was fantastic. it is also a beach known for its dory boats. there weren't any to see though. we ended the day with a small fire to roast marshmallows.

kiwana beach

kiwana bay

july 8 we left Devils lake and visited both Yaquina lighthouses near Newport. the wind was so bad at the head lighthouse i thought I might be blown off the cliff.  Newport was so cool. We parked and ate lunch on the bay, drove across the yaquina bridge. we walked along the bay and finally found a tshirt shop, too.  the boys really wanted to go to the "Ripley's museum, but we didn't have time. next stop was Crater lake.  My mom asked us to stop at whatever quilt shops we could to pick up free patterns. 6 were along our way so I stopped, Unfortunately that took longer than I thought because we didn't get to our campsite until nearly 10pm. We set up the little tent with headlights. we entered at eh north entrance and drove part of the rim drive. I kind of needed gas before we got there, but somehow missed the only gas station within 30 miles.  we missed dinner this night. too

newport 

yaquina bay bridge in newport

July 9 the next day we considered staying another night, but just decided to see what we could and make our way home. Cameron had to see crater lake since he just did a state report on Oregon. It was so pretty. Blue and beautiful. the boys were getting road weary so we didnt' even hike to the bottom. I didnt' think we would make it. My foot was hurting and not the greatest shoes. Also the gas pump at the campground was acting up and we didnt' really have enough to drive the entire loop., so we left. I barely made it to the 30 miles to a casino on the way to Klamath Falls. From there is was 5 hours to Winnemucca. We went for it and drove through desolate, isolated, two lane roads in thunderstorms. it might have been pretty, but it was too dark and wet to appreciate it. We didn't stop for dinner either (again) because of the rain. At this point we were tired of camping, so a motel in Winnemucca was a welcome change.

phantom ship in crater lake

crater lake

crater lake

driving through rain and nothingness from crater lake to winnemucca, rainbow signals all is not lost

july 10 the last part of our drive was all interstate (I-80) and finally back up to 80 miles an hour. we stopped in wendover for lunch and again at sportsman's warehouse to get a set replacement poles. No where we checked along the way had anything. We also got Chris's birthday present, a metal detector. it rained on the way home from SLC and we got home at 8pm. YES.

we made it, check engine light, check tire system light, and gas gauge issues and all. its nice to be back.