Random Shannon: Oregonian Family Vacation, Day 1

We took a trip to the Oregon Coast June 18-23. We had originally wanted to go during spring break, but it didn't work out. The weather was better in June than it was the end of March anyway. =)

We borrowed Jackie's Garmin for the week, which turned out to be very handy. We left Boise by about 9:00 that Monday morning.

Once we reached the thick of Oregon we enjoyed some beautiful roadside scenery. I'd forgotten how lush and green and "treeful" it is. The last time I traveled that way was in 1999 on a choir tour.

We stopped at Multnomah Falls on our way to Seaside.

Cora's camera is apparently programmed to stamp the date on all the photos. Annoying. We'll figure out how to stop that. For now it'll serve as a way to remind us whose camera took which pictures.

This cavernous tree looked so cool.

I'm not sure what we're waiting for here.

We wanted to walk all the way up, but part of the path had collapsed and been blocked off. We were nearly to the top, so we were kind of bummed that we couldn't finish. But not as bummed as we would have been if the trail crumbled during our ascent. So we took an alternate hiking route that took us past other waterfalls. It was lovely.

I totally loved this spot.

I think we are blurry because the flash was turned off. Kind of an eerie effect.

See the water. See it fall.

We were all famished by the time we made our way back down the trail. So we hopped back in the car and let the GPS help us decide where to eat dinner.

We settled on Elmer's. They had enormous hanging baskets. I'd never seen them that size! They looked even more impressive in person.

Everyone enthusiastically ate all their food. Then we piled back in the Pacifica and continued on to the Pacific Ocean.

We'd booked a hotel room in Seaside. The interior reminded me a lot of the decade in which I was born. =)
I knew what to expect, and it was fine. I wanted a room with an oceanfront view, and that's what we got. All the nicer places were already full for the days we needed by the time I got around to searching. But like I said, it was juuuuust fine.

I have to mention a funny thing I read when I was searching hotel reviews. Some person wrote that their family had arrived late at night, and the desk clerk had stayed up waiting for them, to make sure they got there okay and were comfortable. Ha! I bet they felt so special. =)

After we dumped our belongings in the hotel room, we skedaddled to the beach.

The kids hadn't seen the ocean before.