Thursday afternoon we left for Seaside, Or where we were going to enjoy the beach and stay the night. We were armed with Road Trip activities like a scavenger hunt, a map of the US so we could find license plates and a book for Ryan.
I was in love as soon as we got to the beach. The weather was great so we were all in high spirits. We had a great ocean front hotel, went to a really nice dinner and walked the beach for awhile.
Then we went to Ecola State Park where we got to play in the sand, look at some tide pools and walk around looking at the sights, like the lighthouse Terrible Tilly.
After that we were off to Cannon Beach to play some more in the sand after eating lunch and checking out Goonie Rock (aka Haystack Rock).
Sadly, we had to leave for a 4 hour drive to Florence, Or where we planned on visiting the sand dunes. On the way we stopped by the Tillamook Cheese Factory to see how cheese is made and, of course, eat some ice cream. We also made some stops along the way to check out the view - it was awesome and the sun was setting so it was even more beautiful.
In Florence, we had a riverside hotel that had a great view of a fireworks display over the casino on the other side.
The Sand Dunes were completed sans camera - not only did I forget it because I was nervous, but I didn't need to break the camera by loading it with sand (which is what would have happened). The sand dunes were more enormous that I could have imagined. Ryan had his own mini-quad and Bruce and I rode together. Bruce, thankfully, was playing it safe, as was Ryan. The sand was very tricky to the eye. It seemed flat and then you were going off a little dune. At one point Bruce almost went off an enormous dune because it just looked like a hill - not a cliff! But he stopped quickly enough that only one wheel was dangling off the edge rather than us getting air and then getting hurt. Water that seemed so far away would suddenly appear right before you and, if you weren't careful, it would suck you in! The best part by far was when Ryan got stuck going up hill and Bruce tried to help by pushing Ryan while Ryan was still on it and Ryan gunned it throwing up dirt higher than Bruce right in his face! I WISH I could have gotten that on film. Hilarious!
After the dunes we were all pretty tired but we ventured on to the Sea Lion Caves. The largest sea lion cave any where. It was pretty cool in the cave big enough for a boat. All the sea lions were outside, though. I thought it was because of the nice weather but apparently it was just that time of year!
Checking things off our list of things to do, we headed to Bandon, Or where we planned on visiting a Wild Animal park. This was by far the most relaxed place we've been. The hotel was quiet and looked like a little town house. The beach was pretty much deserted because of the winds but it was beautiful. We watched Ryan play in the sand for an hour or so and then walked the beach and played on mini-sand dunes.
Early in the morning we went to the animal park. Much to our surprise, there were leopard and cheetah cubs out so we got to pet them! We also got to pet ferrets, weasels, skunks, hedgehogs, ponies, baby goats and more! This was a fun park that was relatively small but we stayed there for hours because it was so neat.
So sad to leave again, we headed a couple hours south to Crescent City, Ca. Ryan was super stoked to go to California, but I'm not quite sure why. I think he just wanted to say he drove to California. We stopped off at Ocean World to pet a shark but had fun looking at the other sea creatures.
I probably wouldn't visit Crescent City again. Not much to do there. We got up early (as we have been doing this whole trip - not on purpose) and we headed to Redwoods National Park to see the Trees of Mystery! Ah Paul Bunyon and Babe, I remember you from my childhood. We walked through the trees, rode on a gondola and ate some fresh fudge. We then drove through a Redwood tree in Klamath. With all our activities done early in the day we wandered around Klamath and stopped at the river wondering what all the people were looking at. Yes, it's a big river, but so the Rogue had a much bigger opening into the ocean and no one stopped there. We walked over and were surprised to see a WHALE in the river. It was swimming in circles. Pretty cool stop.
Then we were headed north again, back to Oregon where we would stop in Cave Junction. It was a beautiful drive and we got to Cave Junction early. Since we were there early we stopped at a Wild Cats park. It was soooo hot but we managed and we saw A LOT of cats. Ryan loves predatory animals (his words).
We played a lot at the pool once we got to the hotel because it was sooo hot (a 40 degree temperature change in one day -52 degrees to 94 degrees!). In the morning we headed to the Oregon Caves. It was pretty cool to go inside the freezing cold caves (year round 44 degrees = frozen toes for me) and then back out into the sun.
We had to rush to our next adventure. Riding the jet boats through Hell Gate on the Rogue River.
Oh, what fun. But it's not over yet! We have to leave Grants Pass to visit the Oregon Vortex and the House of Mystery in Gold Hill, Or on our way to Crater Lake. This place was creepy. Ryan and Bruce didn't feel anything but I was feeling dizzy and queasy walking around and some spots were definitely worse than others. The vortex has a strong magnetic pull which animals avoid - but we did see some pretty spooked dear running through at one point. If you were standing around relaxed you would start to sway (this is real, I noticed it when reading a magazine and not paying attention!). We appeared to shrink and get taller just by facing different magnetic directions. We went into a crooked house, which wasn't all that amazing except for the magnetic pull was stronger there (in other words, I got sicker) and we got to see some cool magnetic tricks. This was pretty fun for Ryan.
Then off to Crater Lake! I love this place because it's sooo beautiful. We stopped off at many scenic overlooks and hiked down to the lake to relax in our dust. Ryan cannot resist the water. Unfortunately, he fell in. Funny for us. Not so funny for him. It was a refreshing glacial lake on a warm day :)
Our last official stop on the trip is Winston, Or where we visited a Wild Animal Safari park. It was a drive through (of course we went twice) and a little zoo-like area. We got our pictures taken with a grown Cheetah, fed some ducks and enjoyed the animals do their thing.
Note bumper sticker "Visualize Grilled Cheese" - too funny
This is how Ryan passed the time.
We almost got every state and, surprisingly most Canadian Provinces.
The end
1 comment:
I love all of the pictures! The ones at the vortex are interesting, it seems people standing by the pole to the right appeared a bit taller than when they were standing by the pole to the left! I soooo want to go there... :)
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