Oregon is beautiful! There were so many things to see and do there was no time to be lazy and relax!
We flew in to Portland, Oregon REALLY late and where dad and Russ picked us up and took us straight to our motel for sleep. Ahhhhhh!
We went to the Bonneville Dam and had a picnic (twice!) and watched the fish swim through the fish ladder. We went to a fish hatchery where we saw a 10-foot sturgeon. We drove up to Mt. St. Helen (well, close enough anyway). It was beautiful. We hiked the mile up to Multinoma Falls for that beautiful view. We went to the OMSI museum where Chase tried his hand at being a weatherman on TV and we discovered just how cold Haley and I are in thermal-imaging cameras. We also got to pet a walking stick and a snake. We drove down the coast a bit and got to sample the wonderous Tilamook Cheese (we did this twice, too), food from their cafeteria, and the delicious ice cream, as well as watch the factory workers do there things and shop in the gift shop. We finished our drive down to Newport where we searched the tide pools for creatures. We found purple and orange "sea stars", sea anenamies of many colors, a strange worm thingy that broke itself apart when touched, sand crabs, little fish, and hermit crabs. The days were chilly but the wind was cold, so we stayed bundled up while we played. Some of us went deep sea fishing (where I cought the catch of the day. A 32-inch, 13 1/2 pound Ling Cod, and a few other fish), while the others went to an underwater museum. We saw sea lions gripe at each other for a spot on floating docks. We went to the Oregon Aquarium. Ian (my brother) and I went to Seal Cave (when it was pouring rain) and saw and heard LOTS of sea lions and, through binoculars, watched some swim in the ocean. We had some delicious clam chowder. Oh did I mention that I caught a clam with my bare hands?!!! That's a bit o' diggin'! We had a WONDERFUL time. And then we drove to Utah, where we got to see lots of family and my BFF from High School and it SNOWED in JUNE!!!!! (I did not prepare for Utah to be colder than Oregon or I would have packed more pants and long shirts!!!) What more can I say? Let the pictures speak!
