Delwyn and I were able to arrange a 5 day vacation along the Oregon Coast for are 10th wedding anniversary. We got up early on October 25th and drove to the Boise airport where we flew to Portland, OR. We then rented a car to use while in Oregon. Since Delwyn was such a Chevy fan he had on his Chevy jacket so Dollar rental upgraded us for free to a Chevy Equinox, it was comfortable and very nice vehicle.
Our first stop was 3 waterfall 30 minutes east of Portland that I had wanted to see. They were all very beautiful, my favorite was Multnomah Falls. It is a 2 tier fall, with the top tier falling 542 feet, it was incredible.
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| Beautiful Multnomah Falls |
We then were able to drive along the Columbia river up to Astoria. We drove up to the Astoria Column and what a beautiful view of the Columbia river. I made Delwyn drive me across the huge 4.1 mile bridge that spans the river to connect Oregon and Washington. One of my favorite things about Oregon was all of the bridges everywhere, I had to take pictures of those we saw.
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| View of the Astoria bridge from the Column |
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| The Astoria Column |
We then drove down to Seaside where we spent the night. The next morning we got up and started our sightseeing. We visited the Seaside Aquarium, walked along the promenade, tried to find sea shells, visited the Carousel mall (what a good idea to entertain kids while shopping). We then started to drive down the coast toward Newport. On the way we stopped at several location to sight see. Cannon Beach and haystack rock were our first stop. Haystack rock stands 235 feet high, it was huge. We then drove to Tillamook to stop at the Cheese factory. Delwyn's favorite stop of the day because he got to sample cheese and bye himself "Squeaky Cheese".
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| Tillamook cheese factory |
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I had always wanted to see a lighthouse so we made it a priority. We tried first to see "Cape Meares light but the road was closed to get down to it. Next we stopped at the "Yaquina Head light but it was closes for the day, but got to see the outside. Then we tried to see "Yaquina Bay light and we got there to late also. Everything seemed to be open only from 11 am to 4 pm. Couldn't get everything done during those times it seemed. We tired once again for the Cape Meares light and found it opened, then learned that we couldn't go up into the light because in Jan 2010 2 men shot out the light with high powered riffles and it hadn't been fixed and wasn't safe to go up. Maybe next trip I will get to climb a light house.
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| Cape Meares Lighthouse |
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| Yaquina Head Light |
In Newport we walled down to the bay front and spent most of the day there. We did the "Undersea Gardens", "The Wax Works Museum", and "Ripley's Believe it or not". The coolest thing we saw was as we were walking along the bay we kept hearing "Barking", I couldn't figure out where it was coming from until we saw a few people looking into the bay next to the "Undersea Garden" and you no what we found a lot of Male California Sea lions. I guess they make there home in Newport most of the year. It was so cool to see.
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| Cage for the Sea Lion to rest |
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| Rock out in the Bay covered with Sea Lions |
It was a great trip and had good weather most of the time. It was a little chilly, but a jacket kept us warm. We had rain on Friday where it rained all day, at times you couldn't see where you were driving. We decided to drive back up to Astoria to try and see the Maritime museum. While there we stopped and had the best Fish and Chips at a little place called "Bow pickers" it was incredible. If you are ever in Astoria you have to try it, thanks Robin for the heads up, you were right, didn't even taste like fish.
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| The location of the best Fish and Chips ever |
It was a wonderful trip. Thanks Delwyn for going with me, I loved spending so much time with you. And the Biggest thanks go out to those that helped care for out 4 children while we were gone, Cristy for watching Matt and Aleeya, glad she liked you. Delwyn's parents for picking the girls up from school, and My wonderful parents who took care of Jessie and Ky and made sure all school work was done. I love you all.
