Oregon vacation part 2

It wouldn't be fitting if I didn't start out our vacation story with the vehicle we were riding in. To be fair...apparently, Subaru's are very popular cars in Oregon. Well, this one belongs to my sister's husband who has hand-crafted his to fit his needs. Needless to say, this is a Jalopy. A picture just can't do this poor vehicle justice. On a side note though, we did get LOTS of compliments on it. I know, it is crazy.


On the car ride, my sister had her cd that we listened to old music (60's, 70's and 80's music is old now...) My kids had never heard Yellow Submarine before and it was on this cd...here is the kiddo all singing their hearts out in the back seat..




There was a side of a hill with lots of erosion and fun climbing. Miranda finally got to climb a tree.



We got to the Sunset Bay and it was a beautiful day. It was almost time for sundown so we walked down to the beach. There is a tunnel under the road, many childhood memories were made in that tunnel...screaming I mean, you know while we were walking down there...


This is the reason for the name, "Sunset Bay". I particularly like the Catie with her hands out, taking it all in.


Next morning...see that fire...I built it. I was feeling my inner logger come alive.


My brother came down on Monday. We walked down to the beach at low tide and played in the sand. We dug some hug holes in the sand. One was so big, we put Miranda in it and let her dig a tunnel to the next big hole. Our goal was to dig a whole bunch of holes then connect them and when the water came in, it was supposed to fill them up. Problem was, the tide was going out, not coming in. Yea, go ahead and laugh. I don't have any pictures of that because my sister had her camera. I am afraid that there will be some pictures that are of my booty in the air and my head in a hole. She would take blackmail pictures like that. Brat.

Later that day, we walked back down to the beach and walked out on the rocks while the tide was out. I got some cool pics of Tim looking out at the water.


The kids liked to spend their time on the rocks looking into tide pools and poking sea anenomes. (whatever, I don't know how to spell it either.)


One of the favorite passtimes of camping during the lowest tide of the seasons is clamming in the morning. You get up early, go out in the cold coastal weather into the muddy ocean bed, watch for water squirt up from the wet ground, stick a dowel rod into the earth and dig 2 feet into the water for a clam. Oh wait, did I lead you to believe that I enjoy it...no. I was forced to do it when I was kid and I don't have to do it now, so my answer was a vehement no. Miranda went though. They went two days, she only went once, so the picture dates will be messed up, but rest assured, they do the same thing each time. I also started the fire that will be in the pictures. Oh and Miranda's shoes were promptly thrown away. Those smelly things were not coming home.

Once clams are caught they need to be cleaned. Each clam comes with 2 crabs inside, a male and female. The kids promptly seperated them out into piles and "saved" them. When we were all done, we walked down to the beach and released the crabs back into the ocean...(mind you they live inside clams). The crabs were promptly eaten by seagulls...but the kids didn't know what was going on.






We went for a hike later that day with my dad. It goes around the point and you get some beautiful views of the ocean, beaches and other bluffs. You even get to see a lighthouse.





Too bad it was foggy every other day we were in Oregon.

Here is a picture of a crazy crab that we caught. It didn't want to die in the boiling water and be eaten for dinner later that evening...


That was the jist of our trip. It was fun...even with all the crazy waiting. We drove up highway 101, which is the coastal highway of the Pacific. BEAUTIFUL. I was so tired that I didn't take any pictures. It was a beautiful day too. Oh well, that just means I will have to do it again.

We left out at the Portland airport at 430am. We got bumped from every flight, again. The last flight was supposed to leave at 330pm, however due to mechanical problems in DFW, it didn't get to Portland till 630pm. They had rolled people off of the, booked full, last flight to other flights, which left this plane wide open. We got on! Praise God! We got back home in our door at 215am on Saturday morning.

Whew what a trip. Here are a couple more pics for you to peruse...