Johnson Family: Oregon Coast

Over the 4th of July weekend we took our family on our first real family vacation. It was a bit spur of the moment but I am so glad we did it. It was definately the high light of the whole summer. We took the 4 day weekend and camped along the Oregon Coast. Wednesday evening, July 1, 2009, we hit the road for a few hours and camped at a great place named Rufus on the Columbia River. The river was so beautiful and we spend quite a while just throwing rocks in the water and collecting seashells (come to find out there were a lot more shells on the river bank than there was at any beach we went to along the ocean.)

Thursday, July 2nd, we drove to a series of waterfalls including Multnomah Falls. They were so beautiful. The hiking trail at Multnomah Falls was great it went from the bottom of the falls to the top. We lugged all of the kids all the way up and it was such a pretty hike. The kids were great troopers and everyone made it (although there was a little while I was sure I wouldn't make it.) The only advice I would give to anyone planning on doing that hike is to bring water. That would have helped us a lot. After the falls we packed up the family and finally made it to the coast. We played for a long time at a beautiful Cannon Beach. The water was warm enough to wade in and Warren and Lucy got wet enough we finally just gave them their swimsuits. This was by far the most pleasant (meaning warm) beach experience we had the whole trip. If I would have know how cold the rest of the trip was going to be I think I would have planted our roots there for the rest of the trip. Anyway, after our afternoon on the beach we drove down the coast a little more until we got to Tillamook, OR and visited the Tillamook Cheese factory. I had really hoped we could watch them making the cheese but we were too late in that day. We did get to watch them packaging the cheese which was interesting and of course we bought some sqeeky cheese which was delicious. After the cheese factory we drove to our campsite, just a few miles up the road, which was literally right on the beach. They had built up a burm where the sand ended and we camped just on the otherside of the burm. The beach was once again very beautiful but the sky was overcast and the rain drizzled so we didn't play in the water on that beach.

The morning of Friday, July 3rd, it was still overcast and wet so we went to the beach and collected seashells and built sandcastles. Once again we loaded the family up and headed down the coast. We stopped to look at some sealions at a lookout point but they were far away and with the kids that didn't last long. We keep moving down the coast until we got to Newport Aquarium. It is an amazing aqurium with a lot of very neat exibits. The kids favorites were the Nemo and Dori fish and the shark tank (the kind that go over and under your walkway). I really enjoyed all of the unique small fish so many of them look like something out of a science fiction show. After the aquirium we were off next to Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. They have a nice vistors center there with kids activities that my kids really enjoyed. Then Warren and Tyler went up to the top of the lighthouse. (The other kids were to short so I stayed down with them.) They both said it was really neat to learn about how lighthouses work and how they are taken care of now and in the past. When we were done at the lighthouse we went to our next campsite on Newport Beach. This campsite was not nearly as close to the water as our previous campsite, although still within easy walking distance. This campsite did however have lots of trees which was nice. The kids really enjoyed running around through the trees and decompressing as little bodies need to do after moving from one structured activity back to the car then to the next structured activity and so on.

July 4th, Saturday, we started the day down at the beach collecting shells and building sandcastles. That morning the wind was too strong and cold for Jane so we didn't last too. The other had a fabulous time even though they all came back cold. After we got our car loaded again we drove down the coast looking for tide pools. We weren't having much luck when we came upon a cute little town that was having a BIG 4th of July celebration. We stopped and walked around the town, watched their entertainment and then watched as they dropped 1200 rubber duckies in the river for a rubber ducky race which ended right before the river entered the ocean. It was such a fun and festive little town. When we were done there and got back in the car we decided to stop heading south looking for tide pools and just head back to Newport. When we got to Newport we realized the tide was low and found some incredible tide pool right there. It was amazing to see starfish, sea anemia, sea urchins, moluscus and crabs in their home enviornment. That stop was by far Tyler favorite of the whole trip. Originally, our plan was to stay in Newport for 4th of July evening celebration and watch the fireworks being shot out over the ocean but when we realized how cold and crowded it was going to be we decided to start heading home and stop for fireworks along the way. We drove until we got to Sisters and it was started to become dusk. We asked the locals where the fireworks were and they said they didn't do them there we had to go another hour to Bend. We were sure we wouldn't make it but we drove as quickly as we could. We got to a parking lot at the bottom of the hill less than 15 mins before they started the show. It was a great fireworks show and the funniest part was Jane was totally not interest in the fireworks. She spent the entire 45 mins of the show crawling circles, she was a good trooper about all the driving we had done and I think this was her way of letting out all of her pent up energy. The fireworks ended a little before 11pm so instead of finding another campsite we decided to stay at a local hotel. The kids were excited to stay in a hotel but were so tired the excitement wore off quickly. The next day we finished our drive home and ended our adventure.

I am including a few picture from our trip. I forgot our camera so we bought a little disposable camera and I have to say of the pictures that did turn out they turned out pretty well.
Yaquina Bay Lighthouse

Jane and Coralee LOVING the sand at Cannon Beach

Blaine (not fond of the water) at Cannon Beach

Warren and Lucy at Cannon Beach

Multnomah Falls

One of Jane's favorite activities of the whole trip was to stand in the drivers seat and bounce. She spent a lot of time being strapped to her carseat or in the baby backpack she was THRILLED anytime we let her move around.