Supe called us up and asked if we'd like to go to Oregon for a month to house sit for some friends of he and Beacher's. They met them when they lived up in Astoria a few years ago. They had asked them to house sit, but with a little baby, Jem and work they just couldn't make it happen, so he asked the (the Simmons) if we could do it. They agreed to it and we were wondering if we could really make it happen. We were able to get our kids and other people to take over Grandma's dinner and other needs for the month. We just put Paul's work on hold and I just barely got out of school in time so that we could go. It was quite a rush to get all the details here taken care of and get ready to go, but we got ready one day early and left because we were too excited to wait! We left on Saturday, May 20th at 8:30ish am and drove that first day to Susanville, California, where we spent the night in a motel. We saw lots of desert that first day and took a little detour and had to backtrack for an hour when the road that ran by the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains ended up being closed. But it was a great drive with interesting desert scenery. We took some roads that were less traveled and it was nice not to have to deal with a lot of traffic. We stopped for lunch for Bean at Tonopah and ate dinner in Sparks, Nevada.
We left Susanville Sunday morning, May 21st, around 8:30 am and drove over into Oregon and back into CA so that we could get on the coast road 101 to drive up to spend our second night with neighborhood friends, Gerry and Debbie Bryant at their summer home in Scottsburg, Oregon. We stopped along the way just over the Oregon boarder to eat dinner at a park that was full of giant Redwoods and also along the way at some cool sites. It was so beautiful! We drove through some places that Supe had told us to see along the way to their house. I kept trying to get a picture of Mt. Shasta, but the trees kept getting in the way. There are so many beautiful trees and so much green! We had such a nice visit with the Bryants. They were wonderful hosts in such a beautiful place right along the Umpquah River. They showed us all of the work they have done to make a home of it for themselves and seemed so at peace there. Their Pastor was actually there staying with them. We slept right next to their place in his brother's house (he wasn't there). Their place was very small and full with the Pastor there with them. The house was very comfortable and nice for us. They fixed us a wonderful breakfast with overnight yeast waffles and fresh eggs and all the other yummy fixings. Such nice, generous people!
Monday morning, May 22nd, we were off on the next leg of our journey to Gearhart. We kept going up 101 and it just kept getting greener and greener! We stopped at Sea Lion Caves, which was a really cool place, at the suggestion of the Bryant's. It was fun to see all of the sea lions, seals and many kinds of birds, and the cave was huge. Sea Lion Caves is a privately owned wildlife preserve and bird sanctuary (since 1923). It is America's largest sea cave and the year-round home of the Steller sea lion. It is America's largest naturally formed basalt rock sea cave. We travelled on and stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook and did the self tour which was very interesting and then had a wonderful dinner and yummy ice cream...way too much food!
Monday evening we arrived at Gearhart! It's about 1,148+ miles to get there. We took the back roads and went the slower route so we could stop at the Bryants, so it was probably a little further. We were glad to get there and meet the Simmons. We were pretty tired, but went down the road to Warrenton where there was Costco and Walmart. We got some food, got settled in and got a great night's sleep.
Tuesday morning, May 23rd, we woke up early (St. George time still) and walked down to "our beach" for the first time. It was about 4 houses and two grass covered sand dunes away. It was beautiful! On our way back we saw some elk and a coyote in the dunes area. The part of the house we stayed in was like brand new and so nice. It had a beautiful family room kitchen area with a ping pong table you could open up to play and two bedrooms/bathroom/laundry downstairs and two bedrooms and a TV/game table area upstairs. We stayed downstairs and Bean had the upstairs to himself! We had the basic necessities and lived pretty simply having easy meals that we cooked at home most nights and lunch on the road to wherever we were on our day's adventures. We also explored the area a little more to find where the local Safeway store was. I wanted to get comfortable going to do the shopping by myself as needed which I did. We visited with the Simmons about the things we would be taking care of while they were gone and went out to dinner with them too. Note: Some days on our beach walks we would take another trail back and walk through the beautiful neighborhood. The houses and yards were so pretty! Every time we walked there I collected unbroken sand dollars. Usually I got several, but on some low tide days I got LOTS!
We took this picture on our first morning's beach walk and Paul used it as inspiration for a little painting he did while we were there. He made a great frame for it after we got home!
Wednesday, May 24th we learned more about what needed to be done. Paul was helping with some work that was going to be done in their backyard while they were gone. There was a doorway between their part of the house and ours and I just had to walk through to get to where Rocia had all of her plants gathered in one room for me to water. Antione and Paul got their stuff worked out and they left for their trip to Scotland. Bean and I did a little more shopping I think. We went over to over to Fort Clatsop and watched a black powder rifle demo with a bunch of 4th Graders! We also went to the Visitor's Center and enjoyed the displays and the film. Then we headed over the bridge to Washington and visited the Lewis and Clark's Station Camp and then Cape Disappointment visitor's center and Lighthouse where we learned a lot about how difficult the Columbia River is for ships to come into from the ocean. Over 2,000 ships have sunk trying. The place is also an old fort from WWI I think. Then we went home and ate our first dinner at the house. Afterwards we went down to walk at sunset on Cannon Beach! We had also walked on our Beach early that morning.
Thursday, May 25th, we went and checked out Fort Stevens, the shipwreck of the Peter Iredale and then on to Astoria for the rest of the day. The fort was really interesting. It was built in 1864 toward the end of the Civil Ward and stayed active through the Spanish American War and WW II. It was the target of a surprise Japanese naval submarine attack during WW II. The Peter Iredale ran aground due to fog and other factors on Clatsop Beach on October 25, 1906, after safely reaching the mouth of the Columbia River. It's amazing that over a hundred years later you can still see parts of it there. It has become a famous landmark and tourist curiosity.
While in Astoria we looked for and found the Astoria Historic Trolley Station and went in and spoke with a mechanic. The trolley was not running that day, but he let us get on it and look around and told us when to come back for a ride. We went to the Astoria Column and then hiked to the Cathedral Tree. The column is beautiful and it's fun to walk up the many stairs to the top to see the fantastic view from there. The trail to the Cathedral tree was beautiful and the tree is huge and the way the roots spread out with openings you can go in makes it look like a cathedral. We went next to see the light ship Columbia and then to the Columbia Maritime Museum. It is a great place with so much to see and learn. We stayed there until we got too hungry and then went to the Bowpicker for their famous fish and chips. Then we went back and stayed at the museum till almost closing time. We learned a lot about the history of Dory boats and fishing and the Columbia River and the Coast Guard and so much more there. Loved every minute of it! It was well worth the ticket price. We could have spent a whole day there if we'd had the time. After that we couldn't find our old clam chowder/crab melt place, so we went to Mo's Chowder and had a great dinner there. (Afterwards we finally figured out where the old place had moved - it had moved from the dock to Hurricane Ron's on another street.) Then it was time to call it a day and head back to Gearhart.
Friday, May 26th, we had a big day. We drove south to go to Cape Meares Lighthouse and Octopus Tree. They were both things that Supe had put on our list of must sees. (We pretty much did the whole list starting just across the Oregon border on the south end at the bottom of the state clear up the coast and across into Washington on the north end at the top! It was a great list and we added quite a few other things as well!) They were both amazing. We got to take a tour of the lighthouse. We learned a lot about how much work it was to run one. After that we went to Muson Creek Falls. Its stunning 319-foot drop makes it one of Oregon’s largest waterfalls and the tallest in the Coast Range. There were beautiful, giant Sitka Spruce and Maple trees along the path to it. So much GREEN! Then we started back north and stopped at The Blue Heron and Tillamook for some cheese samples! Then we went up the road to the Tillamook Jerky Outlet and got some of that and then on to Short Sand Beach. We had been there with Supe and Beacher before and the beach was beautiful as well at the hike through giant trees to get to it. It was high tide, so we couldn't get very close to the waterfall this time. Then it was time to get back home for dinner.
Saturday, May 27th, we decided to go and try to ride the trolley in Astoria. We hardly had to wait at all and had such a fun ride while learning about the history and today of Astoria. The conductor and tour guide were a husband and wife team. He was a better driver and she a more entertaining guide! They traded half way through the 1 mile, 1 hour ride when we turned around. Turning around was interesting. The people sitting on the right side stood up in the isle and lifted up the seat back and pulled it forward. The the left side did the same and the seat backs were all that turned around. Then everyone sat back down facing the other way and we carried on with the ride. You just got off where you got on so you didn't have any repeats. It was so much fun and only cost $1 each.
After that we went to Young's River Falls. It was a bit of a struggle to get there with the map app telling us the wrong directions, but we found it and it was a beautiful water fall with a 54 foot drop. After that it was time to head home to get ready for Sunday. Here's some history: The Youngs River was originally discovered by Lieutenant William Broughton of the Vancouver Expedition in 1792, who named it in honor of Admiral Sir George Young of the Royal Navy. It would be another fourteen years before the spectacular Youngs River Falls would be discovered by Sergeant Patrick Gass, a member of Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery. 
Sunday, May 28th, we went to the ward in Seaside. It was a really nice ward and we enjoyed attending there while we were there. There were a lot of people who were vacationing and some who just come there for the summers. After we did our regular Sunday stuff we went for a drive down to Indian Beach in Ecola State Park. It was just down the road before you get to Cannon Beach. We had a nice time there walking the beach. I was a little disappointed because I remembered seeing so many sea stars here when we went with Supe. It was high tide and they just couldn't be seen then. After that we took a short hike to viewpoints to see the Tillamook Lighthouse. We can actually see it from the Gearhart Beach too, just a little more distant. That night we watched TV upstairs for the first time I think. We watched The Chosen and got all caught up.
Monday, May 28th - Memorial Day! This was a sweet day! We had a visit from my Oregon/California relatives that I haven't seen in forever and some that I actually never met before! LeAnne and Les Wood (LeAnne is my cousin) were in Portland with her daughter while LeAnne recovered from some surgery. Her daughter Claire and husband Ken and their 2 kids came as well as Thom Cheney (LeAnne's brother/my cousin) and later another sister, Laurel and her daughter Zoey and some other relatives - a young couple with a very new baby. I think they must have been another daughter's daughter/husband. It was such a fun day for us! We just hung out at the house and visited. The kids liked the ping pong and game table and some people took walks to the beach too. Claire bought us all pizza and shared cookies. And we had some stuff that we shared. I forgot to take pictures unfortunately...until they were in the car leaving and some I missed completely. It was a perfect day! At home, our kids used the reservation that I had made and got together in Pine Valley for the day. Jay and Brynn and family were staying at our house for the weekend. I was sorry to miss that, but they had a nice day together and that makes me happy! After visiting with LeAnne, I decided to call her mom, my Aunt Georgia. She's the last living member of my mom's immediate family. It was so good to talk to her! I need to do it more often!
One thing I really loved about the place we were staying was the art. Most of it was by a man the owners knew and asked him to paint these things for them. One painting was by one of their kids. Another one was purchased for being the correct size to cover the electrical box (the swing)! It's actually one of my favorites. Where ever they came from, I enjoyed them while I stayed there!
Tuesday, May 30th, was another great day! We went to Ecola State Park View Point and then hiked a trail to Crescent Beach. We struggled a little finding the trail because of some landslide activity, but eventually got it right and it was a beautiful hike and a beautiful beach! Almost no one goes there because they don't want to make the hike. It was pretty steep in a few places.
Next up was Hug Point Beach.
Imagine traveling by stagecoach along the beach. Before the highway was built, the beach was the only way to travel along this stretch of coast. North of the parking area at low tide you may walk along the original stagecoach road, still harboring the wheel ruts carved into the rock. Pioneers traveling around this headland had to hug the point carefully, even at low tide. Thus, the point named Hug Point. It wasn't very low tide while we were there, but Paul made it up onto the road and went around the point. I just didn't want to chance getting my shoes wet as they are not waterproof like his. We also saw the caves and waterfall that are on this beach! It was really cool!
After that, we went back to Cannon Beach and checked out Haystack Rock some! It's an amazing rock. Then we went to some art galleries that my that my cousin, Thom Cheney, suggested to us. We loved them! On the way home we stopped off to see the Salt Works in Seaside. It's the place that Lewis and Clark's company used to make salt from sea water so they would have salt for their return trip.
Wednesday, May 31st, we went back to Cannon Beach. We hadn't been able to see one of the galleries that Thom suggested since it was closed. We decided to take the "art walk' and see lots of them! It was really great! We saw so many different styles of art. There were some really beautiful things that we couldn't afford! I didn't really feel comfortable photographing very many of them.
After that, we went to a Arch Cape Beach and also Arcadia Beach. I'm not sure exactly which one is which in some of my pictures, but at Arch Cape the main thing was that we saw some nice tide pools. I was happy to see some sea stars at last! At Arcadia Beach we walked quite a ways down to where the other end of the road from Hug Point comes around and ends. The tide was low enough that we could walk up onto the road and around the point to the other side (Hug Point beach) on this day! I made it this time!
Thursday, June 1st, we went inland for the day and visited the Columbia River Gorge waterfalls! What a beautiful treat it was! We drove on the old historic highway which was amazing! Some of these waterfalls had been on private land that people then donated to the state so that everyone could enjoy the beauty. So grateful for their generosity!
First viewpoint was Vista House - beautiful stonework and stonework was being restored while we were there!
The first waterfall was Latourell Falls!
A tall single-plunge waterfall of 224 feet, it spills over the lip of an undercut amphitheater of tall pillars of columnar basalt. Unfortunately we didn't know there was an upper one too. We took a picture for some Japanese people and they said they'd take one for us. His camera was better at getting the whole thing, so he took it with his and then airdropped it to me. That was kind of fun. His phone was all in Japanese characters! Next up is Bridal Veil Falls. It took a little hike to get to this one. It has 2 tiers and drops a total of 120 feet.
Then we came to Wahkeena Falls. The stonework at these viewpoints was so great! The 242-foot falls is a tiered type waterfall, named after the Yakama word for "most beautiful". The lower tier is below the bridge and is called Fairy Falls.
(Not my picture - I forgot to take one.)
After this we tried to go to Multnomah Falls next on the route, but it was so backed up that even after driving by a few times we could never get a parking place. It's one of the most popular falls and has almost no parking on the Oregon side of the river. Then we just moved on to the Horsetail Falls up the road a ways. Horsetail Falls plunges 176 feet. I didn't find out until later that there was a trail to another smaller falls here - Ponytail Falls and also we could have gotten to Multnomah Falls along that trail as well. Too bad we didn't know. Bean was not feeling much like hiking this day too, so we kind of tried to make it quick stops.
As we drove down the highway we found a fall that we hadn't seen on our map. The signs said it was either 0.7 or 0.8 miles. Bean decided he wanted to do it and led out. It ended up being very steep, and not well marked. We were very high above the Columbia River and it got a little dicey feeling and had rails by the end. It was a beautiful waterfall which crashes 213 feet down into a huge amphitheater. We didn't take time to do the Upper McCord Creek Falls from there.
After this we saw a sign to Bonneville Fish Hatchery. A friend from school had messaged me that this was really worth seeing, so we stopped. It really was great! We learned so much about how a fish hatchery actually works and also got to see some giant sturgeon. This hatchery was for Salmon, but they had a few sturgeon in a special pool. This facility had the most beautiful grounds as well. The landscaping was gorgeous! We also saw Big Foot here!
Very nearby we found the Bonneville Navigation Lock and the Bonneville Dam. This turned out to be so interesting. We learned about how the lock system makes it so that ocean going vessels can continue to travel way up the Columbia River clear into Idaho. The Dam was also very interesting. We watched a short movie there and visited the Turbine viewing center and the fish ladder viewing area as well. It was nearly closing time after that, so we had to call it a day and head for home. We went back to the picnic area at the fish hatchery and had a snack before getting on the road to go back to Gearhart via the scenic Mt. Hood route. Along the way we stopped for dinner at Subway. It was a long and wonderful and interesting day for us.
This day Moss sent us this nice picture of him and his kids taking good care of Grandma while we were gone. That was good to see!
Friday, June 2nd, we headed south again and started the day at Cape Kiwanda! Supe had said to be sure to see this and it is a cool place with some different geology with a big sandstone cape jutting out into the ocean. There was a boat launching area on the beach and there were a few Dory boats out cruising around. We walked the beach and then went up the giant sand dune, more crazy geology, and over the top there were some sea caves. One would make a booming sound whenever the water came crashing into it. There were fences to keep you from going places where the sand/stone were shifting and too dangerous to be close to. Paul jumped all the way down the sand dune (I took a video of him). Then we watched and learned about the dory boats. They make two loud blasts when they are heading to shore as a warning I guess. They go as fast as they can and drive their boat as far up the beach sand at the launching area as they can. They pull up their outboard motor when they get too far up the beach. Then they winch the boat the rest of the way onto the trailer. After that there's more excitement. Everyone knows and watches out as they gun their trucks along the wet sand as fast as they can go and then turn up the beach to hit the cement ramp up and out, but they have to make it through the little bit of dry sand to get there. One didn't quite make it. They put it in 4-wheel drive and let a lot of air out of their tires, but still were stuck. So another truck/boat rig came racing up the beach and sped right up the hill next to them. It was kind of worrisome whether they would crash into the other outfit, but they made it up the ramp and then stopped and hooked a giant rope to the other truck and pulled it up enough that they could get out of the sand! Fun stuff to watch! (I took videos.)
Then we went on down the coast to see the Devil's Punchbowl. It's some really cool sea arches where the water comes crashing in. Next to it is a beautiful beach too. We didn't take time to go down there though. Then we kept going down to Yaquina Head Lighthouse, AKA, Cape Foul Weather! This had a wonderful interpretive center done by the national parks. We watched a movie and looked at all of the cool displays here. And while we were viewing the lighthouse outside, we saw whale's spouting and also some sea lions on the rocks below. It was a really beautiful place.
We also stopped by a glass blowing shop in the area and a surf shop where we saw one of Big Foot's flip flops! We watched the sunset back at our house from the top balcony. One thing you see all the time is Tsunami warning signs. It's a little disconcerting!
Saturday, June 3rd, we decided to have a work day at the house. Paul was doing some paver work on a small patio getting it laid out for the workmen to finish after we left and I was doing the cleaning, laundry, washing the car, weeding and shopping. We got up to take our usual walk on the beach and were shocked to see the tide WAY out and the beach covered with people and their cars parked down the way. They were clamming it turned out. We talked to some and they said it was free-clam day and that you could get 15 without getting a license. They had come down early from Washington because our beach is a great clamming beach it turns out. They explained and showed us how it was done with clam guns and when they had gotten all of their free ones, they lent us their clam gun and taught Paul how to do it while I took pictures. They even gave us a bag to put them in. We found out that they were members of the church and had some relatives in St. George. It was so interesting and fun to learn this new thing and these people were so kind and generous to us. Paul got 8 clams for us. The people told us about cleaning and cooking them, but said to go watch YouTube videos about it too. We did that and got them all ready for cooking. We cooked them up for an afternoon snack...and they were ok, but not delicious. I've decided the clamming is fun, but that I'm not a real fan of eating them. Probably I'd like them better with someone else doing the cleaning and cooking! Supe said we didn't use enough butter and garlic! That evening we decided to have a beach picnic with a fire and hotdogs, etc. If there's one thing we learned while there, it is that the wind pretty much always blows on our beach, and unfortunately it did that evening too. Our picnic was pretty much a blowout with the fire burning very hot and fast and our hot dogs turning into SANDwiches pretty much. I was very disappointed that our picnic didn't turn out as I had idealized it would. We went home early to finish up eating.
Sunday, June 4th, we had a nice Sunday at home after church. We took an evening walk and found a sad thing...a dead, beached whale. It was about 25 feet long and kind of scratched up looking. It didn't look bloated or stink. It never did. We called a place the next day about taking care of it and in a few days it did get picked up. In the mean time though, people came and harvested chucks of blubber and other parts. It was a gray whale which is commonly found in this area.
Monday, June 5th, was a very low tide day. We got up early to get it at it's best. It was 47 degrees! We started out at Indian Beach. We were not disappointed! We talked to a man there and he showed us how he was crabbing. They had to be male and not too small in order to take them. He used a rake to snag them and had a measuring line on the stick to do that part. Another interesting thing to learn about. After that we just enjoyed the tide pools and seeing all of the sea creatures living on the rocks and seeing the amazing arch. The water was very cold, but we just got in and got wet and numb pretty soon! This is the only time I got in during the whole trip!
Next we went to Hug Point to catch it at very low tide and get Bean to see it. It was great! We also went into the caves deeper than before with the tide out. Really cool the way the changing of the tides makes things so different. We also hugged on Hug Point!
Then we went back to Short Sand Beach for the low tide because Supe had told us about a cave on the south end that we had never been able to go into at higher tides. It was the deepest one we found and really cool! We love the forest hike to get there too! After that we did some shopping at Cannon Beach and then headed home. We took an evening walk on the beach and saw a guy flying 3 kites all hooked together. On our way back we talked with him and he proceeded to teach Paul how to do 2 kites at once and a couple of other kites of different kinds. He was very knowledgeable and willing to teach. Another interesting thing! It was a great day with a beautiful sunset to finish it!
Tuesday, June 6th, was a long looked forward to day! We took to the inlands again and went to Ape Cave and Mount St. Helen's. We had a long drive and had our reservation at the cave (giant lava tube) at 1 pm. We got there a little early and stopped off at a really cool little interpretive hike which we did. It had lava casts of trees that had rotted out and they had one that you could crawl through. I wasn't sure I wanted to do that right then. We went over to the cave and it is ginormous! It is 42 degrees inside year round! Brrr! Here's a little info about it:
At 13,042 feet long (about 2.4 miles), Ape Cave is the third longest lava tube in North America. It is sometimes referred to as Ape Caves (plural) because the main entrance is between its two ends, referred to as the Lower Cave and Upper Cave.
Ape Cave was formed nearly 2000 years ago from lava streaming down the southern flank of Mount St. Helens. As the outer edges cooled into a hardened crust, the inner molten lava was able to drain away before it hardened, leaving behind a tube. After stumbling upon the cave in approximately 1950, a logger told his spelunker friend. That friend explored the cave with his sons and their friends, who called themselves the Mount St. Helens Apes. Thus the name of the cave.
We did the main tunnel and then Paul and I did just a little of the upper tunnel, but we needed to get going. We went back to the interpretive hike and while Bean ate lunch there I went through the tree tunnel! It was so neat to feel like I was inside of a tree! I thought I might feel claustrophobic, but I didn't. There was plenty of wiggle room.
After Ape Cave we drove quite a long way to get to the Forest Learning Center that is in conjunction with Mt. St. Helen's. We had wanted to also go to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, but due to a landslide just a few weeks before it was closed and will be for a long time. It took out a bridge. This is where you can see Mt. St. Helen's looking right into the crater and the blast zone, but the other place was very excellent and we learned so much about the eruption and the things that have happened to bring about forest restoration, etc. afterwards. We stayed there until closing time and then drove up the road to look at Mt. St. Helen's from viewpoints until we got to the road closed sign. It was a long, but really great day! We went back to the Forest Learning Center and had a dinner picnic and then headed home. There was a Big Foot museum along the way home, but unfortunately it was already closed when we got there.
Wednesday, June 7th we went back to see catch that waterfall we missed in the Columbia River Gorge; Multnomah Falls. We also stopped to see Shepperd's Dell Falls which we had missed before too. It had such a tiny turn out that we completely missed it. It was so beautiful. All of these water falls have the most wonderful stonework to go with them as well! It was worth the 2nd trip.
Then we drove into Portland and went to the OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). This is a place where you could spend several days with lots of hands on activities for kids and other things that appeal more to adults. Our main interest was the submarine tour which we had a reservation for. While we waited for our tour we enjoyed the latest exhibit about Orcas which was really cool and very informative. The submarine tour was really good and we learned a lot we didn't know about life aboard a sub.
After that we went to the Portland Japanese Garden which is SO beautiful and tranquil! There were so many beautiful things to see there. They had an art exhibit that was wonderful as well as the regular things they have all of the time. Again, the stonework here was superbly done. We stayed till nearly closing time.
Thursday, June 8th, was another day inland. We went to see my brother Denny in Bonny Lake, Washington. He's 8 years older than me and in very poor health at this time. It was good to visit with him and to see one of his twin sons, William. I'm not sure how much longer he will be with us, so I'm very glad we got to see him. On the way back we went through Astoria and had dinner at Hurricane Ron's where we got some of our favorite clam chowder and crab melts. It's an interesting little place. We saw Big Foot yet again as well as the Goonies house from a distance.
Friday, June 9th, was a work around the house, shop, get ready for the Weavers to come and visit us day. After a big week, it was good to have a catch up day at home. The Weavers arrived that evening and spent the next 3 days with us. We enjoyed having them and we each kind of did our own thing during the days and then got together in the evenings for dinner and talking about what they might enjoy seeing the next day. It was a good and relaxing visit.
Saturday, June 10th, was the Annual Cannon Beach Sand Castle Contest. I had seen it advertised a few weeks before and was so excited that we would still be there for it! The Weavers did their thing that day while we did this. I think Paul could have competed and done something pretty cool.
Sunday, June 11th, we went to church where I enjoyed visiting with a lady from Kanab before Relief Society. We were both cold! We had a relaxing day around the house and visited the wreck of the Peter Iredale with the Weavers in the evening for a walk along the beach. Juge and I made simple, but good dinners together while they were there with each of us contributing what we had. (See pictures from the 9th.)
Monday, June 12, was a long awaited day to go to see Mt. Rainier. We have stopped by a few other times when we were up that way, but it has always been off season and closed gates and not enough time for anything but short walks. Just before we got to the entrance, we made a stop in to visit the Recycled Spirits of Iron Sculpture Park. We had been there before on one of our prior trips. It is so cool we wanted to stop in again. It's free - just make a donation. Then it was on to the park where we had a bit of a wait to enter. I got out and took a picture of the entrance. Finally we got in! Paul and I did a short hike to Carter Falls - beautiful. I loved how they used logs to make bridges. We got to get a look at the mountain! Then we drove on up and stopped to see more waterfalls along the way to the Paradise Visitor's Center. We looked around there and watched the park movie. And then drove further up to the end of the open road where we stopped for a little picnic. Then we backtracked and headed home. This was our longest daytrip I think. We stopped at a random park and cooked dinner on the way home.
Tuesday, June 13th, we went to another entrance (southeast side) Ohanapecosh. Part of this side was still closed for snow, but there was still plenty to see. Our first stop was to try to hike to the Grove of the Patriarchs, but the suspension bridge was broken, so we couldn't get all of the way there. But, the hike to get to the bridge was full of giant trees and lots of great interpretive signs. It was a beautiful way to start this section. We met some ladies going for a hike and they told us about another hike that started right near this - the Silver Falls trail. Paul and I went and did that, and it was one of the most beautiful waterfalls we have ever seen. It was raging because of the high snowmelt this year and just kept getting better and better the further we went. It was a whole series of amazing falls that narrowed down as it went. So glorious! We continued on up the road and took a little hike to see a hot springs. Then we drove up to where an old entrance had been restored with new logs. It was so cold up there with lots of snow still. We took another road to a little ranger station and took it to the end. We saw all we could see with so much snow still on the ground and stopped at any viewpoint we wanted to as we made our leave of this not enough words to describe how wonderful place!
Wednesday, June 14th, was our last full day in Gearhart. Paul and I started the day as usual with a walk along the beach...loved this every time we did it! Then we worked and cleaned in the house and yard getting everything as spic 'n' span as we knew how. Bean and I did some shopping at a couple of candy stores that people had told us about. We got caramel peanut candy apples and some chocolate covered bacon at Schwiertert's in Seaside and then went to Cannon Beach to get some of Bruce's Candy Kitchen's homemade taffy. We got some for us first and then went back to get some for my Primary co-teacher and all of the family. It is really good! I think the taffy was better than the other stuff. (The house in the picture with the ladder had finally gotten finished with the new siding/shingles that we had watched happening daily!) Oh how we have loved staying in this lovely house near the beach! Paul got the patio done to this point for the landscapers to take over the rest.
Thursday, June 15th, was our final cleaning day (washing all sheets, towels, our laundry, everything put back in it's place, vacuuming, watering plants, everything we couldn't do till the last minute). It looked spotless. We had taken our last morning walk and the tide was so low that we found LOTS of sand dollars, but we had nothing to put them in to bring them home. We had already packed up enough for the grandkids and my Primary kids, so we left them on top of the fence to dry out for whoever would want them! Our car was cram-packed and we locked up and left at 12:30 pm heading for Janet and Tony's in Kennewick, Washington to eat dinner and spend the night with them. We took the old highway on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge this time. It's not nearly as pretty or interesting, but we needed to move along. We did stop to see a replica of Stonehenge at one place. There was a really great museum there too, but it was closed.
Friday, June 16th - We had a short, but nice visit with Janet and Tony and left Kennewick at 8:10 am to head for home. We stopped at Twin Falls in the afternoon and had a picnic and saw the awesome Shoshone Falls there. It was extra good this year because of the heavy snowmelt someone told us. (I took some random pics along the way and one of Janet and Tony's silly dog sitting in its favorite pot. Robert and Brennan Toomey were staying there too. They arrived late at night and we just got to say hi and goodbye to them as we were leaving in the morning. We had a great trip home and stopped in northern Utah for dinner at Costa Vida on our way. We entered Utah at 6:15 that evening. It was a long drive, but we had no problems. The car was so great on this trip. We just plugged it in every night at the house in Oregon. We got an average gas mileage of about 62 MPG for the whole trip overall! We spent more on groceries than gas. The whole trip was actually very economical thanks to the Simmons letting us stay for no cost at the house. We only ate out a few times and cooked at home the rest. It is the longest vacation and one of the cheapest (comparatively speaking) trips that we've ever taken...and one of the most fun, interesting, learning experience, relaxing thing we have ever done! Paul painted a beautiful thank you note for the Simmons and we left it there for them. WE LOVED OUR MONTH IN OREGON!
We got to Jay and Brynn's to spend the night and found their dogs had been neglected by one neighbor and saved by another. We got that all straightened out and put them and ourselves to bed for the night.
Saturday, June 17th, in the morning we got on our way for the last leg of the trip from West Jordan to St. George at 8:11 am leaving the dogs in care of Brynn's cousin Porter who arrived just before we left. We got home to a not as hot as usual St. George and did what was needed to be ready for Sunday, Father's Day, and slept in our own beds once again! Home at last!
