Spring Break '09

Oregon = Beautiful!

If you ever get the chance or you just have time and money to burn (don't we all?), you HAVE to travel Oregon. My theory is: have so much fun with the family during Spring Breaks and Cole will never want to go to Mexico with his knuckleheaded friends. I think it could work. Keith had the week off and we decided to take a road trip. In true McDaniel style, we committed to leave only the night before. We packed up and hit the road. The drive is very scenic. In fact, the ENTIRE state is! There was not a single part from east to west and north to south that I wouldn't love to live.

Day 1: The drive was great. There was only a snowy 40 mile pass that required some super cautious driving, but we were through it in no time. As we got closer to Portland, waterfalls were visiable from the highway. There were so many and all different kids! We pulled over and started to hike up the Multnomah Waterfalls. The boys found an earthworm. So much cooler than the "water". Everything just kind of fell into place perfectly. Keith pricelined a room in Portland the first night. Nice hotel, even better price. The parking downtown was $29 a night, but Keith found a meter right outside the hotel door that only cost us $2 the whole time we were there. We walked to a great resturaunt, Jake's Crawfish and Bar. Sounds like a relaxing little joint, wrong. It's pretty fancy. We went there on the advice of some friends and quickly realized our friends never went with a 5 and 2 year old. I felt really out of place, but once the food arrived, I am so happy we sat there like the oddballs we were. Amazing. We even splurged for dessert, and I'm so happy we did. I told Keith I just might remember this on my death bed. On my honor, if I could give everyone I know a gift, it would be the Chocolate Bag dessert. They took chocolate and formed it into a bag and then filled it with a vanilla custard. Topped with whipped cream and fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries in a sauce. Oh my. I know they used more than $13 of berries for the $13 treat. Don't tell the boys, but this could have been the highlight of the trip for me.

Day 2: We woke up the next morning and hit the road. We stopped in Eugene, OR at Trader Joe's. I love that store. I wish we had one at every town we will ever live. I stocked up on some 2 Buck Chuck. I'm totally turning into a wino. We went through the Wildlife Safari Park in Winston, OR. It was so cool. I was expecting to be able to feed the animals from the car (like Arbuckle Wilderness in OK), but this place was nicer. The giraffes like the boys. Ours was the only car they kept returning to. The hippo slung his poo around, totally awesome if you are a juvenille boy, the bears faught, and the lions made this growling noise (I totally thought it was creppy music playing for the train ride at first). Fun pit stop! We ate lunch on the road so we could make it to the Redwoods before dusk! Along the way was this very odd place called Life's A Burl. We made a quick U-Turn to check this place out. Very interesting woodshop in the middle of nowhere. Great place to stretch our legs. We continued into northern California to see those big ole trees. Keith looked at google earth the night before and found all these cool pictures on this little dirt road off the highway. We were able to find it with the help of the nav system and I'm so glad we did. We took this little remote muddy road into the heart of the forrest. It's just an eight mile stretch, but such a cool experience. The trees were much larger than I imagined. I think you can picture them in your mind and see the pictures, but the sheer size will still baffle you in person. To imagine their Creator tending to them in nature all these years, to wonder how deep their roots go, to suspect all the sunny and rainy days it's taken for them to become exactly the giants they are... one of the most fabulous things I've ever seen.

The little dirt road popped us out into Crescent City, CA. We found a place to stay and a little seafood resturaunt for dinner. We stopped at the store to stock up on our next adventure : bonefire on the beach. Keith got us a fire and we made s'mores to the sound of crashing waves. My little pyro's loved throwing marshmellows into the pit.

Day 3: This was our day up the coastline. We drove up 101 through all the little towns and admired the coast. Totally different from eastern beaches. The scenery went from country farm land surrounded by forrest straight off a rocky cliff into the ocean. It was such a sight to see - the totally different enviroments all mixed into one. We were able to pull of the side of the road and walk the beach. The tide was down and left behind shells and jellyfish for the boys! We continued on to the Sand Dunes. I have to say, this was the most frustrating part of the trip. I was imagining us climbing the dunes and runing around - nope. They are totally overtaken my ATV's and Dune buggy's. Every set up park was covered in 4-Wheelers and people who took it SERIOUSLY! Even if we could find a spot, I had visions of one flying over the hill and running us over. We made a quick picnic out of it and left. Driving north another hour or so, Keith saw a sand dune and tiny trail right off the road. We pulled over and headed up. This turned into the boys favorite part - climbing up and running down the dune. It wasn't just a little dune either. It took some effort to get up this thing. They had so much fun!

Pressing on, our next stop was the Sea Lion Caves outside of Florence, OR. We were able to take an elevator 200 feet down into the caves right off the coastline. The cave itself was very beautiful, but the hundred's (if not thousands) of sea lions made it very stinky. There was a skeleton of a sea lion that Brad became fixated on. The sign stated that particular sea lion was shot several years ago on another beach, and it's display was on loan from the local college biology department. I made the mistake of reading the sign to the boys. Brad will only talk about the sea lion that got shot.

After the caves we BARELY made it to the Aquarium in time. We had less than an hour to hit up the entire place. That's when Brad decided he had to go to the bathroom - twice. All they wanted to do was climb the rocks they had surrounding the displays (note: half of the park is outside, so take your coat! We didn't!) We even ran into someone we went to Highschool with - in TEXAS! Small, small world when in fact we had plans to see her brother in Portland the next day) We chatted with her, ran through the aquarium, and were out in less than an hour. I'm not sure if our visit was worth the admission price, but it's all about the experience, right?

It was pretty foggy and raining by this point so we decided to cross over and head to Salem for dinner. And this is worth noting - The Olive Garden in Salem has the best watier in all of the world. He was AWESOME! Fast, curtious, never missed a beat. We told the manager how great he was and I think she had a little crush on him because she quickly added "AND, he looks like a million bucks." Alrighty. We found a hotel and the boys got some pool time in before bed. It was a VERY long day.

Day 4: We headed up to Portland to visit a friend from highschool. Dennis and his wife Heather just had a baby boy, so I got in some cuddle time. I told the Cole and Brad to behave and let them remain excited that they just had a boy, but they had to get out all their energy before getting back in the car. Sorry Dennis and Heather. Anyway, baby Tyler was super precious and his parents were doing fantastic. Dennis is in the guard unit up there and flying for Delta. He had to leave for a trip, so it was a really quick visit. We set out on the road for home. It seemed like a much longer car ride then before. We were so tired, but it was well worth it.

I will forever remember this little family vacation, I hope the boys do too! It was a nice get away, but hard to come back to reality. We have to pack up, say goodbye, and leave in 6 weeks (oh ya, Keith will be gone for 4 of those)

ps - Brad started calling Cole "Cole-y" this past week. It's pretty cute and catchy!