Another wonderful week gone by, spent with friends on the Oregon coast. We truly love heading down to Oregon each year and doing wonderful family activities.
Friday July 29th we left work early and headed to the border- thank goodness for our Nexus pass, as we were through the border in no time and on our way to Olympia. Denise and Ian were ahead of us and texting about how bad the Seattle traffic was- so we headed to the 401 and by passed the jam. We arrived in Olympia to the Phoenix Inn and suites and what a lovely hotel it was. We all walked down to the Mercato Italian Restaurant for dinner. They seemed to have a hard time seating 8- but we eventually got a seat in the back of the place. After a great feast it was back to the hotel and to bed after a long day.
Saturday was a gorgeous hot morning- we had the buffet breakfast and then headed towards Salem. We made a detour so Frank could buy a new bass and then headed to the Walmart in Salem. We stopped for subway and food supplies (boy is it cheap!) and then we were coast bound! We arrived in Neskowin at 2ish, go the key and headed up to the house.
Frank and Ian were headed to the the White Snake concert that night - so we made an early dinner and then Denise drove them to the Chinook Winds for their concert. We hit the sack early- all that fresh ocean air is tiring.
Sunday, Denise and I decided to hit the outlet mall for a few hours while the guys headed to the beach with the little people. We shopped for a few hours- got some awesome deals and then back to the house.
After all that shopping we were not in to making dinner so we headed to Pacific City and that wonderful dune. We climbed the dune and the kids ran ahead. The menfolk also ran to the top. On my way up I was greeted with Danica coming back down as she had sand in her contacts- poor thing. So she and I headed to the Pelican Pub to get the sand out and book a table for 8. The rest hung out at the dune and we turned back at one point to see a herd of horses at the top of the dune, poised to run down, and run down they did. The kids got to pet the horses at the bottom. Dune climbing is tiring work, so we eagerly sat down in the pub and ordered our fish and chips. What a great setting for a pub. After dinner we enjoyed the lovely sunset- after all that is what Oregon is about.
Monday we figured that it was time to get some food- so we all headed to the Safeway- the guys were going to drop us off and go to the Lincoln City beach for a while- as we go out of the car, I noticed that our tire was flat- flat- flat! So Frank and Ian installed the spare and went in search of a tire repair shop instead of the beach as planned. We headed in to Safeway to shop.
When we were done, there they were with the tire al fixed- thanks Les shwab! Denise and I went back to Neskowin with the little ones and Frank and Ian and the older 2 set out in search of an Internet cafe! We headed to the beach for an afternoon of kite flying,sand castle building and reading our books. The guys joined us much later. After dinner we were too tired for a campfire so we deferred in until the next night.
Tuesday we started off the day early and headed to Florence and the sand dunes. It was a long 2.5 hour drive but we arrived and headed to the dune site to book our sand rail experience. It was a long wait, which we filled with a picnic lunch and mini golf. But it was so worth it. We had Me, Frank, Dara, Delaney and Denise in one sand rail and Ian, Danica and Quinn in the other. It was crazy- we went up over 800 feet and felt like we were on a crazy roller coaster. The girls screamed and screamed but LOVED it. It was a 30 min thrill ride. What a great experience!! Then it was back home - stopping at the Fred Meyer in Newport for some Starbucks and supplies for the house. We picked up Papa Murphy's take and Bake pizza and headed home. No fire Tuesday either- we were pooped!
Wednesday Frank, Ian , Danica and Quinn, headed up to the Silitz river and rented a boat to go fishing, while we went to the outlet mall and shopped for back to school for the little ones. No fish were caught but lots of clothes were bought. Wednesday night we had a huge fire on the beach- it was awesome. There were marshmallows to be roasted and fun was had by all. Until we had to come home- then it was dark and we had to walk across Hawk Creek in that dark and cold! Then Denise fell on the stairs on the way up - it was not that much fun!
Thursday we had to take the older ones shopping for back to school- so to the outlet mall we went for a hours and then we headed to Foggerty Creek for a BBQ lunch and a few hours of agate hunting- a favourite pass time.
Before we knew it Friday was upon us!! We decided to spend the entire day at the beach. We headed down in the morning spent the day on the beach with a break for lunch and then we were there late into the afternoon until the tide was almost up to our towels. We headed back for dinner and then back to the beach for a bonfire!!
Saturday morning we cleaned up the house and headed for home-too short a trip!
We stopped at the Walmart in Salem for school supplies. Then it was straight up to Tullalip and some last minute deals there.
We reached the border at 9:30pm - exhausted from a day of travel- sailed through the border and homeward bound.
Another awesome trip under our belt and memories to last a life time.
