Summer Road Trip: Part II

 After walking around downtown Portland we headed over to Forest Park.

This park is amazing!  It's over 5,000 acres with over 80 miles of trails throughout the park.  We basically saw just a snippet of what this park has to offer.

We decided to hike to the Witches Castle/Stone House.

 This building was actually once a bathroom in the 1930's, and today locals say it's haunted....ooooh, scary!

It's a pretty cool building with plants and moss growing all over it...and unfortunately quite a bit of graffiti as well...sad face.

 And of course our day would not be complete without a picnic somewhere!

After our hike we strolled over to the Audubon Society (also in Forest Park) right near the trail head.

They have a facility that houses several types of birds of prey that have been rescued but cannot be released back into the wild because they have become too dependent on humans.  At the time of our visit they brought out a Horned Owl, Vulture and a Raven.  And of course more hiking trails!  So many trails everywhere!  Gotta love it...I wish we had more time to explore, but we had to head to our campsite and set up before it got too late.

We camped at L.L. "Stub" Stewart State Park about 30 miles west of Portland.  This is a fairly new park and it is HUGE!  It would be a mountain biker haven as there are trails throughout this park to ride.

  When we made reservations for this campground the only sites they had left were "hike-in".  We went ahead and booked it because at $11 dollars a night we figured if it was super terrible we'd just go somewhere else and know that we weren't losing too much money.  But we were pleasantly surprised!!  It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful place to camp!  We did have to hike in, about a half a mile, but they supplied carts for us to haul our gear and with everyone chipping in it wasn't bad at all.

The only con I would say about this park were the mosquitoes.  

Luckily, I had some bug spray packed!

We heated up some potato soup for dinner, took an evening walk through the park and then off to bed.

I slept terrible in case anyone was wondering.

Tent camping is hard on me!

The next morning we headed out right after breakfast for Cannon Beach.  It took us about an hour to get there from our campground...not too bad.

We arrived right at low tide so the woman at the visitor center said to go straight to Haystack Rock first to see the tide pools.  So that's what we did!

With the tide so low the beach was enormous!

The girls found tons of sand dollars!  Unfortunately, we weren't able to find a whole one that wasn't broken though.  They also had a ball digging up the little sand crabs which were also everywhere!

Except for Rory...she was NOT a fan of the little sand crabs!

I can see why this is a popular destination, it's so pretty!

Where ever there is water, my girls will be in it...no matter the temperature!

Cannon Beach is such a charming beach community.

Everyone, I repeat EVERYONE grows hydrangeas there, it's like it's a town law or something.  And every hydrangea bush is massive and so beautiful!  For whatever reason I always think of my grandma when I see those types of flowers...I'm not sure if they were her favorite but I do know she had them growing in her front yard.  After seeing them all over at Cannon Beach hydrangeas have quickly become my favorite flower at the moment.

And weird...I didn't get a picture of any of them!!

We took the long way home and drove down the coast.
We heard good things about the Tillamook factory and decided to check it out.

The views from the lookout points were amazing!

Unfortunately the Tillamook Factory was under construction so they only had a temporary visitor center set up.  So it lacked quite a bit.  But we did get some ice cream!

We got back to camp in time to heat up some veggie soup and then roasted s'mores in the communal fire pit.

A perfect end to the day.

Summer Road Trip! Part I

 We ventured out of our comfort zone and decided to travel to uncharted territory for us.

Destination: Oregon

Both Ryan and I have been to Oregon before (Bend and Crater Lake) but we've never been to Portland or the Oregon Coast.  So off we went!

We decided to break the drive to Portland into two days...our first stop was Boise, ID.  We arrived right at rush hour, so downtown was pretty busy.  We opted to grab some food at the market and picnic in a nearby park.  

 We're big on picnics...it saves us some serious cash with a big family!  

 The park is connected to the Boise Riverwalk on the Boise River.

There were fish, geese and we even saw a crane. For people who don't know the city well, we were lucky to stumble on such a nice park!

 We decided to camp our first night outside of Boise at a little campground called Ten Mile.  It was such a beautiful spot and so quiet!  

We camped right along side a river.

 Oatmeal for breakfast!

 The next day we left Boise to finish making our way to Portland.

We took a lunch stop in Baker City, Oregon at the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center.  A pretty neat museum detailing everything the pioneers went through.  It was really interesting, plus it's located at the very top of a hill and you get an amazing view of the actual Oregon trail and the town below.

I won't lie, the drive to Portland seemed to take forever!!

But we made it.  We went straight to the city to find some dinner, plus we booked a hotel that night in the city as well...so downtown it was!  We were not a fan of our hotel in the city though...we had to pay to park (and it was not even a secure lot, someone had their car broken into recently), the pool wasn't heated, the staff weren't very helpful, and the breakfast was just okay, and being in the city is just plain loud when trying to sleep.  I think we would have been better off out of town.  However, the kids had a ball, they didn't care about the pool water (swam their little hearts out!) and breakfast was awesome to them.  I love their attitudes!

 The next morning we visited Powell's Bookstore.  I knew this was going to be a big bookstore, but wow, it is HUGE!  It takes up an entire city block and it's several stories...they even have maps of the store so you can find your way around!  We really loved it and could have easily spent hours there!

Trying to navigate a suburban in a busy city with small streets is pretty challenging (especially when you can't see out the back window because of all our bags and camping gear).  So when we found a parking spot we left it and walked everywhere and didn't dare try to re park!

 We decided to head over to VooDoo doughnuts after the bookstore and see what the hype is all about.

There was a little bit of a line, but it moves fast.  And yes, they have all kinds of crazy doughnuts to chose from.  And yes, they're pretty good.  But between you and me...I wasn't that blown away.  The doughnuts at the market next to our house I think are way better.  But, now we can say we've been there, ha!

Haley said as we were walking around the city, "This town is great, except everyone's homeless and it smells like pee." and then right after, "I would love to live here!"  She is a city girl, that's for sure!

After doughnuts we walked to the market to pick up some food for lunch and then drove to Forest Park, which I'll leave for another post.

Girls Camp and Haircuts

Haley has been gone all week at Girls Camp, and today she comes home!

We have all missed her so much!

I can't wait to hear all her stories!

And in other news, we both got haircuts a couple of weeks ago.

Haley has been wanting bangs for so long now, and she finally took the plunge.

I think she looks absolutely darling!

In fact, the stylist was so impressed with her look that she took Haley to their studio room for some head shots.  She was in heaven!

Here's to a fun Holiday weekend to everyone!

Happy 4th!!

Family Bike Rides

This summer we have taken to family bikes in the evenings.  It has been such a fun addition!  We have several great parks/schools with playgrounds close by and that has been our destination of choice lately.  Also, we have a little pasture with several horses that we love to stop and pet on our way to the park.

Every time we go I feel so fortunate to live where we live. 

 I love having the mountains right in our backyard. 

 I love our warm summer evenings.  

I love having fun things so close that we can ride our bikes.  

I just absolutely love this time of year.

Camp Big Springs

Last week it was Morgan's turn to go to Camp Big Springs!

Haley attended this same camp two years ago.

This is a camp through the school district for all fifth graders and it has been in place for years and years!  I'm so glad my kids get to have this opportunity...they always come home with such great experiences that I know they'll treasure forever!

Morgan had absolutely no apprehension about going...she was thrilled to pieces and had been counting down the days til she got to go.  I'm glad...it's always easier to say goodbye if they're excited to go.  But that didn't stop me from staying until the very last moment when the bus is finally driving away.  There's always just a handful of parents (literally there were 5 of us) that stay until the bitter end.  We wave, and blow kisses...and I'm not ashamed.  For the record, Morgan waved and blew kisses back...that won't always happen, so I'll take it while I got it!

 Campbelle, Morgan's bestie also went...I'm so, so glad!

It's always comforting to know your kid has their bosom friend with them.

It was weird not having Morgan home for that long, and the girls missed her terribly!

So it was quite the reunion on Friday!

She came home happy and very, very dirty.

Then we all went to Pizza Pie to celebrate.

Good times.

Ryan's 40th!!

 Last Saturday Ryan turned the big 4-0!

He scheduled his big birthday ride, "The Gauntlet" for that morning.  The Gauntlet hits all 5 climbs that branch off the Alpine Loop: Tibble Fork, Alpine Summit, Cascade, South Fork, and Squaw Peak.  It's close to 90 miles and crap ton of elevation gains (I can't remember how much, but it's a lot!).  Anyway, he got quite the crowd of cyclists that joined in (maybe around 30 people) that came out and do the ride too.  This is the third year doing it and I think it's become a tradition around here!  Ryan's Birthday Gauntlet Ride!

 So he left first thing...well, after his birthday breakfast of course!

We met up with him after he finished for Burritos at Bajio.

It was such a beautiful day so we ate out on the patio as finishers from the ride trickled in.

Later that evening we celebrated some more with cake.

 My brother and his fiance and our neighbors joined in on the fun!

It turned out to be such a fun day!

Happy Birthday Ryan, we love you!!

Everyday Life

I have been embracing summer with open arms!  

Utah has been killing it with these beautiful warm days!  

So far we have:

Started our summer Sundance Sundays!

Celebrated Memorial Day with family.

We hosted and served black bean burgers (I know, no meat on Memorial Day?!!  GASP!).  But thankfully no one led a revolt against us for serving such an un-American meal.  Ha!

 Already hit up the splash pad!

 Enjoyed beautiful evenings on the porch.

Oh, and I got glasses.

Here's to summer!