When I told Jacob that we were going on a staycation the 2nd week of August, he said "I can make up words too." Silly boy. We did have a great time though.
Monday
Monday was pretty simple, just a trip to the aquatics center. I had to get new tires on the van that morning before we did any more major driving. At the pool, at one point we couldn't find Phoebe. We finally figured out she had run off to the slide all by herself. When I was chiding her, she said, "I thought you said I could do whatever I wanted." Um, no. At least she was wearing a life jacket the whole time.
Tuesday
Tuesday, we drove into the Columbia Gorge to see several sites. Luke has been begging to go up to Mt. Hood even though we kept telling him there wasn't much to do up there. It was an hour out of our way, but I finally decided to indulge him. So, we got up there, snapped a picture and turned back around.
Our next stop was the Bonneville Dam. I had never driven across the Bridge of the Gods so we crossed over to the WA side. I found out there was a visitor's center on that side too so we dropped by there. The visitor's center sucked, but the underwater viewing for the fish ladder was pretty awesome. Some guy there told us that the Oregon side had some really good fish too so we headed back over the bridge. Turned out there were pretty much no fish there. So much for that idea. The visitor's center on that side was even worse. The grass was not greener. I wish we had time to do a tour, but we still had one more destination and it was getting late. We got held up a little bit before we could out because a ship was going through one of the locks. I wish we could have seen it from where we were waiting.
Not a great picture, because of the lighting, but cool, nonetheless.
The lamprey will suck your brain out.
Brigham was fascinated with identifying all the fish he saw.
Multnomah Falls was our final stop. I wasn't sure if we were going to do the hike to the top or the short one just to the bridge. As soon as Elle started complaining, I decided we needed to do the full hike. I might not have done it otherwise. We hadn't brought water and I was hot. I figured it would be good for her so I persisted. The view from the top was worth it and of course bragging rights. By the time we got back down we were so hot and thirsty that I bought us some snow cones. What a waste of money. I know they're usually terrible, too little syrup and too much ice, but we were so dehydrated I couldn't help myself. Lesson learned.
Some columnar jointing for Keryn!
Varying degrees of happiness about the hike.
Smiling in the face of adversity.
Wednesday
We had another long day on Wednesday, so we invited Elle's friend Makenna and her brother Tanner (also Brigham's friend). I figured they'd have more fun with company. Maybe a little less complaining too.
Our trip this time headed out west, to the coast. Our first stop was Tillamook Cheese factory. I've been there so many times, but it's always fascinating to watch them package the cheese and I'll never turn down cheese curds. I love Tillamook ice cream too, it tastes even more delicious from the source.
Even though it was around lunchtime when we finished with the cheese factory, the kids were stuffed from their ice cream and cheese curds so we headed up to Seaside and the tiny aquarium they have there. I'd never been, but had heard it was a fun little place. The best attraction was definitely the sea lions. They sold these little containers of cut up fish to feed the sea lions with. Some of them had developed these little endearing tricks to entice people to throw them food. I couldn't decided if the one slapping the water or the one slapping its side was cuter.
Slimy fish guts.
Outside the aquarium.
After Seaside, our next stop was Fort Clatsop (Lewis and Clark's fort). They had a really good setup there. We were even able to watch a flintlock demonstration. That thing was loud.
We love Sacajawea.
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The reconstructed fort.
A nap on a very uncomfortable bunk. Better than the floor.
Learning to write with quills.
I don't think they had models back then.
What a cute little frontiersman.
Lewis and Clark, in the flesh.
We didn't have anymore stops after the fort, but I wanted to show the kids Astoria and drive across the Astoria bridge. That bridge is dang long! When we drove through Astoria to head home, we went up a hill that was steeper than anything I've ever driven before. Pretty cool, but definitely scary.
Thursday
After two very long days, we decided to take it easy on Thursday. We met my friend, Hollie, at OMSI and hung out for a couple hours. It was a little crowded so I don't think the kids had as good of a time as they usually do, but I tried.
I had a lovely nap that afternoon while Elle went to a party.
Friday
Jacob was able to finangle a day off for our last day of staycation. It was our longest drive so it was nice to have him along. Initially we had just planned to go to Crater Lake, but I had heard about this zoo just south of Roseburg that sounded fun. It was well worth the extra drive. It was setup as a drive through zoo. The more dangerous animals were still behind fences (some electric), but it was still cool to see them.
I knew they were animals.
Bald eagles are beautiful.
This ostrich was hilarious. Right at the entrance to the zoo.
Attack!
This zoo is one of the best at breeding captive cheetahs.
Crater Lake was gorgeous. The blue water is just so beautiful. We drove around the whole rim, stopped at a couple of viewpoints and towards the end did a hike down to the water. The ash along the trail was annoying, but it was a pretty good trail. At the bottom of the trail, Luke told me that he wasn't tired at all and he could do this some more. I told him to tell me how he felt once we got back up to the top. The guidebook compared it to climbing 60 some flights of stairs.
At the end the kids said the chipmunks were their favorite part.
I'm just glad he didn't fall in the water.
She's getting so big.
Some great layering for Keryn.
Beautiful blue.
Aren't they sweet?
I was sick and tired of fast food by Friday so we had dinner at a Denny's at 9:30 that night. I don't know why I love Denny's so much.
The end.
