Spring Break Trip - Day 4

Our fourth day in Oregon started in Tillamook.

This was the view from our hotel room in Tillamook.  Not as impressive as our room in Yachats, but still pretty.

We drove out to Cape Meares for some more spectacular views and our final looks at the ocean on this trip.

More spectacular views. I love all these pictures, but they are nothing like seeing it in real life.

A good look at the Cape Meares fresnel lens.  We learned on one of our lighthouse tours that each lighthouse has its own signature signal.  You can tell from the lens that Cape Meares flashes red and white.

Another view of the ocean from the trail walking down to the base of the lighthouse.

The Cape Meares lighthouse is the shortest in Oregon.  It is built on a cliff, so it didn't need to be very tall.  It was fun to see this lighthouse.  We visited four lighthouses on this trip and they were all so interesting.

 More ocean views as we hiked around Cape Meares.

We hiked up to see the Octupus tree.

A look at the forest side of Cape Meares.

We then drove a couple of hours inland to visit the Columbia River Gorge.  Jeremy and I did not visit it while we were on our honeymoon, and always regretted it, so we made sure that we carved out time to include it in this trip.  It did not disappoint.

These are a couple of nice views of the gorge from the Portland Women's Forum Scenic Viewpoint.

A pretty view from the Vista House.

This was from our stop at Latourell Falls.  There are sooooo many waterfalls as your drive through the gorge.  My boys were trying to keep count of all that they saw, but the numbers got too high and the waterfalls were coming too fast.

We took the hike to see Bridal Veil Falls.  They were so pretty.  Totally worth the hike.  It was nice that our boys were big enough to hike themselves and I didn't have to pack a little one.  It made for some fun hiking.

Dallin pretty much ran the entire time on the hikes.  My little soccer player is in great shape.

I took this picture because I love how everywhere you look everything is covered in moss.  This is so different from the water deprived life we live in Arizona.

The famous Multnomah Falls.  They are the tallest in Oregon and they are incredible.

No hiking is required to see these, and so this stop was a little crazy with people everywhere.  But still a definite must see.

We stopped in Cascade Locks to see the Bonneville Dam and fish ladder.

 We also took some time to drive out to Hood River and drive across the bridge into Washington. We drove down the river a ways and had dinner over there and then drove across the Bridge of the Gods back into Cascade Locks.  We saw so much on day four. The weather was nice and we had a great time.

Spring Break Trip - Day 3

Our third day in Oregon we spent a little time out on the water.

This is a view of the Yaquina Bay Bridge from the boat.  We only got to go out on the ocean for a few minutes because the weather was so bad on this day, so we spent most of our time in the bay and on the river.

Thomas got to help throw some crab pots out in the bay.  It was raining pretty hard at this point.

Luckily the rain had stopped by the time we got back from the ocean and it was time to pull them in.

We pulled in a pretty good haul.   The boys were pretty intent on getting pictures of the crabs at this point.

I was happy that Thomas was brave enough to hold this little crab that had lost its claws.  He has come a long way from our trip to San Diego a few years ago when he wouldn't even hold a starfish.

Dallin learned how to safely hold the bigger crabs that still have their claws.

A view of the shore from the river.

Thomas hanging out in the cabin of the boat.  He got a little wet and cold while he was helping to put the crab pots out.

These are some cute little harbor seals we saw on our cruise.    They were a lot more quiet and shy than all of the loud sea lions that were all over the place in the bay at Newport.  I'm not sure why I didn't get any pictures of them.  There were thousands, and they were LOUD and stinky!!  The boys thought it was great!

More pretty views from the  boat.

After the cruise we headed up the coast.  We stopped at Cape Foulweather again for a few more photo ops.

These views are only available from the gift shop and it was closed the first time we stopped.

Another view from the gift shop.

We drove up to Tillamook and took a tour of the cheese factory.  The tour was just okay.  It is a good stop if you are passing through, but I wouldn't really recommend it as a destination.  I didn't get any pictures of the boys at the factory.  Probably because I didn't see any great photo ops inside and it was raining pretty hard outside, so we didn't really want to stop for pictures.  This was by far our rainiest day, but luckily we spent most of that rainy time in the car and in the factory.

All-in-all, another good day in Oregon.

Spring Break Trip - Day 2

Our second day in Oregon we spent exploring the coast around Yachats, Florence, and Newport.

First thing in the morning, we took a little hike along the historic Yachats 804 trail to a sandy beach.

The boys couldn't resist the water and had to do a little playing. The got much dirtier and wet than I planned.  Luckily our hotel had a complimentary laundry room.

We then drove down and took a look at Devil's churn.

Then we drove on to Heceta Head lighthouse.  This is one of the views from the trail that you hike to get to the lighthouse.

This is another view from the lighthouse trail.  Obviously it was raining while we took this little hike.  Luckily the rain didn't last long.

Here is a view of the Yaquina head lighthouse.  I was lucky enough to catch it when the light was flashing.

We spent a lot of time exploring Cape Perpetua.  We were lucky enough to be there during high tide, so everything was really active.

This is Thor's well.  I have a video of this.  It is amazing.  I might post the video later, but if I don't get around to it, you should look up one online.  It is pretty cool and I am so glad I got to see it in person.

One of the churns on the cape.  When the big waves come up in these and hit the rocks, it looks, and sounds, just like a geyser.

Here is another one.

This was really cool, the waves would pound up into the cavern underneath that blowhole and force the water out through the top really powerfully.  It was crazy fun to watch.

Here are the boys in front of the blowhole.  If you are going to visit Cape Perpetua, try to visit during high tide.  Just be careful.  I was glad I didn't have my littler boys to look after while all that crazy stuff was going on.

The boys hanging out in Newport.

Yaquina Bay lighthouse.  It needs a little love, but it looks like it is getting it.

We stopped at Ona Beach state park, and took a walk over this cute bridge to get to the beach

More of the bridge, I obviously couldn't get enough.

We also had to walk through this forest to get to the beach.  That is a covering of moss all over the ground and on the tree trunks.

We decided to take a drive through the countryside on our way back to the hotel.  It was all so pretty!

We saw this giant herd of elk.  There were so many I couldn't get them all in the shot.

We also saw these Canadian Geese.

And this view of a bridge.

This is a view from our room at our hotel in Yachats.

Another view from our room.

And one more.  I could have just sat there and enjoyed the view for days.

This was the view from the front door of our room in Yachats.  No matter what way you look, things are gorgeous along the Oregon Coast.