Rest of Vacation

So after we left the hotel in Boise we stayed with Petey and Meghan in small town Idaho. Internet was harder to come by than at the hotel, so I haven't posted anything until today. Katy and I first waited at the Airport for Petey to arrive, as she was flying in from Spokane after visiting family. While at the airport, we of course took advantage of the free internet.

If there was nothing else, Idaho would be awesome simply because of the 75 mph speed limit! I mean come on! Speed is great.

The four of us when fishing, and Katy had fish on the line, but each time they escaped at the last moment. But Meghan landed 3 of them, and she gutted them and cooked them, and then everybody else ate them. Not really fair, but she is damn good at cooking, and she doesn't like trout. Fishing was fun, but alas I forgot my camera - what a bad blogger I am.

On the way in we saw Bliss Idaho, another small town Idaho community, which reminded me of the saying "ignorance is bliss", but I think "Bliss is ignorant" works better in this instance.

The rest of the time was mainly spent at their house talking, eating, drinking, playing games like Katamari Damachi, Munchkin (a fun card type game that is kind of a spoof on Magic the Gathering type games), and playing with their 3 cats and dog. Last night we also went out and saw "Stardust", which we all LOVED and was really a great adventure/comedy. As Bill and Peggy said, it is like a modern day "Princess Bride", although nothing can take the place of the Princess Bride.

This will be the last post since tomorrow we will make the 10 hour drive back to Salem (this time taking a better route), and I start both school and work at the Department of Justice on Monday.

Vacation Day 3

Today we finished up our day on the Oregon Coast and made the grueling 10 hour drive to Boise. It was very pretty most of the way, but we decided to just haul ass and get here so we could relax tomorrow morning. If we wanted to stop and go frog hunting, here is where we might have done it.

Along the way we decided to take a short cut. I noticed two things about this shortcut; 1) it is not as straight as it looked on the map, and 2) the road is much more closed than it looks on the map. Oopps!

This picture was taken in Sisters OR, where they were selling these awesome old coke bottles. Ahhhh... the pause that refreshes!

If you ever make this drive you will notice that the trees get smaller and the rocks get bigger as you go along. The rock roots probably steal all the water from the trees so they can't grow as tall.

At one point we stopped at McDonalds - to eat more homemade BBQ sandwiches! I havnt eaten McDonalds since undergrad and I dont plan on starting now!

And this is a picture of rush hour traffic in the middle of nowhere central Oregon.

And of course, no modern day road trip is complete without an ipod, chips and dip, and a red liquorice straw.

Vacation Day 2

Ahhhh the Oregon Coast ~ such majestic beauty right on our doorstep.

ok first, a few things I forgot to tell you about yesterday; we saw the "D" River! It's the world's shortest!

We woke up this morning, had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and then drove back up to the first lighthouse we saw yesterday (Yaquina Head lighthouse), about an hour and a half drive back north. We stopped and took a look around since we had more time. Next to the lighthouse was Quarry Cove, a cove that used to be a quarry, but was transformed into a perfect habitat for nature to take hold once more and thrive. It wasn't exactly thriving when we saw it, but it was cool none the less, and a good effort to correct one of man's many injuries upon nature.

We then started making the drive back towards town, we stopped at Yaquina Bay lighthouse which is the only surviving lighthouse (in Oregon?) that is made from wood and has the quarters attached to the lighthouse. It was supposed to be haunted, but after some investigation we found out that the haunting was fabricated back in the 1890's. What a bunch of punks!

Yesterday was the Devil's Punchbowl, today was the Devil's Churn (tomorrow maybe we'll find the devil's teapot). The churn was a fissure/crack in the wall of the cliff that gradually became larger and is now about 50 feet across and narrows to a point about 350 feet inland. We saw it at high tide which is supposed to be when it is at its most violent (except for storms), and it was impressive, especially considering how friggin calm the ocean is up here. I sat right over the churn on a cliff about 150 feet inland and it was just freaky seeing the ocean churn itself into large swells, then come at me only to combine with wave ricochet off the sides to become like an unpredictable storm that I knew would not come closer than a few feet away. Gotta love nature.

Next we went tidepooling, first near Devil's Churn, then at Bob's Creek (no joke) where the creek ran into the ocean. I found this HUGE crab that nearly snapped my fingers off! Look at the picture! I mean come on! is that the scariest thing you ever saw?!

Then after some milling around some old fun beach towns, we headed over to a lighthouse that we knew was haunted (meaning that at least some people thought it was, although maybe not us). By this time we were exhausted, and because of the long hike just to get to the lighthouse, we bagged it and went back to the hotel (after a root beer float of course).

Then after a nap, we were ready to hit the beach. We rode bareback on the beach during sunset, I mean how romantic is THAT!! Of course most people ride horses, not bikes. I have to recommend biking during low tide on a beach to anyone who is looking for a fun workout and doesn't mind spending some time cleaning their bike afterwards. I rode through the waves in about a foot of water, and the sand was all sturdy enough to ride on as long as it was at least somewhat damp! I mean come on! SO GREAT!!

Now we are cuddling up to the History Channel and more homemade BBQ beef sandwiches. fantastic! Tomorrow will have far more driving than stopping, but hopefully fun regardless. See you then!

Vacation day 1

We left Salem this morning with a car full of stuff and a plan - to drive to the coast and stop where we wanted - ok not so much a plan as a general idea. We had a map and a book called "Oregon Curiosities". Within the first hour we saw one of the curiosities, rather accidentally. It was some guy's yard with a giant martini glass, a yellow submarine, and a flag-painted-car in a tree... hmm, interesting.

And then we made it to the beach! It was rainy and stuff, but we still had fun. We had lunch at Moes - hooray for clam chowder sourdough bread bowls!!! Then we decided to stop at a lighthouse, but it was closing soon and there was a line to get it, so we went tide pooling next to it instead and saw some marine life including a star fish, crabs, and harbor seals!

Next was the scariest part of the day; the Devil's Punch Bowl!!!!

It's really just a cool cave that the ocean carved out that caved it. But there were squirrels EVERYWHERE! The picture shows two of the circling their supposed prey. It was lucky we had some blackberries to feed them or we would have never escaped!

Then we got to the hotel in Florence OR. We brought some home made bbq beef, mashed potatoes, and leftover onion rings from lunch, and I had a fantastic sandwich! Here is our romantic dinner from our hotel room; Good times!

We then drove to the sand dunes and ran around and had fun there (man is it a workout to run up those huge piles of sand!) There were some guys there who had sandboards and were boarding down the sand like a snowboard!! That totally looked like fun! There were some places to rent them, but I dont think that'll be this trip. Then we went back to the hotel, swam in the pool, and sat in front of cable TV.

See you tomorrow, when we go haunted!

Time for a vacation!

I took the MPRE today, so hopefully that's done and I wont need to take it again.
Katy and I are now going on a trip together! A little honeymoon type thing. First is the Oregon Coast and a haunted lighthouse, then possibly McMenamins Edgefield hotel, brewery and restaurant, then a drive to Boise stopping to see some state parks and fun stuff, and then some time in Idaho with Petey and Meghan. Then we come back and I start school.

also, here is a picture of our new Kitty!! Yoshi!!

Latah Suckas!