In the past, our trips up to Oregon were extremely "straight shot" ish. We had specific stops that were carefully calculated by my Hubby. The stop had to include: Inexpensive Gas, Taco Bell, and a Clean Restroom. We would eat once (at the first stop), and Nick figured the exact locations to where we only had to stop twice for gas. That is how we rolled...No site seeing, or relaxing, we just wanted to get up there! LOL...Oh how things have changed! With an 18 month old boy, things were different! Not bad...just different. When we stopped, it would be over an hour or so to eat and let Justus run around. Then we would try to do all our driving time during naps and night time. It was a little tricky, but was still so fun! :) It's been so long now, I'm not going to get the days/nights accurate, but I'll give it a shot!
We stayed our first night in Redding with Nick's beautiful sister Joy. We got there at like 2am, slept a bit, got up, had breakfast and a lovely chat, then we were off. Coffee in hand, and off to the Redwoods. Despite the long curvy drive, I'm glad we went. It was beautiful.
After the Redwoods, we continued up to our next stop...Grants Pass, to visit our life long friends, Cody and Jessica. We had an amazing couple of days with them. We hung out at the Rogue River, went to a nice lake, experienced the utopia of Applegate Christian Fellowship, picked wild blackberries, ate some amazing grub, and had some sweet visiting time. Always love hanging out with the Conlee's, wish we lived closer!!!
Nick and Justus were obsessed with blackberry picking!!!!
Pretty Auntie Jess
Justus eating his first meat...Uncle "CoCo's" Goose Jerky. He loved it!
Justus Rocking Uncle Cody's Beavers visor...Uh oh daddy!!!
(Dad's a big Oregon Duck Fan)
Beautiful Applegate Christian Fellowship
After Grants Pass, we hit the road for Portland. In Portland, we were blessed to be able to stay with a sweet couple and their baby, Trevor, Christine, and Nathaniel. I have known the Hanna's since High School, and we had an awesome time catching up and laughing over old high school memories. We even got some serious Canasta on (Christine, I'm sorry we got our rear ends whooped!) We also got to visit with Nick's brother and his wife, Jacob and Eden, as well as my Sister, Sarah, who drove up from Bend to hang out just for a couple of hours! Thank you Sarah! :) And one more special visit to my Aunt Lisa.
We did sooo much in Portland! Loved seeing the city, we were brought all around by the one and only Jacob Goltry, who knows all the ins and outs and where all the Amazing food is!!! We hiked this amazing gorge, saw some beautiful waterfalls, experienced "Salt and Straw" ice cream, VooDoo doughnuts, and Nick and Jake hiked to the Top of Mt. Hood (a whole other blog post is needed for that!) We had an amazing time!!!
Sketchy Log Jam
Hiking the Oneonta Gorge...This picture doesn't do it justice....It was beautiful!!!!
Auntie Sarah
Uncle Jake and Justus
High School Friends Gone "Moms"
Justus and Nathaniel
Mama and Justus
Kisses!!!!
Daddy and Justus
My Big Boy!!!
My 2 Favorite Boys!
Justus couldn't get over Uncle Jakes Awesome Stash!
Handsomeness
Uncle Jake and Aunt Eden
Little Buddies
VooDoo Doughnuts...interesting
Justus meeting his Great Aunt Lisa
While up in Portland, we took a day to check out the Oregon Coast. Nick had never been there, and I knew Oregon Salt Water Taffy needed to be a part of this trip!!! We grabbed some lunch and taffy, played on the beach and went to the little aquarium. Justus liked looking at all the sea creatures and feeding the seals.
Taffy Heaven!!!!
After our beach trip, we headed back to Portland so Nick and Jake could hike Hood the next morning. This ended up being the nightmare of the trip. We couldn't find any decent hotels with vacancy. Everyone we went to was full! I finally called my mom so she could be praying for us...It was getting late and the boys needed to get up early for the hike. We were so frustrated and tired, but God is good and worked it all out! HE answered our prayer...My uncle Ronnie travels a lot for business, and knew of this great hotel close to where we were. He got on the phone, made room arrangements, and pretty much saved our night. Thank you Lord and thank you Ronnie! :)
Justus and I had a nice breakfast, hung out at the hotel, and watched some olympics while Nick and Jake hiked. We even got a nap!
After several days in Portland...it was time to go home. We made a couple quick stops, and made it to Redding to stay another night with Joy. We played some canasta with Joy and John, got some sleep and in the morning hit the road for a long ride home.
pit stop fun
my sweet Hubby picked these wild flowers for me!
Love these two!
More blackberry picking
eating canned soup behind a gas station on the way home...Justus was such a trooper!
Goofy Boy!!!
We had an amazing vacation, and I am so glad we got to do something fun like this with Justus before he has to "share" his mommy and daddy with his sister. Thank you to everyone who let us crash their pad! We are sooooo blessed!
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