Road trip - oregon

Kenny and I just celebrated our 7 year wedding anniversary. We decided it was time for us to go on a trip. What better way to celebrate than on a road trip! Florence Oregon was to be our destination. It would be a 14 hour drive there (which we drove in one day). Above is the view from our balcony in the hotel. This is a draw bridge over the Siuslaw River.

Day two (day one being the driving day) we woke up early for a full day of site seeing. Our first stop was a "one hour tour" of the sand dunes. They had a thrill ride, a scenic ride or a one hour ride that was a bit of each. Man, our driver Brad knew every dip, every hill, all the sweet spots. I almost peed my pants when he took a few of the drops.

The dunes butt right up to the ocean. On one side, you see the trees and the dunes, the other you see ocean. What a beautiful place to be. Brad even stopped and found shells for each of the ladies. What a nice guy!

After a quick pit stop, we headed to the Heceta head light house.

They do tours that explain all the buildings, the lenses, attire, etc. Our guide was Harry. He did a great job. They even take you to the top so you can see the lenses.
Here it is! It is so intricate. They said you can see the light from this light house for 20 miles.

This is the view from the base of the light house.

Next, we headed over to the sea lion caves. They are the largest known oceanic caves. The sea lions come and rest on the rocks.

In order to get to the caves, you go down in an elevator 200 feet. I couldn't watch the needle, it made me a little nervous. The trip was worth it though. What an awesome sight.Day three we headed to Newport. It is about an hour's drive North on HWY 101. Here we went to the undersea gardens and the Oregon Aquarium. They were fun, but I think Sea World is more our style of aquarium. Sorry, no pics of these. We left the camera in the hotel (oops).

Day four we headed to Le grand, Oregon with a stop in Portland. You see, Ken's watch needed to have another link taken out and we thought we would do a little shopping while we were there. I love Tiffany's!! We both walked out with our own little boxes. Thanks sweetie!!!

Le grande, Oregon was to be our stop for the evening. We had planned on going to the drive in theatre that night and hitting the golf course in the Morning. The movies at the Drive in were all for kids so we decided to go to the indoor theatre. We have been spoiled with stadium seating. This theatre was state of the art ... in the 1970's. It reminds me of the one in Wheatland, Wyo. There were 3 total theatres, each holding about 100 people. The seats slopped down so if you were in the back of the theatre and dropped a smarty, it would roll to the front and hit the screen. The seat backs were low so the guys could do the old yawn and stretch and put their arms around their girl. What an adventure. I had forgotten how far movie theatres had come. We saw District 9.

Day five was our last 7 hours of driving and home. What a wonderful treat home is. We love our house and our critters. Phoenix was the only one home and she was LONELY! Chris and Kirby watched our house and Phoenix while we were gone. They even left some beautiful flowers on our table for us to come home to. Thanks again Chris and Kirby! you are the best Mil and Dil! Chris said she knew Phoenix was lonely when she would play with Chris and not bite her. yes, our cat is a little psycho, but we love her!

Gin came home the next night. She was glad to be out of boarding. She came in and played chase and jumped all around. She is so cute!!

Thanks again for the trip sweetie pie. What a rare treat to have you all to myself for 5 days. I love spending time with you. I love how silly you get. I love that you freak out when someone else pumps the gas because they might scratch the paint. I love that you are comfortable with who you are. Thank you for being you. thank you for all that you do for our little family. And Thank you for helping me get on and keeping me on the Roller Coaster.