John and Kylee: Oregon Coast 2019

A short two weeks after our last vacation, we headed off again to Oregon! I have been so excited for this trip. I don't really remember visiting Oregon before other than just thinking it was beautiful. We talked to a friend in the ward who goes to the Oregon coast regularly, and she recommended getting wet suits for all the kids. They were about $30 a piece and enabled us to have so much fun in the water.
Because of a lack of vacation days and with all of our vacationing, we knew we had to fly to Oregon. My mom helped us out with that, which we really appreciated. We actually found the cheapest airfare by flying up the day before and spending the night at a hotel near the airport. I don't know what I was expecting, but Portland isn't a very large city. I mean it is pretty big, but not compared to Phoenix. After landing in Portland's little airport, we went got the rental car and made it to our hotel. Then we needed to get food from Costco, so we headed there for dinner. After a little debate and a big heartbreak on Miriam's part, we skipped swimming at the hotel and headed to the international rose test garden across town in Portland. Miriam threw quite the fit on the way, which definitely reminded me of her fits when she was younger. But we made it there and managed to a have a great time looking at the beautiful gardens.

Everything was so so green and just beautiful. The roses were stunning, but we weren't tempted to pick some because there were signs telling us that the fine of picking one is $1000. Yikes.

There were a lot of petals on the ground though, and it was just lovely.

There were different layers to the garden, which made it fun to explore.

Of course this also mean that it was easy to lose the girls. We had to keep checking to make sure we had everyone.

Some roses were so big! Unfortunately it was getting dark, and it started to rain hard, so we had to cut our visit shorter than we would have liked, but it was still well worth the trip over there.

On the way back to the hotel at like 9pm we stopped to get donuts at the famous VooDoo Donuts. We got a Portland cream, Mango, a couple of other flavors. They were yummy and interesting although the shop was a little weird. We're just not into that spooky stuff.

The next day we enjoyed a little continental breakfast at the hotel before we picked up my parents from the airport and headed south to Silver Falls State Park. This was a state park that my friend recommended. It was Sunday so we stopped on our way at a little chapel that seemed to be not too far out of our way. We just attended Sacrament meeting and then changed our clothes before heading down the road to the state park. Coincidentally, we happened to pick the ward that a family from our ward in Phoenix had moved to a few months before. So we chatted with them for a minute to catch up. The drive to the state park was so fun. We drove through so much farm land and Christmas tree farms. It felt like we were in a Hallmark movie.
Silver Falls State Park was beautiful. I wish we would have had more time to spend there. We went on a short walk to a water fall and hiked down around it. So we got to see it from all the different angles.

Even though we didn't get many people in our photos, there were plenty of people around. It was a popular walk.

We walked up behind the waterfall and had to stop and enjoy the rocks.

Family shot behind the waterfall. The bright white streak behind Miriam's head is the waterfall.

How is this much greenery even real? It's so beautiful.

Beautiful Evergreens!

After our little walk, we got on the road again and headed north to the Astoria area where the rental house was that my mom rented for us for Christmas. The rental house is actually in Warrenton which is right next to Fort Stevens State Park. It is really close to the Oregon coast so we had to stop by the beach that evening after meeting up with the family.

This was an interesting spot because it was the shipwreck of the Peter Iredale. This was a four mast steel ship that ran aground in 1906. The remains of the steel hull are still there.

The next day we started out with a visit to Fort Stevens.

Fort Stevens was built at the end of the the Civil War and stayed in use until the end of WWII.

Fort Stevens was the only military fort in the United States to be fired upon by an enemy during time of war since the War of 1812, when it was attacked by a Japanese submarine on June 21, 1942. I didn't know that the Japanese even fired on the Continental US during the war.

Holland was mainly interested in the flowers.

We walked around the fort with my parents and ate the wild blackberries (which were everywhere in Oregon, so yummy!).

We walked through these bunker areas and looked at the different holding areas for munitions.

There was a large staircase that we raced up and down. John was trying to beat Luke's time, and I was trying to beat Miriam's (my sister-in-law), which I did, but it did take two attempts. :)

Later we joined our family out at the beach. What a cool little coastal forest we had to walk through to get there!

There was much fun to be had because of the sand.

And we enjoyed the water in our wet suits.

Well, actually Holland still didn't like the water. I think her little pike in this photo is so cute. She didn't want the waves to get her feet!

At least the other girls liked it!

Holland had had enough! She was getting away from that water!

I think we all still had a fun time enjoying that beach despite the grumpy face.

We loved the rental house that we stayed it. It was the historic officers home from Fort Stevens so it was amazing to see all of the old craftsmanship and details that just aren't there anymore.

We stayed in the captains room and my girls had the peach room. There was some family drama about rooms which had kind of tainted these memories for me, but it was still beautiful.

Anna decorated Ellie's braid for her. We headed south to Ecola State Park. This is the view from Ecola Point looking south to Crescent beach and in the distance Cannon Beach with Haystack Rock.

Crescent Beach is only accessible by water or hiking. So we hiked the mile down to the beach. Not that far, but there was quite a bit of elevation change.

It was a fun, beautiful, GREEN hike.

And the beach was so nice once we got there! Just beautiful.

I had to laugh a little bit. There is the whole open beach, but after we had been there a few minutes, another group came right up to where we were and played right there. You'd think they would pick 100 yards in either direction, but whatever.

This is looking back at the trees and the hill we had to climb back up. There were fun views along the way though.

After the hike back up to the point, we headed a little further south to Cannon Beach and the famous Mo's Restaurant, where we all were able to get fresh fish. It was delicious.

We had a fun time playing on Cannon Beach. We didn't get too many photos because we were playing with the new boogie board we couldn't resist buying for the occasion. It was definitely more busy than other beaches that we went too. But it was so fun. We all loved trying to catch the tiny crabs in the sand.

That night the rental house almost looked spooky in the night.

The next day we drove up to Astoria, and brought cousin Anna along.

First on our list to see was the Astoria-Megler bridge. It is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America. It connects Astoria to Washington and is 4 miles long.

We made it to Washington that day, if only for a few minutes.

And since Anna was there, she could take a quick family picture for us.

Driving back to Oregon on the long bridge that is mostly right on the water, but goes very tall at one end to let those big shipping boats up the Columbia River.

Next we visited the Astoria Column, which is a fun monument on the hilltop of Astoria.

We couldn't resist buying the little balsa wood airplanes to throw around and catch the wind.

Then of course we had to take the airplanes to the top and check out the view. That was a long twisty staircase.

Wow, what a gorgeous view from the top. It sure makes me think that Phoenix isn't very pretty.

The kids were anxious to throw the airplanes, way down, down, down. Some caught the breeze and went pretty far. Others just spiraled down. Miriam went after hers who she saw a little boy pick up at the bottom.

I thought it was interesting to the see the historical scenes pictured on the column.

Still a pretty view from the bottom. They all got their airplanes back. Or at least someone's airplanes.

Then we took advantage of the grassy hill, breezy conditions, and beautiful day to try out the kite that we bought. It was a hit!

Anna and Ellie's matching hands on hips pose! :)

It was harder than I thought to keep it steady in the air. Fun times.

When we got back I couldn't resist taking some more photos of the beautiful historic home. There was some questionable decor however--see the cherub hanging from the ceiling? I love all of the molding around the doors, ceilings, and windows. I loved the hidden pass through to the dining room, the old, classic features like the claw tub, high ceilings, engraved wood everywhere, and that huge wrap around porch.

Holland was in heaven playing with those little boys. Nathan and Samuel are her favorite beyond her best friend Sophie, of course.

That evening we went to Sunset beach to have a little more fun in the sand and water. It was a bit chillier because of the breeze and clouds, so we were sure glad to have the wet suits.