oReGoN / WaSHiNGToN BouND...

Parking lot tickets

$100 parking ticket for parking in the RV/Bus parking only
5o states license plate game
Portland Oregon Traffic, Construction to Seaside
Pizza Hut on vacation...
"Forget this!" what Mike said after seeing the tram ride we were about to take
Yummy food from Elephant Deli

Breadsticks at Roundtable Pizza

Farmers Market- peaches, FRUIT 

  
Road trips+family= priceless memories
 
Just 8 days ago while we were "almost there yet", there were miles & miles of driving right along the beautiful Columbia River & gorge, huge wind turbines everywhere on the sides of the road, incredible dams (& you know we had *fUn* with that), then driving into Portland during rush hour (which we found out, is ALL the time), finding 38 of the 50 US state license plates while on our 8 day long trip so far, losing our $3.00 parking garage ticket resulted in a $11 day "full charge" price cost, the "forget this" from Mike as we boarded Portland Aerial Tram & the "I'm gonna puke face" from him after riding it. Laughing, reminiscing & making memories with aunt Steph, seeing the angel Moroni on the Portland Temple thru the tips of the pine trees, trying waffle-donuts for the first time, & finding out Waffluv in Utah is SO MUCH better then their Waffle Window, tried some YUMMY foods & some NOT SO yummy foods, eating delicious fresh Oregon peaches/fruits/veggies from the farmers market, riding around in aunt Steph's CUTE mini-cooper, & Bailey falling out of it, $100 parking ticket that was on our front windshield after going to Multnomah Falls, singing to Ed Sheeran, sitting in bridge construction traffic while heading out to the coast & taking family selfie pictures, feeding the sea lions stinky fish while getting splashed by them cuz' we weren't feeding them FAST enough, sand between your toes, fresh pine tree & sea air smells, foggy beach mornings & evenings, SOFT Salt Water Taffy on the boardwalk (all the way from Laffy Town in SLC, UT), finding sand dollars, seaweed, jelly fish & crab along the seashore, just beginning to eat our pizza, when dishes started breaking & a fight broke out in the kitchen at the Seaside Pizza Hut, walking along the stunning beaches & cute seaside towns, Haystack Rock while dining on the patio at Mo's, driving along the Oregon coast & stopping wherever we felt like it, "cutting the cheese" at Tillamook Cheese Factory, tasting their scrumptious cheeses and ice cream cones. Perfect cooler Summer weather, incredible God-given views, wishing to own a Beach house one day (even if it's for just a week or so) and planning to do it all again, (but with @tgilly3 next time) road trip + family.... priceless memories

We're FINALLY here!!!

Just remember...this was after a 12 hour car ride- NO JUDGING PLEASE!

Street Food Carts in Downtown Portland near Steph's work

Powell's Bookstore

Our YUMMY food @ Elephant's Delicatessen - should've eaten there a FEW more times

Dessert from Elephant's Deli

Salt & Straw Ice Cream parlor (LINE and all...)

Portland Oregon LDS Temple

Beautiful Temple grounds    

We met these cute Sister Missionaries at the Visitors Center. The Sister on the left is from American Fork & was in the Davidson's ward, knows Jake and the rest of the family.

HOLINESS TO THE LORD, THE HOUSE OF THE LORD

Driving along the Freeway you might just miss the Temple...

the "FORGET THIS!" & look Mike gave us after seeing the tram ride up to the hospital

We made it! (and without any complications...)

We tried dropping pennies from up above...but never knew the end result

 

A very CUTE picture that Stephanie had hanging up at her house & 

I had to take a picture of, so we have it too-

Their Albertson's in Washington by Stephanie's house had Wafflenuts, so we had to try them out-

Our cute Housewarming gift that we brought out to Stephanie & where she has it displayed.

 

Saturday Farmer's Market in Portland

Beautiful floral arrangements too-

Mike was really excited about this-

Providence Park where the Portland Timbers Soccer team play

Oregon International Rose Garden

The Waffle Window...NOT ANYWHERE NEAR how YUMMY Waffluv is!!! The waffle was soggy & the fruit wasn't FRESH & the whip cream wasn't good either-

We saw a Baja Fresh...so we HAD to get it one night!

At nights, it was more low key and we chilled- obviously with electronics!

On Sunday we went to Multnomah Falls-

We went shopping in the downtown Portland mall & in an area near the escalators they 

had these plug in charging areas for your phones-

And one stop we HAD to go to was VOODOO donuts! And YES, there was a LONG line-

Their display of their donuts

KEEP Portland WEIRD, just across from VooDoo donuts store 

We went into Sports Authority near Steph's home to by Tanner a Portland Oregon Ducks tshirt & these girls found a place to sit, relax & even lay back, if they wanted too- 

At Old Navy we saw Morgan's shoes, so we had to take a picture & send her it-

Welcome to WASHINGTON- we passed this sign a few times a day going back n' forth from Portland to Steph's house in Vancouver, Washington-

One night we met up with Antonio and ate dinner overlooking the River at a place called McMenamins Brewery. It was not that good at all, & we kept saying, we should've gone too... or to ...instead.

But the views were pretty!

And on the way out, we saw a little bunny rabbit- so Madi of course had to see how close she could get to it

Dinner by the water & Road trips

View from the Hospital after taking the tram & VooDoo Donuts

Shopping downtown Portland, VooDoo donuts, more shopping, dinner overlooking the Columbia River that separates Oregon and Washington, and watching the Bachelorette- 

Food trucks, Tram & International Rose Garden

Multnomah Falls & You are Here

Driving to the coast- Seaside, Oregon

Family Selfie (minus Tanner...)

Road Construction...

First stop- the ocean & Aquarium

Feeding the Seals

and if you didn't feed them fast enough or right too them, the seals would splash you- 

and YES, it was stinky!

Seaside, Oregon

Carousel inside the strip mall

Pig n' Pancake where we had a breakfast lunch

Taffy & Candy Store where we picked up some YUMMY & SOFT Salt Water Taffy...

all the way from Laffy Town in Salt Lake City, Utah-

And of course we would check out the indoor swimming pool

A few hotel room selfies...

And then the next day, on to Cannon Beach- Mike came out to the beach then saw how far a walk it was to Haystack Rock, so he turned around and went back to the car for a nap.

It was a Beautiful (& long) walk to Haystack Rock BUT it was totally worth it!!! I'd do it again- along the way, we decided one time we'd come & just come hang out at the beach, get a beach house or whatever. 

Kite flyin'

Downtown Cannon Beach

After getting back from walking to Haystack Rock, we got in the car & drove down the road some and found these BEAUTIFULLY stunning beach houses right by Haystack Rock. So Mike pulled over, I found a trail down through the homes to the beach.

This home here was SOOOOO Beautiful & the yard was just as beautiful. 

The front yard overlooked Haystack Rock-

This was a corner of the front yard overlooking Haystack Rock.

And this is the trail / steps leading back to the road where Mike & the girls were waiting

Then just a little further down the road was the public beach to Haystack Rock & Mo's Restuarant

This was the indoor dining area, then you walk through to get to the outdoor patio, overlooking the beach & all its BEAUTY!!! Not sure WHY!?! anyone would sit inside, when you have a view like this- 

Our food was SOOOOOO GOOD! Chicken Alfredo & Cheese bread that Bailey & I shared. The Crab Sandwich & fries Madi ordered, and the Fish Tacos for Mike. The Clam Chowder was GOOOOOD too-

The drive along the coast from Seaside to Cannon Beach to Tillamook was AMAZING!!!

OHHHHHHH, Mike!!! Yes, he was doing his BEST to make it look as BIG as possible-

Incredible Views...

What Time is it?!?!?  ....  Selfie Time

Beep! Beep! Hi!!!

Tillamook Cheese Factory

You see Mike's face?!?!?  YES, Mike likes CHEESE and YES, he even "CUT the Cheese" 

while we stood there trying the different flavors of cheeses.

Waiting in line for a Ice Cream cone

Bailey begged me to take this picture of Madi sleeping on the way back into Portland-

And of course we came into Portland around rush hour traffic...

We decided after going back to Portland that we should try and maybe head back to Utah a day or two early so we aren't on the roads over the weekend & safer traveling. So we headed back first thing Thursday morning, traveled through the day and got to South Jordan about 6:30 pm or so. We pulled into Sam's Club to fill up on gas & wash the car, we pulled out and with a green light we proceeded through the light, when faster than you could say anything- Mike screamed & I saw it coming...a truck turned right and we barely escaped them, when the truck behind them turned too & HiT right into us. Sending our car to the right and near the corner curb. You could smell the fumes right away. Smoke filled the car pretty quickly, the girls were crying but everyone was okay. Mike couldn't get his door open, so he had to kick it open. Both Mike & my airbag deployed & the smell was awful! I had hit the glove box with my knees so my knees were pretty tender & scuffed up. Bailey had been turned slightly in her seat so the seat belt bruised her hip pretty good, Madi had a small cut on her foot. Mike was pretty bruised up though- After a number of days of being pretty sore he was worried he might have bruised or broken a rib, but didn't probably just bruised.

It was really sad because the old man that hit us was pretty cut up & disoriented. He had just run out for a minute without his phone or wallet, to return a Redbox movie at Walmart, when he hit us. He couldn't remember his number, his daughters name or number, etc. He tried on my phone to call his daughter or wife but couldn't remember the numbers. I even tried to help him look it up, but it didn't help- He kept telling Police Officers he was just worried about his wife, because he had been gone a while & she wouldn't know where he was. He also had a dog in the back seat, but seemed to be okay too. I was grateful there were a few different people that saw the whole accident, so they stopped to help & to give their account of the accident, etc. The police were so kind too- We did end up calling Tanner, told him we were okay but had been in an accident & he needed to clean Dad's truck out & come pick us up at the Sam's Club in South Jordan. It really was a blessing it wasn't worse & we were ALL so grateful that no one was hurt worse. But what a way to END our family vacation- and then we had to say GOODBYE to my baby, my car-