Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Roadtrip to the Northwest

This post is SO delayed, but I’d already started it a few weeks ago so I had to finish it – it has been delaying many other things from being posted that have happened since then!!

We had such a fun trip up to Portland and the Oregon coast in August. The drive is long. There is no other way to say it. But we decided to split the drive up into 3 days and enjoy the scenery along the way.




Things started out pretty chipper.


However by the end, it wasn’t quite so pretty.



Our accommodations along the way at times left a little to be desired.



But what they lacked in shower height, they certainly made up for in décor.


This half wagon wheel jutting out of the wall appeared to serve absolutely no purpose, except to make our trip just that much more enjoyable!



We saw a lot of beautiful vineyards, got car sick from the winding road and stopped in Mendocino for breakfast and a photo op.

Our unsuccessful attempt at a beautiful, oceanside family portrait.


At one of our lovely motels, Byron picked up a pamphlet on a place called “Trees of Mystery” which was on our way up the coast. He became a little obsessed about molding our plans around a visit to this place. I was appropriately skeptical. I mean, “Trees of Mystery?” In order to accommodate a visit to this place, we stayed in a crazy, horror movie type motel, in a town where no restaurants were open, and delayed our arrival in Portland. I went along with it, knowing full well that as soon as we had seen this “Trees of Mystery”, we would be horribly disappointed and I would, once again, be proven right.


Two words: Worth it!!



How can you go wrong, when you are welcomed by a huge Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox??



And to put it into perspective…





I will not bore you with the ONE HUNDRED AND SIX pictures that I took at “Trees of Mystery”. Just know that I now think trees are totally amazing. Okay, maybe a few pictures couldn’t hurt…


Harrison getting his first ride on a sky gondola.


View from the top



Just know that it is awesome, Byron was right. And definitely go, if you’re ever going to be passing through Klamath, California.



We also had a TON of fun spending a week at the beach house on the Oregon Coast:






We were so glad Grandma and Grandpa Williams and Aunt Sheri could come too!!





We loved visiting the Tillamook Cheese Factory.
Harrison is holding his souvenir from the trip, a little cow named Tillie from Tillamook.


And we just couldn’t resist letting him try a little Tillamook ice cream. From the looks of it, we created a monster!!!


And we absolutely LOVED crabbing!!



















(I guess it is pretty obvious from these pictures that Harrison’s open-mouth smile is clearly a genetic trait passed down on the Harrison side, versus the Williams’.)

It was really fun just spending time at the Oregon coast. Harrison loved the beach and the ocean, just like his dad.








11 comments:

Carmen said...

FINALLY!!! You do the BEST blog posts, it's no wonder you take so long to post, you put so much in them. I love them. My favorite part is that I can totally HEAR you telling us all about everything. I am so glad you had so much fun, and Ben and I are definitely taking a little side trip to "Trees of Mystery" next time we are up that way.
By the way...when did Harrison get so old? WOW! Such a cutie!

Jamie said...

But what exactly are these trees of mystery? Paul Bunyan and the Blue ox are mysterious, but not trees, right? sooo....?

Caroline said...

i loved this post. you are really funny, kim. more please.

Brit Warner said...

Soooo.. I couldn't get past the picture of Byron posing in the shower to demonstrate the hight of the shower head. That is hilarious!

The Bentley's said...

kim that looks soooo fun!!! I want to know more about the beach house, chris and I were thinking of taking an oregon coast trip in the next few years! so pretty

mom said...

My fav is the shower picture. Byron, what a sport!

mom said...

My fav is the shower picture. Byron, what a sport!

Matt "Hacksaw" said...

I think most people show naked bath pictures of their babies, but a husband is cool too. That was a great trip.

Jennefer said...

Oh, man! We drove right past the Trees of Mystery on our route up to Seattle! I thought I heard Paul's voice calling to me as he waved for us to stop. Next time, Blue giant....

Gwendolyn said...

If I had to guess who would end up naked on your blog, Byron would have been my last choice--way to keep things interesting, Kim!

Dave Fuhriman said...

You guys need to come visit us next time you're in town! We're just south of Portland. And if you need a place to stay at the beach we can get you a sweet deal on a house in Manzanita.

Dave

PS -- As you can tell, I just found your blog. Glad to see you're all doing well.