Oregon Coast

The first stop on our trip to the Coast was Christmas Valley, Oregon.

After 9 hours in the car we were ready for a layover. Its just a tiny dot on the map in the 

middle of nowhere but now will be somewhere for us because Mark opened his mission call there that night in the Motel room.  Indiana, Indianapolis!  He leaves November 6th. 

There's not a lot to do in Christmas Valley, so this is us entertaining ourselves on our walk around town to purchase ice-cream bars. 

The next day we continued our adventures by arriving in Florence, Oregon at lunch time. We went straight to the bay and had an amazing lunch of Crab Chowder in bread bowls.

Next we headed to Heceta Head Light House.

  Fun lighthouse and especially enjoyed touring the Keeper's House. 

Other highlights from that day was our attempt to Sand Surf on the Sand Dunes.

Later that evening after dinner we hiked to Hobbit Beach and enjoyed the sunset. 

The next day we headed to Coos Bay and visited another lighthouse at Cape Argo, walked the Gardens at Shores Acres State Park and played and waited around for low tide to visit the tide pools on Sunset Bay Beach.  We found hermit crabs, star fish, sea anemone, and a sea slug.

That night the kids played a fun murder mystery game they found at the AirBNB.

The next day, I messed up royal. We had planned on going kayaking on the ocean to see the wild life.  We woke everybody up early and drove for over an hour to meet our guide, only to discover that I had booked it for the wrong Saturday and they didn't have any openings. So that was disappointing.

So, instead we spent more time on the beach enjoying the tide pools, 

Visited another light house at Cape Blanco and 

toured the Historic Hughes Home

Oh, and lunched on the "World Famous" hotdogs in Langlois!

That afternoon we tried our hand at crabbing!

We rented rings from a local bait shop, 

used fish and chicken as bait and had quite the adventure.  

We caught lots of crabs but most of them were too small and had to be released.

After an hour or so, the excitement had worn off, but we were catching our dinner and since the crabs were small I knew we wouldn't have enough to eat so I made them press on~

and on,

 

and on...

Hollie refused to participate on moral grounds.

 Finally the cooler was full and we headed back to the AirBnB to prepare our dinner.

In the end it was so much work to get the meat out, we didn't finish cooking all the crabs that we caught. Add in the fact that Gavin decided he didn't like the taste of fresh crab and Hollie flat out refused to eat it and we ended up having several fresh crabs still left over in the cooler.  Gavin was so worried about the little guys, he walked (ran) the two blocks back to the sea and tossed them in. 

We might have scarred Hollie for life!

The next day we headed south again, down the coast and stopped at a few places along the Samuel Hardman Corridor, hiked and took in the scenic views.

The next few days were spent in the Redwoods.

Now, don't get me wrong, the beaches were beautiful and fun, but since they really weren't swimming beaching, the kids soon grew bored with them. 

 Read the following with sarcasm: 

"Ooo.... another beach..." or... "oh, yay.... another lighthouse."

  They were ready to explore something new and the Redwoods really hit the spot! 

First stop: the Drive Thru Tree

Not gonna lie, I thought we might not fit. Giant 2007 Yukon XL that we are.  

It was pretty dang tight.  

Good thing Jotham is an excellent driver, 

if I had been driving our car would need body repair. 

The Redwoods didn't disappoint!

Stunning, majestic, just calming and beautiful!

We loved exploring a the trails and groves.

The next morning we hiked Fern Canyon and Mark's tummy was on the upset.  

I wasn't sure we were going to get him back to the car. 

Not to worry, he felt much improved by the time we rolled into the "Mystery of the Trees" parking lot.  This was not a planned stop but we had a bit of time and the billboards sold us on the Sky Tram among the trees and the Ewok-esque ropes course did not disappoint.

Paul Bunyan graciously welcomed all the guests and even winked at us!

 

One last lighthouse in Crescent City and we had seen all we came to see. 

On the way home we spent the night with Aunt Lillian and Uncle Joe in Boise. (Wished I would've remembered to take a picture with them.)  We definitely enjoyed our visit but my favorite memory will always be watching the kids figure out how to use their rotary dial phone. They all wanted to call me and were so confused when they couldn't because it was long distance! Priceless!

 

The End