Oregon Trip

I don't pride myself on being a traveling type of person, but I have always wanted to visit the Oregon Coast. In the last few years the girls have become obsessed with all things ocean and mermaid, and have really wanted to visit the ocean. (We did visit the ocean during this trip to Texas, but Esther was too little to remember it.) The COVID-19 was just getting started here in the US when we left, and I'm so glad we were still able to go. Most of the family that was supposed to go with us didn't make it and we really missed all of them! It was fun trip though and I'm glad we were able to go and spend time with my mom and Rickelle. 

It was a 12 hour drive from Utah. We broke up the drive on the way there and stayed at a hotel. This was....not the wisest decision. Turns out it is really hard to entertain four small children in a tiny hotel room. We had so much stuff, that while Leland was packing and unpacking the van, I had to keep the kids happy in the hotel room. We had to get creative ha. The girls and Baby Boy slept relatively well, but Israel.... He did not. He was supposed to sleep in a bed with me and Leland, but he just flopped around all night and we only ended up getting a few hours of sleep. It was not a great way to start the trip but luckily things got better from there. On the way back we skipped the hotel and just drove straight home for 12 hours. 

We stayed at a pretty Airbnb 1 block from the beach. It was really pretty inside and had big windows that looked out over the ocean. Every morning the kids would do yoga in the living room and at night we would all watch the sun go down over the water. Our first day there was Sunday and we had a little Sacrament Meeting in that living room overlooking the ocean. It was one those "golden moments" where everything seems peaceful and perfect. I hope I always remember it. 

Soon after we got there and had dinner we took the kids down to the beach. It was so peaceful and beautiful there with hardly any people. I loved it. 

We were prepared for lots of rain, but the weather was so nice! Lots of sun with only a couple cloudy and windy days.

I loved this little tunnel on the path down to the beach.

HUG POINT

Hug point is named because there is an old stage coach road that goes along the beach. At  this point it  "hugs" the cliff to and the road was only passable at low tide. The old road is still there but we couldn't quite see it all because we got there as the tide was coming back up. There were some cool waterfalls and caves and a few tide pools. The kids loved the little tide pools and go so wet even though it was quite cold. They didn't mind though and would have stayed in those little pools forever. Don't worry there was no sea life in them, just sand. 

After a couple days Israel finally started sleeping better, but then the poor little guy hurt his foot somehow and was crankier than ever. He was limping around for a few days, but has been fine since. 

TILLAMOOK HEAD HIKE

On St. Patrick's Day we went on a hike. It was so pretty to see the rain forest, so different from hikes in Utah. It was pretty muddy but the kids had fun. I didn't do anything for the kids for St. Patrick's Day, so finding the clovers on the hike was  nice little coincidence.

It was fun to go down to "our beach", as we came to call it, everyday and see how it looked differently as the tide changed. I knew about tides of course, but had never experienced it firsthand. I didn't think there would be many shells, but on the first morning there we found so many. Lots of different kinds and so many sand dollars. We made it our goal to find a perfect unbroken sand dollar but we never did. We did find a crab, a jellyfish and many cute dogs that the kids loved to pet. Israel loved playing in the sand and Esther loved exploring, Adele liked to do both. 

CANNON BEACH

Cannon beach was probably my favorite excursion. It had amazing tide pools and beautiful views, plus it was great weather. The only downside was it was a bit crowded, not crowded crowded, but social distancing crowded. In the tide pools we saw hermit crabs, mussels, really pretty anemone and more. I couldn't get a picture though because I was trying to make sure the kids obeyed the rules and didn't fall in. 

I wish we could have checked out more of the nearby towns, we drove past things that looked cool, but were closed. Esther made me take a picture of this house we saw in Cannon Beach because it was her favorite colors. 

CAPE MEARES

Cape Meares is a lighthouse that was about an hour south of where we were staying. It was a pretty drive though. We hoped to see seals but didn't see any, but saw some pretty views. The lighthouse was closed for winter so we couldn't go in. We also went up to the Octopus Tree which is next to it. 

The last night there we had a fire on the beach. Leland didn't want to do it, but good thing I convinced him because we loved it. It was so fun and so beautiful. We had to trade off staying at the house because Baby Boy was asleep, so we all weren't able to be there at the same time, but I'm glad the beach was so close to the house so we could do that. Afterwards the girls both said this was their favorite part of the whole trip. They do love their s'mores!

I'm so glad we were able to go on this trip! It really felt like a blessing to be in such a peaceful beautiful place amidst all the worry and anxiety going on in the world. Travelling with kids is never easy but this felt more vacation like than any of our other previous trips. It was very low key with just the right amount of adventure. The girls kept telling me that they wished they could live there, Leland too. I love the mountains too much to live there, but I did really enjoy our trip. I hope we can go back soon!


P.S. I made a video of our trip, but I can't share it here because it shows baby boy's face. If you want to see it, text me or leave me a comment and I will send you the link. :)