Lots of fun and friends at Silverwood

We saved the best for last!!  Theme parks are much more fun with lots of people, so we invited two other families!  The Brown family and the Aab family booked in with us.  Karen and Kenny decided to bring 3 extra kids, just 'cause they like to travel with even more stress!!  With six adults and nine kids we were a bit outnumbered, but they kids had a great time.

Silverwood is an amazing theme park and water park in Athol, Idaho, just north of Couer d'Alene.  David's favourite is the wooden roller coaster - a little too rickety for me!!

Columbia River Gorge

If you have never done this drive, you are missing something!  It is so beautiful.  There are wind surfers and para sail surfers, (bottom photo) sail boats, and huge barges. There are dams, cool rock formations, orchards, vineyards, and a replica of Stonehenge!

Friends in Portland

We had a lovely visit with friends in Portland.  Marci Rose really enjoyed the Voodoo donuts!  Cheryl made a lovely brunch which we ate on their deck.  The view at sunset the evening before was beautiful since this is west facing.  Their neighbourhood is great - lots of restaurants and coffee shops.
We were lucky to catch Johnny in between business flights!  Dinner, brunch, & Marci Rose's Summer Camp Graduation. It was a busy visit!

Voodoo Doughnuts

Apparently Voodoo Doughnuts are a very well known export in Portland, I however, did not know they were famous.  Very yummy, Rianna and my favorite was the Oreo, Sean's the Fruit Loop, and David's the Maple Bacon.

University of Oregon

David and I have a buddy who works at the University of Oregon.  Twenty years ago (ugh, that sounds like a very long time ago, but really it wasn’t) we took a little road trip with Brent.  We raced out of town on the last day of school; David and Brent taught together at Van Horne.  We went white water rafting, watched Fourth of July fireworks over the water in Seattle, and explored the Oregon Coast.  Then we went to the University in Oregon where he had an interview…and he has worked in the intramural department at the university ever since!

It worked out beautifully that he was able to show us around the university after we went for lunch.  They have pretty amazing resources for the athletics department at U of O and their teams, the Ducks.  It just so happens that Phil Knight, found of Nike, is a graduate of that University.  He has been very generous with his donations to his alma mater.  They just finished a multi million training centre for the football players, and we had an inside peek at the brand new basketball centre, as well as the Autzen football stadium.  (Notice the cheerleaders practicing in the background!!)

Any US town that is a University town tends to have a different feel and focus.  We could tell that right away in Eugene.  Not really sure that we can deal with foreign student fees, but Sean sure got a good idea of what life could be like going to school in a place like this!!  University athletics in the States are on a whole other level than anything in Canada!

Interesting Fact - many of the scenes in Animal House were filmed in Eugene, and there are multiple connections to the Simpsons show as well - like the statue of Jebidiah Springfield.

Push Your Limits

Even though we have had many unique and even somewhat scary experiences during our travels over the years, today’s adventure comes out on top as the scariest for me.  (Our drive down the Moki Dugway, also on the blog, is probably scary adventure #2 of the list)  We went to book a dune buggy tour, and ended up taking a Sand Rail adventure instead.  The lady at the ticket office compared the two vehicles as the difference between taking a trip on a bus vs a race car.  Under the “things I know for sure” category…I never need to ride in a race car!

The sand rail is a modified dune buggy, built for speed and agility.  We went up and over dunes that I would have thought impossibly steep.  We went around bowls of sand at such an angle, I was sure we would roll.  Even with a roll bar and 5 point harnesses, the danger was pretty high for my mom radar!

The young man who was driving was obviously very experienced and new what his machine could do.  It is like when snowmobiles go zooming up the hill and then turn at the last minute and come down.  Sometimes we came down, and sometimes we just went up and over.  I cannot remember when I have been so scared!  Half way through my stomach started to protest – maybe not the best ideas for someone who gets car-sick. 

The kids loved it; Sean was over the moon. They were a little worried about me, as the tears streaming down my face were a good clue that I was not having that much fun. Sean loved the speed and the turns, but I think he was a bit scared, too.  In the first couple minutes of the ride we were up to highway speeds – felt like a roller coaster on steroids!  About half way through, we headed out to the ocean and drove along the beach for about 2 miles – that was pretty tame, and my favourite part!  The second half of the ride was just as crazy, but at least I wasn’t as scared, knowing what the car and driver were capable of.  Now I just needed to get through the rest of the ride without throwing up and thoroughly embarrassing my kids! 

I am glad that I had that experience with S & R, but can safely say that I never need to do it again.

North Jetty, Florence, Oregon

Moon, sunset, sand, ocean and dune grass - was absolutely beautiful, and a photo doesn't do it justice!

Sand boarding

The sand dunes in this area just call out to be ridden!  I still get that urge when seeing a snow covered hill in winter – that ingrained drive to fly down a hill on a toboggan, knowing that eventually the thrill will end in a crash, a mouth full of snow, and that cold feeling as it trickles down your back.  Sand boarding gives you the same thrill, without the cold and wet.  (The only draw back, of course, is sand deposits in places that the snow never made it into!)

This is not our first adventure with sand boarding.  Our long time blog followers (and I love and appreciate all three of you!!!) will remember that we tried this in Colorado, at the Great Sand Dunes State Park.  The dunes there are bigger than these, and it seems like more of a desert ecosystem.  Here in Oregon, the environment is very unique with the conifers and underbrush growing right up out of the dunes.  This area has coastal rain forest, dunes, and beach.

We found a place that rents sand boards and sand sleds and spent some time honing our skills.  Sean picked it up again quite easily, while I, as always, am much more afraid of hurting something! This concern was realized when Sean challenged me to a race, and just because I was winning, felt the need to crash into me from behind, resulting in oh so major injuries to the mom. (at least that’s the way I remember it, Sean might just tell a different story) I much prefer the sand sled, which is exactly like a small toboggan.  Both the board and the sled have to be waxed up every time you go down the hill, but they go quite fast! Rianna did well on the sled, but was not too keen on the sand getting on every part of your body.  

Sand Dunes, Honeyman Campground

The sand dunes start at the back of the campground, and go straight up and up...

Yes, it is as steep as it looks.

Rianna was far too busy on the couch to come on this little hike (and today, it was much more enjoyable to just leave her there), David is finally just walking upright after screwing up his back, and so Sean and I had to conquer the dunes, just the two of us!

The view from the top was pretty awesome.

As you can imagine, the walk down was much easier than the step, step, step breathe, that occurred on the way up.  Sean literally "flew" down as he would run downhill,  jump into the air and land up to his knees in sand.

Jesse Honeyman State Park

As we travelled further south, we passed one of the few lighthouses that are along this coast.  ( I am pretty sure it is the Hecata Lighthouse.

The Honeyman campground is the second largest in Oregon.  It is a very cool ecosystem of huge sand dunes and conifers.  We are still in a coastal rain forest, and the campground is heavily forested with cedar, Douglas fir and sugar maples.  Tons of blackberry and salmon berry bushes are everywhere (but apparently they do not have a problem with bears!)

The light coming through the trees while we were out having our morning coffee was beautiful!

Tide Pools

We had a lovely time poking around the tide pools in Lincoln City.  Lots of anemones but no starfish :( We had lots of fun watching some ninny come screaming down the hill and into the sand at the bottom of the hill.  Needless to say, we were trying to be careful that the very large truck did not get stuck in the deep sand!

Sunsets are still pretty foggy though, but trees in the mist are always cool!

Exploring the coast

We did a bunch of day trips out and about from the campground at Depoe Bay.  We puttered around Lincoln City looking at kite stores and “antique” toys.  We had a lovely lunch at the Chowder House where I got to eat Seafood and the rest of my family didn’t have to.  We saw Harbour Seals in the bay, dug up clams, watched crab fishing & sea lions.

We found a lovely beach at Siletz Bay and took some great pictures of all of us sitting on driftwood.  But of course we can't just do photos without someone being a pain in the ***.  Today it just happened to be Sean!  Rianna loves her big brother soooooo much!