Two Trips in One Month

What a great month of traveling it has been! We went to the...

Oregon Coast this past week.

Our trip went in this order: We left Pasco,WA, and headed west to Raymond, WA, south to Astoria, OR, even more south to Tillamook, OR, then east to Portland, and further east to Pasco, WA. That is our trip in a nutshell, with several stops in between.

Here are the highlights from our trip:

Mt. Rainer.

A waterfall. (Don't remember what it is called.)
Fort Stevens State Park. This is a great park! So much to do and see. It is just west of Astoria where the Columbia River and Pacific Ocean meet. There is something about the ocean; it is beautiful and fascinating. Lauren's smile explains how we all felt.
One attraction at Fort Stevens is the Peter Iredale, which shipwrecked in 1906. The story is that dense fog made navigation difficult and this ship landed on a sandbar off Clatsop Beach, where it is stuck today. One interesting fact about this area where the Columbia and ocean meet is that since 1792, approximately 2,000 ships have sunk; therefore, it's nickname is "Graveyard of the Pacific."


Here is where we camped at Fort Stevens.

We continued down Highway 101 to Cannon Beach, which is probably my favorite of all.

We eventually made it down to Kilchis River Campground for the Hansen Reunion, which was the reason we were on this trip. It's located just north of Tillamook. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of our time down there, but we had a good time with family. We went to the Tillamook Creamery a few times for some good ice cream and we went to Rockaway Beach too. When the reunion was over, we packed up, and headed for Portland.

Several of us parked in the city, cooked up a hot dog on the side of the road...

and headed to the famous Voodoo Doughnuts--"The magic is in the hole." What better way to end a trip than having a doughnut! (These pictures came from online somewhere.)

At the first of the month, we headed to McCall, Idaho.

Throughout my childhood, my family would head to McCall during the summer to stay at my grandparent's cabin. I have so many wonderful memories there....swimming in the lake, picking huckleberries, taking walks through Ponderosa State Park. The list goes on and on. My grandparent's have passed on and the cabin has been sold, but it is still good to go back because of all that is familiar.

We stayed in a nice cabin over the 4th of July weekend. Most of our time was spent at Payette Lake. Here are some pictures of my crazy family.

The view.
Lauren sporting her sweet goggles.
All the adults sat on the beach while the brave children swam in the cold water. However, some adults went in...I'm not included in that group of adults.



Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandchildren that were in McCall.
I love going on vacation and taking a break from life. Although, it is always good to return home to my own bed.