Thursday, June 28, 2012

Catching up re-posted

There were so many photos posted on our Oregon trip, it effectively hid some other posts.  Not sure if the links will work, just know there were two other new posts, Colin and Sophia's Birthdays respectively.

http://ourjourneytosophia.blogspot.com/2012/06/catching-up.html

Colin's B-day

http://ourjourneytosophia.blogspot.com/2012/06/colins-birthday.html

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Tillamook

If you are by the Oregon coast, a trip to the Tillamook Cheese Factory seems to be a compulsory stop.  We tasted some wonderful cheese and ate delicious ice cream.  But the Tillamook attraction that was really terrific was the Air Museum housed in a World War II Blimp hangar.  The old Navy Hangar used to house 8 dirigibles used for coastal patrol. We saw the structure from the road and it's sheer size was incredible.  Despite being a pilot, Colin doesn't usually like visiting air museums, but this one in Tillamook was fascinating.  With lots of history, an interesting museum filled with artifacts, cool old planes, and a structure that is so large, it makes you feel very tiny.  The hangar alone made it worth the visit.



Seeing Colin and the kids in front of the sliding doors, gives one a sense of how imposing the 120 foot doors really are.

Quite possible the ugliest airplane ever built?


Oregon Trip

In and effort to escape the Arizona summer heat, we made our way to Portland, OR.  We beat the heat all right, but traded it in for some chilly days and nights.  We spent one night in Portland and got to see the Rose parade.  Then we moved on to my cousin Carol's (and her husband Glenn's) farm in Silverton.  Finally, we spent a week in a beachside condo on the coast.  Aside from a little rain, and nightmare standby travel on the way back home, it was a lovely 10 days. 



 This float was put on by Alaska Airlines, complete with dancing flight attendants doing synchronized turns with their bags in tow, it was a lot of fun!

At cousin Carol's farm, Keenan discovered a trampoline. 

And the Llama

Photo op in the barn
 A move to the chilly coast....

Complete with miles of hard packed beach which I took advantage of for my daily nine mile run.



Lots of tidal pools for exploring.



And climbing


Sand for great construction projects.



As well as ample sand for love notes.

Raincoats were donned a couple of times
More often, it was jackets, hats, and mittens

The kids loved hiking up all those stairs in the lighthouse.  Keenan just barely made the height requirement, and he did a fair amount of stretching as they measured him.



Cobble Beach



Star fish petting


Star fish and sea urchin spotting.


At Agate Beach, we saw the Japanese tsunami dock that washed ashore two weeks ago.

Some strange weather patterns

The kids loved seeing this crab up close in personal at the marine science center.  
The thinkers........


A log over a stream just begs to be crossed.


Carol and Glen joined us for an overnight visit.

Colin had trouble keeping up with the little ones.



Hunting for agates and shells.



More sand building, this time we constructed an octopus.  The kids named aptly named it Ollie.  Ollie actually lasted for two days.