We have been planning this trip to the Oregon coast for about two years, ever since we came back from Canada. We originally planned to go with my sister and her family and with Austin's brother and his family, but they were joined by the their second son while we were in Oregon, so Austin's dad and our nephews came with us instead. It was a super fun trip and we loved all the time together and the cool weather! We did lots of fun activities that we haven't tried in Oregon before and also spent lots of time on the beach. We started our trip with a hike to a blue pool. Our nephew, Paul, was the most interested in this hike so he and his brother Ben came in our car and Asher and Leif drove up with their grandpa. It was a long drive through the night so that we could get there in the early morning, but it well worth it!
I've read that there is a way to get down to the pool and that you can swim in it if you want to, but we didn't want to take the little kids down the steep trail and the pool is extremely cold, so no one really wanted to get into it.
It was quite enough just to look at it and to throw in pebbles to see the ripples.
We got to our rental house a couple hours before we could check-in, so we played at the beach for a little while.
The kids especially loved jumping over the waves as they came in or running from them. I remember doing this as a kid and it was so fun to watch.
Austin had fun wrestling and playing with all the kids. I took a few videos of their shenanigans, but I can never get videos to upload on the blog.
On Monday morning, the five boys each got to make something from glass with a professional glassblower. They got to choose their object, colors, and pattern then help to make it.
They all said that this was one of their favorite activities of the trip and it was a new, fun experience for them all. My mom was the one who initiated this, and I'm so glad she did.
That afternoon, we flew kites on the beach. I bought Natalie this kite months ago and she was so excited to finally use it.
Asher enjoyed flying Abbey's kite.
Heidi flew Abbey's kite too.
That evening we walked about 2 miles up the beach from our rental house and came to some tide pools that must be little-known, because I rarely saw anyone there and I walked this way every morning while we were there.
There weren't actually many pools, but there were lots of creatures stuck on the rocks- especially a lot of starfish.
On Tuesday, the girls got a very special surprise of riding horses on the beach. They were both so excited for this! Abbey and her family came with us.
Much to Austin's delight there was a McDonald's close to the house we rented and often ended up being the place we went whenever we needed to get some food into everyone quickly. Abbey and I planned breakfasts and dinners for every day at the house, but we ate out for lunch more than I would have liked.
That afternoon, Paul wanted to go on a nearby hike, but all the other kids wanted to go home and to the beach. Austin came along with us on a hike called God's Thumb, which was a trail out to a precipice overlooking the beach where we had gone the evening before.
It was a very nice hike with a gorgeous view at the end.
Here is a photo of the glass pieces the boys did.
On Wednesday, we went to Cannon Beach. It is a really cute little town with a nice, large beach, but its very crowded and we got there a little late for the best tide pool time.
We visited a little bakery that we had gone to years before and everyone got a yummy treat (or two) and we sampled each other's.
We also went to a cute little toy shop where Natalie got a merbunny.
Since it was our 15th wedding anniversary, Brent took all the kids back home and Austin and I spend a little more time looking in shops and eating a decadent chocolate shake. Dinner didn't work out as planned, but we had lots of alone time together on the drive home.
On Thursday morning, after French toast and some time on the beach, I took the kids to another hike that ended at a waterfall and suspension bridge.
It was a nice hike, but warmer than I had anticipated, so we were all
over-dressed. It was also not as stunning as the previous hikes, but
still fun.
After the hike, we met everyone else at the Tillamook factory. Asher went with Abbey's family to do a special ice cream tasting tour, but the rest of us just did the regular cheese tour, ate some snacks that we bought there, and had ice cream.
We got up early on Friday morning to make it to a tide pool area called Devil's Punchbowl during low tide. We were the first ones there, although we were joined by a few others later on.
Despite being quite slippery and slimey, this place was the best tide pool area I've ever seen. Paul was the best at finding pools full of little critters and Trevor liked to tag along to look.
This is Trevor inside Devil's Punchbowl, which is a sea cave that is partly underwater at high tide.
Paul usually likes to sleep in really late, but told me that seeing all these pools was something worth getting up early for ;)
Apparently this area is a big surfing place. We saw tons of surfers changing into wet suit and carrying boards around, but we never actually saw them surfing, probably because we stuck mostly to the tide pool area.
Afterward, we went to The Oregon Coast Aquarium. It was really cool and small, like the one we've been to in Quebec. One of our biggest draws to go there was to see the sea otters. We got to see their feeding time and everyone enjoyed watching them play around.
Leif is a huge sea-otter-fan and was happy to get up close to them.
We also saw the seals, sea-birds, and fish.
There were also touching pools with many creatures that we didn't get to see at the tide pools we visited.
The next thing on the schedule was to go crabbing. Brent took all the kids (except Natalie because she was too young and gets motion sickness easily too). Asher insisted that I take this picture because the kids all ate Taco Bell before going on the boat and Paul and Ben's sister (who didn't come) loves Taco Bell.
They all had fun doing this and caught lots of crab. Austin was the only one to get sea-sick, but recovered quickly and made the best of it, as always. They also saw a few sea lions out in the harbor. I included this picture of Leif also at the beginning of this post because it is one of my favorite picture of the trip- thanks to Brent for taking it!
While everyone else was out crabbing, Natalie and I had lunch with Abbey and her family at a place called Abby's Legendary Pizza. It was pretty slow, but pretty good.
We went to a local beach afterward to wait for the crabbing to be over. Natalie had a blast just playing in the sand and surf and this short time watching her was one of my favorite parts of the trip.
When we got home, Brent prepared a feast of crab for everyone. The rule was that everyone had to try and and everyone ended up at least liking it, with a few of us loving it.
Afterward, we went to the beach all together for a final time.
We went home that evening and started packing and cleaning up. We finished up in the morning (after I took Asher, Leif, and Ben on a last walk on the beach as soon as the sun was up) and everyone left early for the long drive home.
To fulfill one of Austin's dreams, we stopped at the Snow Peak store in Portland.
We also stopped at a farmer's market to get berries, hazlenuts, and marionberry jam and later at Pendelton. It made for an extra long trip, but it was nice to get out and stretch and we all had lots of fun!
