Oregon - And You're Going to Like It

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The forecast was calling for rain much of the time we were in Oregon, but it kept missing us. The resulting beautiful weather enabled us to do many fun outdoor activities. I’m sure much our fondness for Oregon has to do with this, as well as with Donate Life Northwest. They are a fantastic group of people, working tirelessly to promote organ donation. It was a pleasure working with them.

Here are some highlights from Oregon:

Most Authentic Meal: We met a friend in Cannon Beach who recommended Mo’s, a local spot, for dinner. Surprisingly, we hadn’t had much fish to eat yet, even though we’d been up and down the West coast, so this seemed like a perfect opportunity to partake of a seafood dinner. Mike had halibut fish & chips, and I had an oyster sandwich with a side of clam chowder. The clam chowder tasted like potato soup. It wasn’t fishy at all, so I don’t know why I avoided it for so long! The oyster sandwich was, well, interesting. I was glad I tried it, but I won’t repeat it either. The kids weren’t adventurous with their meals. Levi ordered ribs. (Yes, ribs at a fish place - he’s that kind of guy.) Chloe ordered the kid’s grilled cheese served on a Frisbee. How fun is that?!

Most Regrettable Meal: Burgerville - but not for the reason you’d expect. After ordering, I discovered the receipt was broken down into each person’s individual order, including the nutritional information. Oh boy, talk about regretting your meal choices before you even get it! I suddenly had second thoughts about splitting the milk shake with Chloe. The worst part was my veggie burger had just as many calories as Mike’s meaty bacon burger. It had more fiber and carbs but over 600 calories! The food was good, but if we run across another Burgerville, I’ll definitely order fewer calories. I’m curious if that will that translate into fewer dollars for Burgerville.

Biggest Surprise: I never thought I’d have a photographer and a reporter in my hotel room, much less before 9 am. Such is life on a 365 day trip around the U.S. promoting organ donation; you just never know what to expect! After the initial awkwardness, the interview with the reporter from The Oregonian moved to the dining area. He spent over an hour talking to us and said that we inspired him. I guess you can’t ask for more than that, well, maybe an article on the front page inspiring every reader to sign up as an organ donor… Seriously, thanks Oregonian for getting the word out about the importance and ease of signing up to be an organ donor.

Biggest Twinge of Homesickness: Our Portland area hotel may not have had free apples, cookies, or soup like the last hotel, but it did have a pancake machine. This was something new they were testing on the continental breakfast line. The pancakes roll off the machine, sort of like tortillas roll off the tortilla machine at Chevy’s Tex-Mex restaurant, if you’ve ever been there. Levi put peanut butter on his pancakes, dunked them in syrup, and got a little sentimental. It reminded him of our old home, where I created the triple-decker pancake sandwich. (It was my attempt at healthify-ing pancakes, and it worked until he discovered syrup.)

Worst Closure: Crater Lake. It wasn’t technically closed, it was just snow covered – in June! When you’re from Illinois, you don’t expect snow in June, even in the mountains. Our mountain inexperience shows again!

Most Beautiful Spot: Multnomah Falls. I can’t begin to describe how beautiful it is. Check out the pictures.

Best Tourist Spot: Seaside has a nice promenade along the beach. It was fun walking down the promenade, tossing around a makeshift ball, and smelling the ocean air. Ahhhh.

Worst Memory: Fort Clatsop – to go or not to go was the Q. It was difficult deciding what to see and do when not everyone agrees and when we don’t really know if it’s worth the time and money since we’ve never been there before. Sometimes hurt feelings ensued when we picked one family member’s idea over another.

That was the case with Fort Clatsop. This was the final resting place for the Lewis & Clark Expedition. (Figuratively speaking, I don’t think they’re buried there.) Surely it’s important and historical, but was it worth the drive, money, and grief if it wasn’t exciting?

Finally, we put Fort Clatsop up for a vote, but in the process we discovered that we needed a way to communicate if this was something important to us. After all, we didn’t want to miss out because of the popular vote. Due of the problem with hanging chad, we came up with a code. If it is significant to us, we communicate this by saying, “We’re going to X, and you’re going to like it.” Then we go, no questions asked. (Actually, I’m surprised the kids haven’t tried this with every amusement park and laser tag place since then!)

Best Memory: Zip lining with the kids. Tree to Tree Adventure Park was very professional. They require everyone to watch an instructional video and pass a training course before proceeding onto the taller trees. The course was challenging and fun; the smell of sap was thick in the air; and zipping down the lines with squeals of delight echoing through those big trees was priceless!

My OR Hike: In Cannon Beach we walked along the beach to Haystack Rock and back, catching up with our friend. (Clarification: the adults walked; the kids waded, jumped skipped…It was here we decided that a family rule “Keep your Pants Dry” might be good.) The view was stunning, and the waves were great. I can see why it’s the most photographed on the Oregon coast!

Biggest Revelation: Sometimes politicians can make goofy laws. We were quite perplexed the first time we pulled up to the gas pump in OR, and two burly guys sauntered over to our van. We thought we did something wrong or, worse yet, were about to be mugged. Turns out in OR it’s against the law to pump your own gas…really? Does the government really need to restrict my gasoline pumping? Isn’t this just another example of too much government?

What We Did Miss: Crater Lake, Bend, most of Portland, Mt. Hood, Fort Clatsop, and much more!

In Summary: Oregon, you’ve got so much to offer, but we took only pictures and memories and left only footprints!

-Mom

Oregon - Sand on the Beach, Under our Boards, In Our...


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First our daughter discusses Oregon and her cynophobia:

Today I'm blogging about Oregon. Oregon was the best state of all because we went zip lining and sand boarding. We went to a zip lining place called Tree to Tree. They had two rather large dogs, and I was scared of big dogs until then. We walked up to the spot where we check in, and I saw the two dogs. At first I was scared, but then I petted them and realized how cute they were. That's how I overcame my fear of dogs. The zip lining was REALLY fun. It was the most awesome thing I've ever done along with sand boarding. Sand boarding was great because it was fun to do something new. I got the hang of it my very first try. I was scared at first, but after I went down I wanted to go again.

We went to a beachside restaurant called Mo's with my brother's and my former Sunday school teacher. Mo's was my favorite restaurant in Oregon because I enjoyed looking at the beach, and it was kind of cool getting your grilled cheese on a Frisbee. My favorite memory was playing at the beach which was freezing cold water. If you’re wondering what my animal was, it was a slug because we couldn't find any zoos or aquariums in Oregon. That's all I have to say about Oregon. Bye.
- the daughter
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Followed by our now officially TEENAGE son:

Hi, everybody, DD here. It's time for my Oregon blog.

What were the major events in the state? 
In Oregon we did many fun things like zip lining. We also went sand boarding at Sand Master Park. The Organ Donor people in Oregon were very good too.

What did you enjoy the most about this state: 
I enjoyed zip lining the most. It wasn't just zip lining though. They also had a jungle gym of sorts up in the trees. I loved the drainage tube you had to crawl through to the next tree. My favorite was definitely the zip lining though.

What was your favorite food or restaurant? 
I LOVED the salt water taffy at Bruce's Candy Kitchen. I had never had taffy until then, but I love it now. They had so many different flavors. My favorite was banana.

What was your favorite memory? 
I still remember the beach we went to in Cannon Beach. Its waves definitely beat California's waves. They were so big that the moon got a little wet. They also weren't as cold as CA's.

Please write about the zoo/mini golf: 
In Oregon we did two mini golf courses. The first one we didn't count because they didn't use real golf balls. The second was next to a real golf course. It was fun because it took skill rather than getting a ball through a loop. Over all I give it a four out of five stars.

Please tell one story from the state: 
When we went zip lining at Tree to Tree Adventure Park, they had this training course we had to do first. It was maybe three feet off the ground. Our training instructor told us several things about zip lining. One of which was if you put your hand in front of the pulley, you will feel pain. I went first on the zip line with no problem. Chloe took five minutes (scared to ruin her hand) then went. Mom went with no problem. After that, we spent three hours zipping, climbing, and crawling.

This is DD signing off.
-the son

Washington - Where We Got the Trip Right


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Washington for me was whale watching on the open sea.  Gorgeous.  Gorgeous.  Gorgeous...  It wasn't the whales (we didn't see any the first time out) - it was the water, the mountains in the background, and working together as a team to find those pesky whales.  So much fun.  Our daughter took it so seriously and we smiled at her enthusiasm.

Mt Rainier also brought a smile with its majestic stance in the skyline.  The National Park was wonderful with gorgeous trails and enormous rocks for the kids to climb. I must say as we passed numerous properties for sale approaching the white-capped giant, I thought about living here. The descriptions of rain and cold in Washington dissuaded me, however, and we mentally noted that we could see more mountains elsewhere.

After learning our lesson from crazy schedules in prior states, we de-stressed in Washington by staying all 7 days in one place, a little spot called Sumner.  It was a cute little town with train access to Seattle and within reach of most of the Western part of the state.

Seattle was as expected - biig city with some cool things to see...oh and a little rainy.  The most important thing according to our community at http://helpus.bestplacesintheusa.com/ was the guys throwing fish at Pike's Market.  Very fun.  We debated about shipping my folks some fresh fish, but frankly  the fish there were too big to fit in my dad's little Fry-Daddy.  (That's a deep fryer for you healthy people.)  A fond memory of mine was when dad would make beer-battered fish which were always followed by home made french fries.  (Some day when Sheri is out planting broccoli, I will secretly teach the kids about deep frying...)

It was Sheri and I's second time up in the Space Needle, and you do need to see it once but once is probably enough.

One thing we missed in Washington was the little town of Leavenworth.  We had been there 10 years earlier, and I remember driving into the mountains through the clouds top get there.  Your are surrounded by mountain tops which led to romantic walks with my wife.  In the evening, the outdoor hot tub at our hotel held the perfect viewpoint for the sun setting into the mountains.  Oh, and there's German saugage.  Hopefully, it remains that beautiful as they did have a fire there server years back.

We also were reminded of a life lesson from many years earlier.  Passion makes life worth living.  So many people don't care about anything...and their life becomes a monotany of daily tasks.  Care.  Care deeply.  Then act.  It creates goals, makes things happen.  Passion wakes you up from your your otherwise mondane life.  Find it for something - your marriage, God, organ donation, going on vacation, your job...then do something about it.

Best Hotel: Wow, there were two - the Holiday Inn Express in Spokane Valley where the kids loved petting the hotel dog as well as a staff that went way out of there way to make my wife's birthday fantastic.  The second was the Holiday Inn Express in Sumner.  Great staff and they had complimentary apples, cookies, AND SOUP in the evening.  It was a nice healthy, break for us.

Worst Hotel: Doubletree - SEATEC.  Very nice rooms, and of course the cookies were good, but the front desk was horribly uninformed and instead of apologizing about it, they were somewhat rude.

Best Restaurant: I know it's wrong to pick a chain, but Charley's Grilled Subs had the best Philly Cheese-steak I've ever had.  They tempted us all with a sample as we walked around downtown Seattle and 3 of us got hooked.  The sandwich lived up to its hype and we will still stop at a Charley's as we travel because the taste left a memory.  Things may change when we make it to Philly...

Best Memory: Sitting in the shadow of Mount Rainier with Sheri while the kids played on the rock.  These are the times I love the most when we can chat together about life while our kids are having fun.  Don't remember what we talked about sitting on the rocks, but I remember the beauty of the mountains, of my wife and the peaceful feelings it all brought.

Worst Memory: WalMart not being able to get the oil in our tank during an oil change and then not cleaning the mess up.

Mini-Golf Winner: Sheri keeps up her streak. Stats at the time: Me-1, Sheri-3, Levi-1, Chloe-0

Possible state to live in:  Not at this time.  We didn't find a place we would like to live in Washington...other than within view of Mt Rainier.  The weather didn't sound great either, although we didn't give the middle of the state a fair shot at it.

-Dad

Washington - Smells Like Teen Spirit...or is That Coffee?


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We’re back on dry land after the cruise to Alaska and does it feel goooood; although, it’s strange coming back from a cruise to another vacation! (It still feels like this 365 day trip is one long vacation.)

On the drive to our hotel, I was fixated by Mt. Rainier. It is so majestic! Maybe I just wasn’t used to driving after a week on the cruise ship, but I could hardly watch the road. My eyes kept veering over to the snow capped mountain. I’m not sure if the buttes around it are really hills or if they just look like it next to Rainier, but Mt. Rainier towers over the rest! Fortunately, we didn’t get into an accident or anything with my distracted driving. I figure at least I wasn’t texting about Mt. Rainier while driving.

Here are some highs and lows from Washington:

Worst Meal: My Greek and Italian Restaurant in Puyallup where the qualifications to receive the free kid’s meal were a mile long, and it took us about an hour to comprehend them. It would have been fine had the food been worth it, but we just felt like they were cutting corners right and left. For instance, the Greek salad was really just bagged salad with a Kalamata olive on top. It turned out that My Big Fat Greek Restaurant was just overpriced. Hindsight is always better.

Favorite Meal: Well, the yak burger we had in a little restaurant near Mt. Rainier wins hands down for tastiest burger, but as for favorite meal, it has to be our “dinner and a movie.” We had a light dinner at Dairy Freeze, if you can you call a shake, “light.” The Black ‘N White was deliciously rich – chocolate and marshmallow crème combined in a shake…mmh. Then we had a movie night with popcorn. Since our hotel room had a DVD player, it was the perfect ending to a fun day. We selected Karate Kid and Hachi from the local Redbox. Karate Kid was a blast from the past - the kids loved it! Hachi, on the other hand, was quite a tear jerker. The loyalty was impressive, yet the dog never being happy again was disheartening, even unsettling. I hope I’m not like Hachi, placing my happiness on something that isn’t returning. I’m trying to place my happiness to on Jesus who will return one day!
Biggest Disappointment: Chihuly "Bridge of Glass". Oh, it’s a fine work of art, if that’s what you’re expecting to see. On the other hand, if you’re expecting an actual bridge made of glass that you can walk across, then it’s not so impressive. Again, the Mom takes grief for a wild glass chase, I mean goose chase…

Biggest Surprise: How comforting it was to see Carmen, our van! (We named our van “Carmen” for the GPS voice and the game “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?”) When the valet pulled Carmen up after the cruise, I was amazed by my feelings. It was silly, but I got that warm comforting feeling like when you walk in your house after a long trip…”Ah, home!” For us, it’s a van...

Most Un-American Moment: Not going into the original Starbucks in Seattle. I thought about using their bathroom, but that makes it even worse!

Worst Closure: The whales. The boat has a 97% success rate with a guarantee that if you don’t see whales, you can go again for free until you do. That means 3 in 100 trips don’t see whales. Would you believe we were one of those statistical three? Apparently, the whales were closed for the day. Actually, we learned from the naturalist that the day before our trip the whales did something they hadn’t done in the 8 years he has worked there: the pods headed up north to feed and hadn’t been spotted since. Go figure! The only cool part was the realization that even the whale experts, who follow the whales every day, can’t predict them…that’s in God’s hands alone.

Note: We did see whales the next day: three Minke whales. They weren’t breaching and spy hopping - just 3 solitary whales happened to be feeding in the area, but it was whale watching, and it did qualify.

Best Sight Seeing Spot: Snoqualmie Falls. Now, this was a waterfall! It’s not the tallest or the widest, but it is a beauty. The water was hitting the bottom with such force that its spouting was taller than the whales! :) It was the perfect excursion for a beautiful, sunshiny afternoon in Washington.

Best Hotel: Holiday Inn Express in Spokane where they have a dog named Kip who lives at the hotel and welcomes guests. He even has a business card, and his title is “Stress Manager!” I celebrated my birthday while we stayed at this hotel, but since we’re together so much on the road, it’s a little difficult to plan birthday surprises for each other. Mike asked the hotel staff about ideas, and they had a balloon bouquet waiting for me at breakfast. In addition, the breakfast manager baked a special muffin for me complete with a candle. They really go above and beyond at this hotel when it comes to hospitality!

Worst Memory: Getting the oil changed and the tires rotated at the Puyallup Walmart. This was our worst experience with those required tasks. First of all, I had to stand in the WA drizzle while the guy checked in the car. He asked weird questions that I’ve never had to answer before about lug nuts and such. I don’t know! I usually just drive up, and they take care of everything else. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?

After shopping and getting haircuts, the van still wasn’t done. We waited and waited. Finally, we got Carmen back, but the windows weren’t clean and the floors certainly weren’t vacuumed. When we drove away, we couldn’t help but notice an awful smell. Turns out, they spilled oil all over the engine. We drove back and made them clean it up - and vacuum the interior. We got free wiper blades out of the deal, but I’m not sure that it was worth the time and hassle. One day in WA wasted.

Best Memory: Mt. Rainier. The best part was, well, the view, but after that it was hiking through and playing on the rocks in the riverbed. The kids had the best time exploring up and down the water. I joined them for some discovery but also enjoyed sitting and enjoying the splendor of Mt. Rainier with the hubby.

Biggest Revelation: I figured out why there’s a coffee hut on every corner – it’s so cold and damp here! Love the sunny days. Hate the rainy ones. The weird thing is one minute it’s rainy, and literally the next it’s sunny. I guess that’s why there’s a coffee hut on every corner…

My WA Hike: Mt Rainier is one awesome volcano! We discovered it is an active volcano, which frightened the kids a little, but we decided to do a 2 mile hike to a waterfall and back anyway. :)  We were just about ready to give up and turn around (it must have been the elevation!) when we asked some hikers, “How much further?” Their reply was, “About 10 steps.” To think we almost turned around and missed it, when we were that close.

What We Missed: Cascade mountains, Olympia National Park, Leavenworth, Grand Coulee Dam, and Fairy Tale Bakery to name a few.

In Summary:  Washington, when you’re sunny, you’re beautiful. I need to learn to love coffee before we return, though.

- Mom

Washington - Sunnier and Mount Rainier

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Hi everybody! Dr. Dorito here, and I'm doing my Washington blog.

What were the major events in the state?
In Washington we did numerous things. One of the things we did was go up the Space Needle. We also hiked on Mount Rainier and went whale watching.

What did you enjoy the most about this state?
My favorite thing that I did in Washington was hike Mount Rainier. The reason I loved it is because it had a bunch of rocks at the beginning of the hike, and unlike other places you are allowed to walk on the rocks there. The rest of the hike was rough. It was very steep but well worth it.

What was your favorite food or restaurant?
My favorite restaurant was Dairy Freeze. They had numerous kinds of shakes. All of them made my taste buds have a party. My favorite was probably cookie dough though.

What was your favorite memory?
I remember the Space Needle the most. It was really cool to look out in every direction. I also liked how they had a lens that you could zoom in and control the view.

Write about the zoo/mini golf:
The Putting Zoo was a very tricky mini golf course. They had some of the hardest and most fun holes ever. One hole was on an electronic carousel that spun you around while you tried to put. Another had a super steep hill that you had to hit your ball up. The hill was almost as tall as me. The only downfall of the course was some of the cups were dirty (cup as in the hole you try to putt the ball in). Overall I give this a four out of five stars.

Tell one story from the state:
In Washington we went whale watching twice. The first time we saw nothing but seals, birds, and one porpoise. The second time, after about four hours, we finally saw three mink whales. About two days later, dad looked them up on Twitter and found that they were watching four different pods (groups of whales).

This is DD signing off.
-Levi

Washington - Are You Whale Watching When There are No Whales?


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Washington was great. My favorite memory was looking down at Seattle from the Space Needle. It was the most awesome view I've ever seen! The best restaurant in Washington was called Charley's Grilled Subs. They had an extremely good Philly cheese steak. My favorite dessert place was called Dairy Freeze. I didn't really like their shakes, but it was fun to try new flavors every time we went there. I tried flavors like cupcake, black and white, and rocky road.

My animal for Washington was whales, and that means we went whale watching. The first trip which we didn't see any whales was still fun. I was dying to see whales. I spent the whole time outside freezing my fingers off looking for whales, while my family was inside in the cozy warmth. The second trip we saw three whales. One got fifteen feet away from the boat! You've been a great audience! Bye!

-Chloe, the daughter