Summer vacation!

(I'm going to give a basic outline of our whole trip in this post and then I'll add more details and pictures about some of the events in subsequent posts.)

Tuesday, July 10:
Our first day of vacation was not too exciting. Our trip itinerary was to drive about 10 1/2 hours the first day to get us close to Crater Lake - and the scenery wasn't much to look at. We drove through Utah and into Nevada to Winnemucca and then headed up in a north/northwest direction to finally stop at Klamath Falls, Oregon where we spent the night in a Motel 6. After we left Interstate 80 at Winnemucca, we were just traveling on 2-lane state highways. We also got some rain as it started to get dark. The kids drove us absolutely crazy that first day and I think DH & I were both wondering what we were getting ourselves into...

The most exciting scenery for the day were the salt flats in western Utah. The kids were looking out the window and shouted out, "Look, snow!"
Once we were an hour or two into our trip I started thinking about what I had packed and I had the sinking suspicion that I had forgotten to pack my tennis shoes. I also realized that I had forgotten ALL of our jackets. (Next time I'm going to have to do a better job about making a packing list - and getting DH to help...)

I had booked the motel online at a discounted rate and kids stay free at Motel 6 so it was a pretty cheap price for the night. We got in to the motel around 11:30 at night. It was a tiny room with just enough space to fit 2 double beds and there were lots of smokers standing outside their room doors smoking. M&M & Luke volunteered to sleep on the floor the first night which meant that Kitty & Blondie were going to be sharing a bed. Well, as you can imagine, that didn't work too well. The two girls were having too much fun rolling around and goofing off so DH & I had to split them up. I shared a bed with Kitty and she is definitely a violent sleeper. She kept rolling over and kicking me during the whole night.

Wednesday, July 11:
We had to take a small detour in the morning to find a store where I could buy some tennis shoes since we were planning on hiking once we got to Crater Lake. Luckily there was a Wal-mart in Klamath Falls and I was able to buy some fairly cheap shoes and we picked up a couple of food items while we were there also. Then we headed up to Crater Lake National Park which is about an hour north of Klamath Falls. We spent several hours there and then we headed in a southwest direction to get to northern California.

We stopped in Grants Pass, Oregon for dinner at McDonald's which is just a few miles north of the California border. Once we got our food and sat down to start eating, DH made a comment that he felt like it was going to rain. I looked outside and was surprised to see that the sky had gotten very dark and there were storm clouds just to the west of us. I asked DH if he wanted to put his bike in the car and he said that he would before we hit the road again. I looked at the sky again and suggested that he should probably not wait and do it right then. As soon as DH walked out the door to the car there was a loud clap of thunder and then another one as he was reaching up to the roof to get the bike down. I was sitting in the restaurant watching him and wishing I could go and help but I was hesitant to leave the kids by themselves. The wind was blowing pretty good and DH was struggling to get some things moved out of the way so that the bike would fit between the seats. I told M&M to watch the younger ones for me and then I ran out to the car for just a minute to help with the bike.

After we came back in the restaurant it started pouring. Then a few minutes later the power went out. Luckily we already had our food because there's not much a restaurant can do without power. There was an older couple eating near us with their granddaughter and we all just ate and watched the lightning out the very large windows at McDonald's. Once we finished eating, DH went out to the car to get a flashlight so we could use the restrooms there and then we loaded the kids up in the car to continue on our journey. Luckily we had already filled up the car with gas because I'm not sure if the gas stations are able to function without power (and gas prices in California are outrageous). It took us a little while to get onto the highway going into California because none of the traffic lights were working. Finally we made it to the highway and then we had about a 1 1/2 hour drive to Crescent City, California.

I didn't have a hotel room booked for Crescent City because I wasn't able to find one online for under $100. So we decided to just drive there and see what we could find. Once we made it to the city we drove down the main road looking at the hotels on it and then picked one to stop at. When we went in the office and asked if they had a room for 2 adults and 4 kids she sounded doubtful at first and then found that she had one more room available that had 2 queen beds in it (and it was under $100). Apparently just before we got there the California Department of Forestry (CDF) had come and booked a large number of rooms for some firefighters that were there to fight a nearby forest fire. This room was much more spacious with a bed in the first room when you walked in the door and then a separate bedroom with another bed in it. It also had a small refrigerator and microwave in the room and they offered a free continental breakfast in the morning. One downside though was that it didn't have any air conditioning. Luckily it wasn't too hot and there was a ceiling fan in the back bedroom so DH & I took that bed. The hotel was also a little older and more run down than the Motel 6 we stayed at, but it was fine for our needs. I asked at the front desk if we could have some extra blankets to put down on the floor for the kids and they dropped some off at our room. Since Luke & M&M were on the floor the first night, it was Blondie & Kitty's turn for the floor and Blondie wasn't too happy about it. Luke was ecstatic that the room he & M&M were in had its own T.V. and I let them watch it for a little while after we turned the lights out.

Thursday, July 12:
On Thursday we packed the car and then headed to the front office for the continental breakfast. It wasn't great but we were able to eat enough to fill us for a while and then we headed to the National Park Service's information office in town to get some info and a map of the Redwood forests.

After several hours of sight-seeing in the Redwood forests we headed up north to drive along the Oregon coast some. We ended up driving almost halfway up the coast to Florence, OR and then we headed east to Eugene where we met up with I-5 and followed that north to get to Vancouver, WA. We ended up arriving at DH's parents' home at around 11:30 p.m. (a little later than we had originally estimated). DH's brother, S, and family were also able to come down to DH's parents' for the weekend. They ended up arriving even later than us on Thursday night.

Friday, July 13:
On Friday we took things pretty easy and just enjoyed visiting with each other most of the day. The kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins in Grandma & Grandpa's bounce house and in the swimming pool.

After dinner we put the kids to bed and then the adults - minus grandpa - went to see the new Harry Potter movie. That was a lot of fun and we all really enjoyed the movie.




Saturday, July 14:
DH, S & their dad got up early to get in a bike ride. After they got back we ate lunch and then went to see Multnomah Falls which is located along the Columbia River Gorge. The kids played some more in the swimming pools while dinner was cooking. Later on DH & S spent some time watch some X-men cartoons while their mom & V & I played some Rummikub.





Sunday, July 15:
Blondie's birthday! We went to church in the morning and then came home and ate lunch, had some birthday cake and then said goodbye to S & family. It was good to see them again. Niece L is a beautiful & easy-going baby!

Monday, July 16:
We were planning on going to the beach during the morning and we would take a lunch with us to eat when we got there. Unfortunately, DH's dad's computer program was having some problems which meant that Dad N. wasn't able to get much work done at the office. So DH had to spend the morning trying to figure out was wrong. So Mom N. & I took the kids and went to the dollar store to buy some buckets & shovels for the beach, hoping that the problem would be fixed by the time we got back to the house. Unfortunately, it still wasn't fixed yet so we sat down and ate lunch and were trying to decide what to do when DH got the problem fixed. So we quickly finished eating and then hit the road. The kids had a blast there and we didn't get home until after bedtime.

Tuesday, July 17:
It turns out that it was a good thing that we went to the beach on Monday because on Tuesday it rained all morning (which is unusual for this time of year). We had originally planned to go to Fort Vancouver in the morning but since we hadn't brought any jackets with us we decided to save that for another trip. So we skipped that item on our agenda and went on to the next item.
We drove down to McMinnville, Oregon where we visited the Evergreen Aviation Museum. On our way there we took a brief detour to a Krispy Kreme doughnut store and enjoyed some doughnuts throughout the day. When we got to the museum we ate the lunch that we had brought with us and then went into the museum.
On the way back to the house we stopped at Portland's Rose Gardens. It was beautiful and since it had rained in the morning, there were raindrops on all the roses. Next we picked up some Papa Murphy's pizza to cook at Great-Grandma N's house. We had a short visit with her at her home and then headed back to Vancouver to start packing for our trip back home.

Wednesday, July 18:
Left to go back home to Utah. We ended up leaving around 9 a.m. and DH had me drive the whole way. It's about a 13-14 hour drive and since we lose an hour crossing time zones, we didn't get home until around 11:30 that night. The only "problem" we had during the trip was a lot of road construction in Idaho and then some in Utah. All in all it was a very fun vacation for our whole family!