Monday, August 11, 2008

Oregon-Washington-Oregon-Washington

It was a bittersweet weekend for the Lindseth family. Shawn's father's father passed away and many of us trekked to the Vancouver-Portland area to celebrate his life and spend time together. We left on Wednesday afternoon and didn't arrive until about 3 a.m. The drive wasn't terrible since I discovered a way for myself to read in the car without getting sick. I finished Breaking Dawn!

Our first day there was full of site-seeing thanks to Shawn's Aunt Connie who was a wonderful and gracious tour guide. She took us to the idyllic Sauvie's Island just outside of Portland where my father-in-law and his family lived for about 12 years. It was amazing. This is a picture of the only store on the island during their childhood where they would run up charges on the family tab with candy and lay on the branches of a big tree while they ate it. I'm not making it up. Maybe Connie and Chris did but I'm just repeating what they said.


Across the street from the store was a peach orchard. Pick your own they said, so we did just that. Aside from the earwigs it was lovely. (I am not a girl who is afraid of bugs but I HATE earwigs.)

After lunch at Burgerville where they boast only the freshest Oregon's own Tillamook cheese, Washington Walla Walla onions and fresh Oregon Raspberries in their shakes we took off for Astoria. Another amazingly beautiful place. No wonder such a classic like Goonies was shot there. Later on we even went to a rocky beach where I swear I saw One-Eyed Willie peek out from behind a rock.
Here we are at Louis and Clark's camp. Connie said if we didn't go there we'd never see it and we had to see it to check it off on our list of National Parks. It was crazy to think of them making their way across the country, how miserable and wet they must have been. Amy couldn't resist touching the museum's objects. Tisk tisk Amy, I can't believe that you didn't listen to your father when he said not to touch anything.

And then we took off to the Oregon Coast. It was balmy and beautiful. Even though it was only 55 degrees there it felt nice to be out of Utah's blazing heat and to dip our toes in the Pacific. Here's Amy with her Dad. We even saw some people out there boogy boarding. One girl doing it in a bikini. Um, my toes were numb so I'm really not sure what she was thinking. This beach is where Shawn's dad would come when he was visiting his grandmother. (I think I got that right, so many stories in such a short time). Her house was within short walking distance. Connie lamented not being able to go unless her mom would come because was too young. Oh the plight of the youngest child!
This below with the rocks and the birds is Cannon Beach. It was gorgeous as well. Cute town, beautiful beach. There is also a lighthouse just to the right of this shot but I didn't want to overwhelm this post with pictures because I took TONS.
The next day we went to down town Portland and shopped and ate. I don't know why I didn't take pictures there but I forgot.

And pedicures, turns out you can get them anywhere you go so you know, we had to make sure that they were the same. This is Haylee (I'm not sure how she spells it) Connie's daughter and the cousin of my husband and all the way on the other end is her beau Jason. They are far apart because it took a while to convince him to do it with us. What fun we had.
I didn't get a lot of pictures of the other family members because they wern't tourists with us but we had fun at the house. Thanks to Julie and her hospitality, I think we had 20 people there one night. And we even dyed Shawn's Aunt Robbie's hair. It made me feel like I was in college again.


16 comments:

Tracy said...

Glad you had a nice trip, sorry for the reason. Your pictures are great. How fun you were able to finish Breaking Dawn. It must be nice to read it for long periods without interruption -- I wouldn't know what that's like. I finally finished it and loved it.

Kathleen said...

i'm so glad you guys were able to go. cubby wanted to come out too, but plane tickets were just ridiculous. you should print out this post for a keepsake b/c of all of the great stories! washington sure is beautiful!

oh, and what did you think of breaking dawn? i just finished it today! (i can now return to being a wife and mother...)

Anja said...

See, Oregon's not so bad! Too bad I live 5 hrs from Portland or I could have come to visit you! I finished Braking Dawn today! Did you like it?

Amber said...

I'm so glad that you got to see some of Portland. I mean, why not have a bit happiness in the midst of sorrow. How many times have I said that?

Chynna said...

Your pictures are pretty. It looks like a really nice place!

Beckie said...

Looks like a great trip! Sorry for your loss though.

...April* said...

Very cool pictures! Who is the guy with Amy during pedicures?

The Wiseman Life said...

Shawn,
We are so sorry to hear about your Grandpa. Glad that you were able to spend time with your family and learn of his childhood. That must have been really fun. It appears you had a great time and truly celebrated his life!

Mendy said...

Tell my fellow Class of '92-er that I am so sorry for his loss. Glad you got a fun trip, though.

kimberly said...

Wow - we really did post the same thing! We are both lucky that we were able to make fun trips out of a loss, y'know? I'm so glad that you have this awesome blog. You are so good at doing it and doing it well! P.S. i love the tanning picture. I especially love Shawn's leopard towel he's laying on. So hot!

Mendy said...

P.S. What's with "Oh, the plight of the youngest child"--you mean being spoiled rotten?

And I love that you mention One-Eyed Willie. I love any post with a good Goonies allusion!

Sechrist Family said...

Sad reason for the trip, but it looks like you made the best of it. I would love to see the Northwest, never been.

molly said...

I will echo Anja: See, Portland's not so bad. Too bad i live five minutes from the city, lest i would've come to visit you. I don't know what Breaking Dawn is, but I hope you liked it.

Anonymous said...

that's one happy birthday!

♥Haze♥ said...

Hey girl It was nice getting to know you, wish it could have been for a different reason and longer, but none the less it was great meeting you.

I hope you guys come back some time and see more sites. There is a lot of beautiful country here in Oregon.

Jason and I had fun with you and Amy, I hope to get out to Utay this year, but I'm not sure if that's going to be able to happen, we'll see.

Haley

Anonymous said...

So sorry for your loss. It is awesome that you got to experience a few of his memories and actually go to the grocery store and hear about all the neat stories. That is my favorite to relive. I love you guys and miss you so much. The produce sounds like heaven it literally makes me cry (real tears).