• West Coast Road Trip Itinerary & Travel Booklet
    Travel

    West Coast Road Trip Itinerary & Travel Booklet

    June 24, 2017 - By 

    Road tripping on West Coast is some of the most beautiful countrysides to travel. So much to see and do. From the Redwoods of California to the Cascade of Oregon, there’s tons of landscaping eye candy. Here’s our 13 day itinerary where we started in San Fransisco, CA and ended in Portland, OR. Here’s a map of our trip with many of our stops and points of interest. Click on the stars or letters on map for details. Click on each picture below to go to the post to read all about that day. Click above picture to enlarge.  Editable Excel…

  • Life

    West Coast Trip:Day 13

    June 17, 2017 - By 

    Day 13 of our West Coast trip was the day we were headed home. Our flight didn’t leave till later in the afternoon, which gave us time to do something. When Rob lived out in Portland, his favorite place to shop was Fred Meyer. Fred Meyer is similar to a Walmart, but way better. It is truly a one stop shop. From furniture to groceries to name brand clothing it has it all. After having breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we headed over to Fred Meyer so the kids could see what an awesome store it was and…

  • Travel

    West Coast Trip:Day 12

    June 10, 2017 - By 

    As I mentioned before since our days were so long (in a good way) but since we covered so much ground and so many amazingly beautiful places my daily travel posts aren’t including as much detail and as many pictures as I’d like. I want to write individual posts on many of the spots on this trip in more detail with more pictures. One day when I’m caught up, I’ll go back and share more. Today’s post covers our last full day of our west coast trip. We slept later that day than any other day on trip, which was…

  • Day Exploring Mount St. Helens
    Travel

    West Coast Trip:Day Trip to Mount St. Helens

    June 3, 2017 - By 

    On July 4th we rose early to make our way to Windy Ridge Viewpoint at Mount St. Helens. I can’t tell you how hopeful I was that we’d be able to see this mysterious mountain that I’ve visited twice, but only seen for short spurts from a far and saw for literally 30 seconds last time we were at Johnston observatory. The other times we’ve been to Mount St. Helens we weren’t able to get to Windy Ridge because the road was always still closed. (Map) The day started off quite overcast in Portland as it usually always does, but…

  • Oregon Travels
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    West Coast Trip:Day 10 Oregon Coast

    May 26, 2017 - By 

    Day 10 was all about the Oregon Coast. We started off with a lumberjack breakfast at Camp 18 Restaurant. This place is a must see. Every time Rob and I drive up the coast we stop and get pictures outside, our friends who usually follow behind on their motorcycles love to take videos of the landscape we pass by, but they do have to be careful because one of them almost fell of their motorcycle trying to get the perfect scenery shot, that day would have ended up either in a hospital or talking all night with their motorcycle accident…

  • Driving from Newport, Oregon to Portland? Here's somethings you should stop at see on the way!
    Travel

    West Coast Trip:Newport to Portland

    May 2, 2017 - By 

    Continuing with our family adventures on the West Coast as we leave Newport and head to Portland, Oregon. 1st stop was the Yaquina Bay and Yaquina Head Lighthouses. Such a beautiful lighthouse and natural area. It was quite foggy that morning, which made for some cool pictures. 2nd stop was the campus of Oregon State University in Corvallis, OR. We found this be a beautiful campus with lots of cool buildings, old and new. We also went to OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center, which has free to get in. They just ask for donations. I highly recommend this if you’re…

  • Travel

    West Coast Trip:Florence & Newport

    April 8, 2017 - By 

    Our drive up the coast of Oregon continued as we left Cottage Grove Oregon and headed to Newport, stopping a few times for some fun activities, like going to Sand Dunes, Sea Lion Caves, Thor’s Well, and more. First stop was Florence, OR for Dune Buggies ATVs. When we were researching we came to the realization that Dune Buggies for individuals really isn’t a thing you can do anymore. The thing now is driving ATV’s over the dunes. I really didn’t want to drive so Rob and I were in one and the kids each had their own ATV. Let…

  • Travel

    West Coast Trip:Day 7

    March 30, 2017 - By 

    On our 7th day West Coast adventure, we got up and checked out of the cabin. We drove up to Crater Lake Lodge, which was built in 1915 and is listed as in the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Beautiful log cabin feel with gorgeous views of Crater Lake. We enjoyed the view a little more, but since we saw most of what there was to see the day before at Crater Lake we ended up not staying as long as first planned. We continued on our journey north as we drove to Cottage Grove, but made several stops…

  • Travel

    West Coast Trip: Crater Lake

    March 25, 2017 - By 

    On our 6th day of adventures on the West Coast, we got up and left Eureka and continued north towards Crater Lake. We made a quick stop at Thomas H. Kuchel Visitor Center in Orick, CA. We used the bathroom and took a quick peek inside. They have an informational desk, exhibits, bookstore, etc. We enjoyed walking out back where there’s a boardwalk to the shore and some informative signs about Tsunamis among other things. There was a cool bird’s nest we observed as well. We later stopped in Cave Junction, Oregon for lunch at a Dairy Queen. Then, we…

  • West Coast Trip Day 5 - San Francisco to Eureka, CA - Golden Gate Bridge - Wine Country - Redwoods
    Travel

    West Coast Trip:Day 5

    March 4, 2017 - By 

    On Day 5 of our West Coast trip, we checked out of our hotel and head towards the Golden Gate Bridge. We drove over it and then stopped for some photos. It was a chili, foggy day. We drove through Wine Country and stopped at a couple different wineries. The first one was Milano Family Winery. The lady there was friendly and educated us a bit on a few of their wines. We tasted a couple and ended up buying a bottle of Big A$$ Blonde, which is a white wine with fruity undertones. We paid around $15, I believe.…

  • West Coast Trip - Day 3 - Travel along as we leave Yosemite to Cupertino (Apple HQ), Stanford U, Painted Ladies, and more.
    Travel

    West Coast Trip:Day 3

    October 22, 2016 - By 

    If you missed my 1st couple of posts about our West Coast Trip, you should check those out first. – Day 1 – Day 2 – So on Day 3 of our West Coast Trip we woke up in our tent in Yosemite’s Half Dome Village. I woke up a little chili and actually quite sore from the hike the day before, but the brisk fresh air was welcoming. We got dressed and jumped in the car. We wanted to stop and check out Yosemite Falls on our way out of the park. We took a short hike to the…

  • West Coast Trip - Day 2 - Yosemite Day
    Travel

    West Coast Trip:Yosemite Day

    October 5, 2016 - By 

    If you missed my post from Day 1 of our West Coast Trip you can find it here. Here’s our jam packed day #2! I woke up totally discombobulated from very little sleep, but we still managed to be out of the hotel by 6:30 am. We were eager to get to Yosemite and begin our Yosemite Day before the crowds since we were there during the summer; peak season. The week before we were there President Obama and his family were at Yosemite. We had read that he had donuts from Donuts a Go Go down the street from…

  • Travel

    West Coast Trip:Day 1

    August 6, 2016 - By 

    The day we left for Cali we got up, did a few things around the house, and headed to Atlanta to pick up Rob’s brother who would then drive us to the airport. We made a stop for lunch at Fire Dragon. Once we got to the airport everything went smoothly. Curbside check in was closed, so we went inside to find a line, but it went fairly quickly. The line for security seemed crowded, but it also went pretty fast. The kids really enjoyed riding the moving sidewalks. Since we had lots of time to kill we went to…