Summer Vacation, Day 3 - Southern Oregon

I mentioned the fog already, right? Fog on the left coast, especially San Fran and points north. It typically burns off in the afternoon or late morning, but it makes everything feel more like fall than dog days of summer. We appreciated this - Seattle has had the warmest summer on record, I think. It isn't that it has been uncomfortably hot and humid like Ohio, but it's been pretty close to uncomfortable. When it's consistently 80 degrees and the sun is beating down, the lack of air-conditioning becomes more noticeable. I'm not going to lie, I sort of liked it. I liked being warm and feeling the heat of the sun because we miss it so much in the winter months. By now, however, everything is pretty dusty. The rain will be welcome.

Anyway, that picture up top is the first stop on day 3, Whalehead Trail, OR. I took that picture from the trail from the parking lot down to the beach. A word about the trail: uh, they could have warned us it was going to be like scaling a rain forest tilted on its side. Steep, weedy, and more than a little dangerous. Here are some pictures from the less intimidating parts of the trail:

The trail itself was really neat, just a little scary. The hike was completely worth it, though. The beach was fabulous. It had all the makings of the Oregon scenery: large rocks jutting out of the water, cliffs that end abruptly at the shoreline with steep drop-offs, and of course, the mighty Pacific.

Just amazing scenery. And it was completely deserted because of the trail. It was lovely.

Oregon's coastline is mostly protected. The government was really smart and made a lot of it state parks, so most of it is completely unspoiled, with lots of trails for hiking and picnics, etc.. It makes for great days of sight-seeing.

Our next stop was Gold Beach, where we were able to see the sun again. I think the ocean and coastline is so lovely overcast, but when the sun shines, it's just magnificent.

Gold Beach was less striking and more beachy, but gorgeous nonetheless. They had an information center there, swings and several picnic areas with a trail or two for taking in the scenery.

After Gold Beach, we headed to Cape Blanco, one of the many lighthouses along the coast. The lighthouse was a fair elevation up, and it was again foggy and windy when we got there. The wind was blowing everything over sideways - it was like thunderstorm wind. The views were amazing but I was too afraid to get too close to the edge because I was afraid I would blow right over the cliff! Definitely not in Kansas anymore.

Lighthouses are so cool. I think this one was decommissioned in the 1990s, and they have turned it into a little museum.

That picture above was taken from a scenic view pullover spot, I think. I'm not sure. It's completely overwhelming to drive up 101 through Oregon - it's all so beautiful and striking.

Also that day we stopped at a creamery called Face Rock Creamery. They have the BEST cheese. Uh, and they sell wine so you can walk around tasting cheese and drinking wine. At the Oregon coast. I mean, throw on a football game and I'm in heaven. They also make ice cream, which was equally as wonderful as the cheese.

I've never been anywhere that has such consistent beauty as Oregon. There is not a single spot of it that isn't amazing. Well, except Eugene. Boo Ducks. :)

Next up, central Oregon and wrapping up the vacation blog. I know I need to wrap this up because there is so much more to write about! Lorelei had her first day of 4th Grade, Shawn's parents came to visit and we toured some of Washington, etc. I promise, I will get caught up soon. Until then, it will be nice to relive the summer little by little.

Summer Vacation, Chapter 2: The Mighty Redwoods

In this second installment of our summer vacation, I'd just like to say that there are trees, and then there are TREES. There are the 90-year-old oak trees hanging around the hills of Seattle that give the city such character, and then there are these thousand-year-old Redwoods that have endured fires, storms, people invading their areas, all kinds of infestations, and yet, here they are.

We toured two main parts of the Redwoods National Forest, one just south of Eureka and one just north. They truly were stunning, and it's hard to convey that in just two dimensions. If you've been there, you know what I mean.

That tree in the picture above is called "Big Tree." I know. Kind of stating the obvious there.

What was interesting on that second day is that there was fog all throughout the coastline rolling in off the ocean, but once you got a little ways inland to the Redwoods, the fog lifted and the day was beautiful. Someone along the way explained that the heat of the valley (90+ temps) keeps that area from being overrun with the fog rolling in off the Pacific, which is normal for this time of year. It's San Francisco weather. So what we saw of the coastline on that second day was this:

We stayed the second night in Crescent City, CA - about 100 or 150 miles north of Eureka. After the Redwoods, we stayed pretty close on the coastline, traveling 101 the whole way. The ocean was really wild and active. I think that's what I love about the Pacific. It's wild and loud and in your face all the time. Love it.

We never did get out of the fog/overcast weather on day 2 (except for when we were in the Redwoods), and it was chilly - 60s. There was basically a 15 or 20 degree difference between the Redwoods and the coastline. Dress in layers.

Crescent City is a lazy little town that caters to the tourist crowd. We had some amazing fish & chips at a little restaurant right on the marina area. It looked like it was pretty close to where the fishing boats come in and out. You know it's good when Shawn asked our server whether he should get the $27 steak or the $11 fish 'n chips and she recommended the fish 'n chips.

The restaurant was on the water and looked out to a landing where all the sea lions were hanging out. Talk about loud. Those guys bark more than Gretel at the dog park.

They were all right dinner companions, though.

There is something magical about seeing trees that date back to the middle ages. It was a great day - and something Shawn and I won't soon forget. I hope Lorelei remembers, too.

Next up, crossing into the most beautiful state in the Union.

Summer Vacation, Chapter 1

If that doesn't just scream vacation, I don't know what does. A jacuzzi tub and a summer ale? Perfect. Also perfect is that the view from that tub looked out to this:

Yes, that's my beloved Pacific City, OR. But I'm getting ahead of myself. In squeezing out the last drops of summer, we took our vacation to the California Redwoods and Oregon Coast. It was some of the most spectacular scenery I've ever seen.  This post is just the first day. I need to do this in stages because there was not a single uninteresting part of this trip.

We started off by driving to Redding, CA. We took I-5 from Seattle all the way. You would think it might be a little boring, but, uh, no. Oregon is the prettiest state in the Union as far as I've seen, and once we got south of Eugene, the farmlands gave way to desert mountains. I don't have pictures of it for the blog because I was driving during that leg. We were hitting elevations of around 5,000 feet, but the temperature was a dry 97 degrees. It was wild, windy and lovely.

Northern California was the same as Southern Oregon in all its splendor and heat. We drove along Mount Shasta for quite a bit. I'll post some of those pictures in the next blog when I get them from Shawn. The wildfires had just run through Northern CA about a week or so before, so we could see the barren parts. It is nothing short of amazing. It's so interesting to see mountains with no or very little snow at the tops. Even the Olympics (which are lower elevation than the Cascades) here in Washington retain quite a bit of snow during the summer. Though this year it was warmer, and I read recently that the snow right now is at 7,000 feet. For those of you who have been out here, Hurricane Ridge is 6,000 feet or so, and we've seen snow every time we've gone there.... Things definitely warmed up this Summer.

Our first stop on vacation was dinner in Redding. Redding is just a regular town, nothing special, really. Uh, except it is the northernmost location of In-n-Out Burger! Heck yeah! This is the only reason we stopped in Redding - so we could have dinner at In-n-Out. It was awesome.

From Redding, we left I-5 and headed west to Eureka, CA, which is on the coast and also situated right in the middle of the Redwoods. A word about the drive from Redding to Eureka on state route 299: TERRIFYING. 299 winds through mountains and forest, equipped with sheer drop-offs into the rapids and no shoulder/guardrail. To top it off, they were doing construction on the road. Seriously. They were doing something called "highway realignment." WHAT THE HELL IS HIGHWAY REALIGNMENT?? It turns out, it's just what it sounds like. They are blasting away part of the mountain to realign the road. In order to traverse these sections of construction, we had to have a pilot car. A PILOT CAR. I'm glad Shawn was driving. I never needed bourbon so desperately.

Of course, with crazy drives like that, you know the scenery is going to be gorgeous. And truly, it was.

It was one of the scariest drives, but one of the most beautiful for sure. We arrived in Eureka in time to check in and go to bed. It was a long day of driving, but we knew on day 2 there would be less driving and lots and lots of trees. For me, the best part of vacation is the road trip. I love driving, and I love seeing things and having a destination to look forward to, even if the destination isn't half as fun as the journey (which is usually the case). One thing I appreciate about living in the Pacific NW is that we never run out of road trips to take. We haven't even started heading east or north out of Seattle yet. I'm a little obsessed with the Pacific Ocean and points south (i.e., the entire state of Oregon), so we keep exploring that way. But we'll get around to heading east. I mean, mountains and wine country! We could do worse!

I'll end this post here - but I'll pick it up again with the Redwoods, maybe later today or tomorrow. Until then, Go Bucks!

SUMMER!

It's summer! Yay summer! Summer in Seattle is downright magical. The mountains, the blue Sound, the greenery and blooms, it's all so gorgeous and fragrant. That picture above is the view from the hammock Shawn set up in the back yard. We've got these cherry trees that just begged for a hammock. I bet if you enlarge that photo you can see the cherries. They were pretty tasty. Gretel thought so, too. But uh, I think she may have overdone it. She ate cherries for about two days and then seemed to avoid them.

Summer does not begin in Seattle until July 5, so say the locals. This year, however, I don't think Seattle got the memo until today, the 6th. Yesterday was hit or miss with sprinkles and sun, but today - today is 80 degrees and clear blue skies. If that isn't hammock weather, I don't know what is.

I know I've been remiss. We Shraders have had a lot on our minds this spring, and I think now we can finally let go of some of it. That said, I know we have lots to catch up on, so let's get to it.

Lorelei finished the 3rd grade with a bang! She had a great year, and to celebrate, she had a sleepover with her friend Chloe. Chloe switched schools for 3rd grade, so she and Lorelei didn't get to see each other much. But here they are, relaxing in that fabulous hammock:

School ends here on June 19, or thereabout, every year. It's late by Ohio standards, but that's because they don't go back until after Labor Day. I have never questioned this, I just assume it's to take full advantage of July and August, the two best months in Seattle.

Also in June, we visited the Washington coast. The beaches are so pretty, even if it was chilly. This picture was at Ocean Shores, I believe. We sampled a few beaches that day.

So pretty. <sigh> I find it harder to tear myself away from the mighty Pacific every time I see it. That day there was thick fog coming in off the ocean in the earlier hours. It felt a bit like a Stephen King novel.

Gretel and Lorelei didn't care, though. Gretel's first trip to the ocean was, well, I'm not sure. I don't think Gretel likes such wild, uncontrolled situations. She definitely didn't like the fog. But she loved walking with Shawn on the trails and on the beach, especially when she didn't feel like she had to protect Lorelei and me from the waves.

In May, John was back for another conference in Seattle. Oh, wait, I never told you about the first one, did I? It was in March. John came for a conference through his work in March, and we got to show him a bit of Seattle. He liked it so much he came back for another conference in May, and we took a day and got out of town. We went across the Sound to the Olympic Peninsula and drove to Port Townsend, hitting a brewery or two on the way. It was a gorgeous day, one of the most perfect I've experienced.

We look forward to John bringing Meredith and the kids back to the Pacific NW!

Also in May was Mother's Day! Shawn had to study that day but Lorelei and I went with the Castanedas to Crystal Mountain. We rode the gondola and had a picnic lunch with one of the most amazing views I've ever seen, watching the skiers get their last few kicks.

These pictures were taken from inside the gondola:

And then we have some views from the top:

Of course Amy and I, being the moms, needed a self-portrait on the mountain!

We can't forget the children, right?

That's Maya with her daddy. And his awesome, awesome, AWESOME shirt.

Seriously, this place is an hour away and we didn't need coats at the top because the sun was so bright on the snow. Look at the view!

I think the idea to go to Crystal Mountain was literally borne out of Amy waking up that morning and saying, hey, we should go to Crystal  Mountain. It was a really nice day.

In April we celebrated someone's birthday, I can't quite remember, it seems like I should, what was it again? Oh right, it was Lorelei's birthday! We had a party at the roller skating rink. It was loads and loads of fun.

You cannot beat roller skating. Every single person there had a blast.

Lorelei's birthday marked the end of the Birthday Season in our house. Well, really, the 29th (Grandpa Bob's bday) marked the end of Birthday Season. We all had good birthdays, but to be truthful, we all had other things on our minds.

We marketed the house in Ohio at the end of March. It went into contract on May 3, and it finally closed on June 30. Selling a property from this distance was challenging to say the least. I could bore you with the details of the stress it added to our lives, but really, let's just leave it at that. Our realtor was the best in the business (Polly Hamilton, Columbus Realty Professionals - look her up if you have a need), and we had a pretty wonderful closing agent, too (Keith Hamilton, former coworker of mine and title agent). Not to mention all the people who helped us along the way, Janice, the Franklins, the neighbors, etc. Without everyone's constant help, this would have been an even more challenging experience. But now it's done, and I feel like the last stage of our moving experience to Seattle has been completed. In a strange way, I feel like we have finally arrived in Seattle.

So now, we begin looking forward. We have some renovations to our Seattle home we'd like to plan for, and we have a few other things to do that we've held off doing while marketing the Ohio house. This is the season where we start to make plans. We begin with vacation. In August we are planning to go on a road trip to the Redwoods of northern California, and then meander up the coast of Cali and Oregon. I'm so excited about it I can't stand it. We will stop at my beloved Pacific City, OR, where time stands still. I don't know if I will brave a surf lesson this year, but Lorelei and I will definitely have our boogie boards out in the Pacific. It can't get here fast enough.

For now, though, we will bask in the glory provided by these wonderful blossoms from the trees in the front yard. They cast a rosy glow in our living room for a few weeks in March.

And also, I'd like to share that Lorelei and I are counting down until Shawn is done with school. As of today, it's 41 weeks. Go Shawn!