Oregon Trip 2009-Part 1

We recently had a great family vacation to my hometown of Astoria, Oregon. Greg and I were able to just take Josh and Emma. Christopher had traveled to Denver to visit an old childhood friend, Jenni was in Moab with Cordell and his family, and Tara and Austin are on there own!!! We had such a good time with just the two kids. They were so much fun!

I love this quaint little city. It just feels like home :) My parents moved there when I was three and I grew up there until I left for college. My heart is still in the northwest and probably always will be.

We traveled with my brother, Mark and his family and had a wonderful time. We were gone for a total of 8 days and although we had the time of our lives, we were all ready to come back to our "home" in Utah and have a good nights sleep in each of our beds.

One of our favorite activities is to visit the ocean. Cannon Beach has become a must see for our children. We checked the tide tables and timed our visit there for a low tide. As we approached Cannon Beach we noticed a strange mist coming onto the beach from the ocean. It made it rather hard to see the famous Haystack Rock at first, but after a few minutes it burned off and we had a terrific view. Some of the pictures below show the fog. Emma and Josh had a blast searching around for sea urchins and starfish. Greg and I were content just to wade in the water and enjoy the view. The sand was so warm and felt so great on your toes. There is nothing in the world compared to the sound of the ocean. I really miss it.

We had amazing weather during our stay (70-75 degrees) and as I watch the weather reports of the northwest now, I am very grateful we timed our trip when we did. It was perfect!