Eastward Ho

The gang got up around 7:30 I think (I went back to sleep). We had breakfast in the hotel where I got the same thing as last time here, waffle and yogurt. We packed up our luggage and said adios. It was time to go home.

Except not really. Dad took a scenic detour through the mountains and we looked at the trees changing colors for fall and the Columbia River from above. It was a nice drive. We stopped at the Vista House, which is a sort of observatory that also serves as a memorial to Oregon pioneers. You get a great view of the river from there.

It looks cloudy but the weather was really nice. Not windy, not cold, not raining.

I thought this was the main attraction of the scenic drive but we drove through the forest and it was gorgeous. Everything is so green and magical!

Fairy hideaways

We kept pulling over to jump out and take pictures. I loved it! I don't know why I won't admit to myself that I love nature and I love forests. This forest had leaves as big as my head which is saying something.

We were driving for about an hour before we reached Multnomah Falls at 11:45. Dad said there are gangs that break into peoples vehicles and drive them off before you even notice. I was afraid he was gonna stay with the truck but he came with us to look at the waterfall.

It was a short walk to see the fall!

The top fall is 542 ft and the bottom in 69 (haha) ft. It started raining and the guys had umbrellas but I didn't care and was fine in my hoodie. We took pictures then we hiked up to the upper bridge.

Upper fall

69 feet drop

By now my shoes were completely soaked as was my sweatshirt. We hiked back down.

Perhaps umbrellas were a good idea.

I stopped by the gift shop but didn't get anything. I'm a picky shopper! Dad, Camin, and I got back in the truck (which wasn't broken into or stolen, thank you jesus). It rained and we didn't stop again.

From the backseat I read my Hannibal Lecter book and listened to music to kill time. We snacked on some German chocolate caramel candies Pake gave us. I ate several.

We stopped and ate Taco Bell around... I can't remember! It was still light out so let's say 4.

Then back on the road! It was raining lightly but that changed once we got to Spokane. Then it poured. And poured. And poured. All the way through Washington and all the way through Idaho. Once it got dark I could barely see the road. I don't know how dad did it. I'm an anxious driver so this was probably the least fun part of the whole trip.

We had to keep an eye on the temperature. It never dropped below 42 degrees.

Once we got to Missoula it stopped pouring rain. By then we were 2 hours outside Helena and it was 9 or 10 at night.

Finally we made it to dad's house. Hurray! Except not hurray, I don't want the trip to end. I was exhausted and fell asleep right away.

The next morning I had intentions of waking up at 7 but instead it was 8:30. We packed my car and unpacked dad's. I sat inside and chatted with Shawna for an hour. She gave me a pair of turquoise earrings that are small which was so sweet because she knew I don't like long, dangling earrings (they get caught in my hair). They are very pretty!

I gave her the bath salts I bought it Seaside. She liked them! Around 9:50 we hugged Shawna goodbye. She was going to work and Dad, Cam, and I were going to breakfast. I will miss her.

We had breakfast at a local place called Steves. I ordered a chili omelette with hashbrowns and cottage cheese. I ate half of it and only had enough room for several bites of Cam's pancakes (he's a good brother). It was a subdued breakfast. I think we were all a little bummed about the trip being over and having to go home.

A sad breakfast

The bill was $38 and Cam and I split it. We went back to dad's house to say goodbye. We were suppose to be on the road 4 hours ago but any excuse to put it off was welcomed. It took us 9.5 hours to get to Helena but I think I can get home in 8 hours*.

Then it was time to say goodbye to dad. I literally almost started crying. If I had tried to talk or looked at dad too long I would bawl. I never like it when a trip ends but you put on a brave face and go home. It just sucks 10 times worse saying goodbye to people you love. I'll go back to Montana definitely again by next summer.

REFLECTION!

What a fun trip! I have to say I have neglected spending time with the extended Nelson family and the North Pacific for too long. What the hell's wrong with me! The family is funny and welcoming. They're a bit judgmental at times but that's family for ya. We can throw a great party and I'm happy with how things went. And the beach! I feel such a pull to the sea. I am so content at the pacific. Taking trips in the fall is fantastic. Even the boring drives were fun because the trees were changing colors and everything is beautiful.

Like most trips, what really made things memorable were the people. Cam is a damn champ and such a good sport. He's always calm and chill and not gonna complain when I eat his pancakes every morning. And dad was the true force of this trip. He did all the driving, paid for everything, made us laugh. He put a lot of work into this trip and I think a lot of it didn't benefit him whatsoever which makes it all the more impressive. We are already planning more trips together in the future which is the perfect end to a vacation.

* I got home in 8.5 hours

Aquarium and Air Museum

I got my lazy bum out of bed at 8. Literally from my pillow I can see the beach.

Good morning!

Last night dad and I listened to the seals. We could hear them off in the distance from the parking lot of the hotel. It was wonderful! 10/10, would recommend.

We packed up our swag and tucked it away in the truck before having breakfast at the hotel's restaurant. I ordered a burrito and the guys had something less exciting.

Breakfast burrito

I ate half before throwing in the towel. Then I picked the metaphorical towel back up and ate some of Cam's pancakes. He's a good sport because I seem to do this a lot at breakfast.

The view from where we sat was gorgeous.

#blessed

We got done a little after 10 and found directions to the Oregon Coast Aquarium.

We're coming for you seals

We arrived about a quarter after 10 and Dad parked in the "tufted puffin" lot.

"Tanks for having me" (that's a pun not a spelling error)

It starts indoors. You walk around and look at marine life in tanks and there's some facts on shipwrecks.

Green moray eel

Chocolate chip sea star

The green moray eel was hella creepy. They grow to be 8 ft which disturbed me until I saw the spider crab grows to be 13 ft and can live for 100 years.

Japanese spider crab

I took a video of the sea nettles because they're so fascinating to watch.

Pacific sea nettle

The entire aquarium is so peaceful. It's a very relaxing experience watching creatures float around and I thought the Oregon Aquarium did a really nice job. They had fake waves for a few large displays and an area where you could touch the more tame sea life.

I poked a purple sea urchin and it moved to hold my finger. So cute! We were practically holding hands. Then I touched the giant green anemone which was very soft and also held onto my finger. It was sticky so you have to gently pry your finger away.

Keep your friends close but your anemone closer.

Once done in those exhibits you go outside. There were a few turkey vultures watching people from their perches. I'm not sure what they're doing at an aquarium but I love birds so no complaints here.

"Keep walking...."

We had just missed the sea otters lunchtime so only one was still hanging out grooming herself (or himself).

Right next to the otters was a giant octopus (which I didn't take a picture of because I'm a dumb dumb) that had just been fed. It had a giant clam inside of a rubber ball with smaller holes in it for the octopus to stick tentacles into to crack the shell. They made him work for his food.

Next to the octopus were my homies the seals. They were being fed lunch! The seals also had to work for their food by performing tricks (turn around, swim fast, stand up, lie down, pose, that sort of thing). It was adorable! I think they know as many tricks as Rikku.

Around 11:15 we went into the bird area. All the birds are in their fall, non-breeding, plumage.

Common murre (black and white) and migeon guillemot (grey)

They were about to be fed. A murre waddled over and stole a fish from the bucket.

Thief

We watched them catch fish, a mixture of salmon and trout. Once they started throwing the fish back their handler said they were probably done eating.

We went back inside to look at the giant aquariums you can walk through.

They had sting rays and sharks and that's all I knew the name of, to be honest.

What the hell is that

There were glass bottoms to walk on and see things swim beneath you.

And that was it! The exit was through the gift shop and I tried a sample of fudge. It was delicious so I bought a square of raspberry and peanut butter for $7.50.

Score!

We left around 11:45 or noon and said goodbye to Newport. We hadn't decided if we would stay in Vancouver that night or push on for a few hours outside Vancouver. What we had decided was that we needed to stop at the McMinnville Aviation & Space Museum. It was maybe an hour away and the drive to McMinnville was pretty.

The museum was four massive buildings, one for space, one for planes, one that's a theater, and one for kids. The price to get into the plane museum was $28 a person which was really expensive but dad paid for us three. There weren't separate rooms to go into, everything was on display inside and open floor plan.

The Spruce Goose, bigger than a football field, was there. It's too big! I couldn't get a good picture to justify it's size. We took the steps up to walk inside the Goose.

The inflatable balls were for buoyancy and most had their original air from nearly 70 years ago.

There were so many planes it was kind of overwhelming.

Pake's old plane was there!

Curtiss P-40N Warhawk

There was an area on smokejumpers and the history of that. They also had videos set up around the museum. Former pilots were talking about missions they went on. And more planes!

Howdy

My favorite was a British jet fighter named Vampire. It was called "Delightfully Unsophisticated" for it's lack of ejector seats and that no one survived belly landing. Someone said it stayed afloat for 30 seconds after crashing into water. That was a record.

de Havilland D.H. 100 Vampire

They had an area with mannequins set up to display scenes of parachuters, a father and son hunting, Lewis and Clarke, the old west (AKA Deadwood)... I'm not sure what it represented but it was neat.

And then an area dedicated to the Boy Scouts. The guy that built this place had two sons and his favorite son was a boy scout as a kid so it was dedicated to him.

I think the McMinnville Air Museum did a really great job. I have no idea how they acquired so many planes, the cost must be insane. There were a few displays that were incomplete with notes next to them asking people to contact them if they knew where missing parts were. My only regret is not knowing any planes puns.

I'm not sure what time we left. We got back to driving. Dad wanted to go to an antique store in Lafayette. It ended up being a bust so we left shortly after. We ate fudge in the truck and drove to Portland.

The traffic was awful in Portland. I would shoot myself if I lived here. There was a guy in front of us that kept cawing like a damn bird out his car window. I was about ready to throw dad's spit cup at him.

I think we got to Beppe and Pake's around 5 or 6. We had dinner with them. It was roast beef, mashed potatoes, salad, Beppe's pickles, carrots from her garden, and cherry pie with ice cream. I didn't take a picture because that would have been weird. Dinner was very good! Beppe is an A+ chef.

After eating we watched a few recaps of the presidential debate which wasn't as painful as I thought it might be. I set up a DVD player for the grandparents but their cable box was less than subpar and the video came through sketchy so I took it down right after. We gave hugs goodbye and left sometime after 8 to go to the hotel we had stayed at in Vancouver (we decided not drive anymore as it was dark and rainy and we were all tired)

After checking in, I showered and we all had a quiet night. I think I fell asleep at 11 or 12.

Newport

I slept in until 9. Camin and I walked along the beach while dad showered. It was about half an hour of nice weather before it started to rain pretty heavy so we went back to the hotel. We got packed up and went downtown to find breakfast.

We had a late breakfast at 10:30 at a place called Pig'n Pancake where I ordered a shrimp and cheese omelette.

Chicken egg, meet shrimp

It was good! I also had several bites of Camin's pancakes because they were also good. After we ate, we walked down to an antique store but I got distracted and went to a bath salt shop instead. There I bought a bath bomb (for my mom), soap that looks like a sand dollar (also for my mom), and bath salts (for Shawna). It cost $14 but the lady behind the register gave me incorrect change (which I didn't notice until I got back to the car) so technically it cost me $10.50.

I found Cam and dad at the antique store a little after 11:30. Dad bought a WW2 vest! We said goodbye to Seaside and got back on 101 to take us to Newport. GPS said it was a 2.5 hour drive.

We got about 5 minutes outside of town before having to pullover because there was a pretty view of the sea and we wanted pictures.

Worth it!

Then we drove for 15 more minutes before stopping at another pretty view.

Still worth it!

Then we got back on the road. Then we stopped half an hour later because there was a Maritime Museum. Dad paid for us to get in and we wandered around looking at sea things.

Creepy

On the first floor was boats and gift shop, the second floor had older items. Cam and I tried one of the hands on activities of building a bucket.

Never mind the leak at the bottom

They had a room of old guns which was boring.

Boring to me that is

We left after 20 or 30 minutes. Dad drove until we hit Tillamook where we stopped to see the Air Museum.

Here we are!

There are many things to see such as planes, helicopters, trucks, trains, tractors, things I don't know what to call, mannequins....

When you don't know what to do with your hands

There was a massive plane outside you could walk into.

Space Odyssey vibes

Rotorcraft

"I have a jacket like that"-Dad

Who wore it best?

They had several cockpits you could sit in, some were for a A-7E Corsair II and a EA-3B Skywarrior. One of the last things to see was the plane like the one Pake flew in Korea.

We spent over half an hour there and left around 2:20. We stopped once more to get some pictures on the beach, then stopped again to check out an antique store, then did more driving.

There was a place called Devil's Punchbowl and we had to stop. You don't pass by things called Devil's Punchbowl and not stop. That's crazy talk. The Punchbowl is this giant rock with an opening that waves crash into and fill up.

Devil's Punchbowl

It's cool! By now it was 4:50. Back on 101, we arrived in Newport around 5:15. Dad got us a hotel that's pretty nice. It has a view of the sea, 2 separate bedrooms, and a kitchen area with a couch for Camin (I had to sleep on the couch in Vancouver for 3 nights so it's fair that he gets the couch tonight).

We dumped our luggage and got back in the car to find food. A short drive later we got to Mo's to chow down.

Dad and I ordered a family bowl of clam chowder, onion rings, and oysters. Cam got a hot dog and fries.

Holy shit I love clam chowder. The onion rings came on a skewer and were also delicious.

Onion ring tower

And the oysters were hard to crack but once open I put lemon and butter on them and ate them whole.

Hallelujah!

I ate half the onion ring tower, 2 bowls of chowder, and 4 clams. My belly was feeling tight! The bill was $48 and I paid for it with dad putting down a tip. It was around 6:30 when we left. We debated going to a movie but everyone was apathetic either way so we went back to the hotel to hang out and listen to the sea.

I got caught up on typing and watched TV with Cam and Dad. Other than the rain on the beach in Seaside, it was a gorgeous day.