Northwest Trip (Part 1: Oregon!)

There's nothing like moving and then three weeks later going on vacation and leaving your house in total chaos, but it was so worth it! 

We planned a Northwest road trip a few months ago, working our way from Utah, along the Oregon coast, to Seattle, and then back on down. In retrospect, we planned too much in a one week trip: we tried to hit SO much in the little time we had. So when I look back on this trip, I think of it more as a "scout out for future trips trip" than a "relaxing vacation trip." BUT it was so fun! I had always wanted to see this area because when my parents were mission presidents in the Washington Kennewick Mission (which covers parts of WA and OR), they didn't have the permission or the time to go to Seattle or the coast, so, other than Portland, I had never been to the areas I heard so much about while living in WA. 

On our drive into Oregon, we saw this gorgeous sight in the middle of rural Oregon.

How can you see a rainbow and not believe in God? This rainbow was so stunning in person that it left me contemplating God's never forgotten promises during our drive. 

I loved the trees throughout the Northwest--tall and grand!

I never knew a salmon hatchery could be so exciting...I am not kidding! It was beautiful!

The salmon hatchery looked like a glimpse of Heaven, minus the fishy smells...fishy smells don't belong in Heaven.

We drove through the waterfall area near Portland. There were dozens of falls you could visit. Horsetail Falls was one of my favorites because of its simplicity (pictured above). 

We also hiked to the VERY TOP of Multnomah Falls, the most famous of the waterfall bunch. For a pathetic, non-hiker, non-athletic person like myself, this was a huge accomplishment.  That hike really challenged me, but when it all was said and done, I was glad when we did it, even though the view from above was a little anti-climactic...

Pittock Mansion was a fun stop in Portland! It was built in 1909 and had stunning architecture. I love stops like this! 

The view of Downtown Portland from the mansion.

I had to stop at Salt and Straw! I got a snickerdoodle icecream cone. Yum! (Katie secret: I love vanilla based icecreams and desserts much more than chocolate, and my favorite toppings are: caramely, cookie doughy, or cinnamony. There you have it! I know I'm a girl and it should be chocolate, but it's not!) 

We then went to the Portland Rose Garden as part of our Sunday morning, a completely free, peaceful stroll! 

On our way to church with a dear old friend and roommate, we stopped at the Portland Temple and took pictures. What a gorgeous temple! I had no idea it was so big! My pictures didn't do it justice. 

After a wonderful visit  and dinner with my gracious friend and her sweet family, we we were off to the coast! It amazes me that you can see beaches a thousand times, but every beach is so absolutely unique. To me, what characterized the Northwest beaches was a misty fog. It was hauntingly lovely. When we got to our hotel on the beach, we arrived at this sight: 

Absolutely gorgeous, right? The other thing I learned about Northwest beaches is the cold. It was a supposedly "warm week" for Seaside, Oregon; when in reality, the water was still too cold for me to brave! However, its beauty made up for the lack of me not being able to wear my brand new swimsuit :) 

The next morning we were off to drive down the coast (and take our sweet time doing so) to arrive to the Tillamook Cheese factory; It was deemed a "must see" on our itinerary made by...me....shocker, right? 

There are a few things that have to be in Heaven for it to be Heaven to me: 1) my family 2) ice-cream 3) cheese 4) bread. Tillamook possessed three out of the four, so I'd say they're pretty close to being celestialized. 

We came back from our morning adventure to explore Cannon Beach, which was a little overcrowded but still fun to look at. We spent the evening meandering shops, eating pizza, and exploring the Seaside Nike Outlet. It was peaceful and fun! 

The next morning we started our drive up the coast to Port Angeles and saw some of the prettiest scenery. We drove through Astoria and stopped at the famous Astoria Column, built in 1926, that chronicles the Lewis and Clark expedition along with other famous events in Astoria on the front. My fear of heights got to me climbing up, but I did it! (Yes, you can actually climb up this pillar). The view was SO worth all my fears of obituaries that read "Katie Browning died from falling through the very open stairwell in Astoria. The only consolation is she had Tillamook cheese and ice-cream the previous day. She almost tasted Heaven."

The view! 

And from Astoria, we headed into Washington, which I will post in a later post to make this not seem as long as it really is. Boy! Am I behind on blogging or what!?