Oregon Vacation 2013

Oregon Vacation 2013, a set on Flickr.

This year the Caster family trekked thousands of miles (round trip) to the Oregon Coast.

My little family of 4(+1) made the travel time to Oregon like a mini vacation, planning stops at highly recommended places along the way. We made a stop in Hood River, at the base of Mt. Hood, and along the Colombian River Gorge.  Hood River was a really cool little town to visit.  The wind there is unbelievable, making kite surfing and wind surfing a very popular sport.  After lunch in this gem of a town we headed to Moltnomah Falls, for a walk-a-bout.  The scenery here was amazing, and its ease of access makes it quite a busy stop.  I was really surprised that Oregon doesn't begin to look like "OREGON" until you get closer to to coast, in fact it looks pretty much like the barren lands of Western Colorado and Easter Utah.

When we got to the house we rented for the week, we literally parked the car and RAN for the beach.  We spent hours - no joke- searching for the perfect house in the perfect location. We wanted a house on the rocky beach close to tide pools, but will sandy beach access close.  Our house was perfect, I could have sat for all 10 days of vacation at the windows and watched the ocean tide crash upon the rock.

Every morning we got up early and combed the beach for ocean treasures, Maddox was able to find a perfect sand dollar.

We went on many outings while visiting the coast including: Tillamook Cheese Factory, Ocean fishing, Aquariums, the boardwalk at Seaside, and the picturesque Haystack rock at Cannon Beach, riding the rails at the sand dunes, light house touring, and hiking to the highest point on the Oregon Coast at Cape Perpetua. 

We also had our fair share of days enjoying our little town of Yachats, playing on the beach, exploring tide pools, running the coastal trails, and even wine tasting.

I must say that the weather was SO much colder than I had planned for, I really would have been comfortable in my jeans and parka the whole time!  We did have two sunny afternoons where it looked warm enough to trick us into playing in the water, the kids had a blast, but my toes were as far as I could be coaxed to go in.

Our fishing trip resulted in an abundance of fresh cod and black sea bass, which we made two different fresh fish feasts with.

We also had professional family photos take by a friend of Christies while in Cannon Beach and they turned out AMAZING! (I'll see if I can get one or two to share here). 

On the last day we played a lot around Yachats, and made a special trip to see Thor's Well in Cape Perpetua, at high tide.  It truly was stunning to see the massive force of water , and feel the crashing of water against rock as it rumbled deep in your heart.

 

To wrap up our trip on an exciting note, Dillon proposed to Christie at sunset on the rocky beach just outside of the house!!!  And even better she said YES!!!!!! 

This was one heck of a fun filled family vacation!  I think our next one might be a destination wedding.... maybe somewhere warm....

My favorite trip memory would be the mornings we woke up as a family, our little 4 (+1) and explored the beach together. There was something magical and intimate about those morning hours spent together, waves crashing so loud they drowned out the rest of the world, the fog heavy and thick creating our own little world where only we existed, just us and the sea.