portland and the coast.

This past weekend we took a trip to Portland, OR.  We had the most lovely time.

Trav's step-brother, Jeff, and his family live in Portland and their youngest daughter, Anna, was being baptized so we went up to celebrate the great event with them.

We got there late Thursday night just in time to give their three darling girls . . . Jordan, Taylor, and Anna . . . a squeeze before they were off to bed.  We spent the rest of the evening talking with Jeff and Shauna until the late hours of the night.  It was SO nice spending time with them.

Friday morning we got up, gave the girls another squeeze before they were out the door to school, enjoyed a yummy pancake breakfast made by Jeff and spent some more time chatting with Shauna.  We then cleaned ourselves up, jumped in the car and made the hour and a half drive to the coast.  Do you know how much I LOVE the Oregon Coast??? 

Like, L.O.V.E. 

I spent many a summer vacations with my family at the Oregon Coast.  I haven't been there since I was in high school.  I was so excited to go back . . . to take in the sweet sight and smell of the beautiful ocean and mountains and share it all with my new husband!

We got there and we were starving.  So our first stop was at Dooger's Seafood and Grill in Seaside for a delicious seafood lunch.  Trav LOVE seafood so he was in heaven with this amazing plate of food.

After lunch we walked all around downtown Seaside exploring the shops and buying salt water taffy.

 
We then jumped back in the car and drove 7 miles down the road to beautiful Cannon Beach.  This place is breathtaking.  It was a very wet day at the Oregon Coast and Cannon Beach was no exception.  The beach had a heavy, very wet fog and it was also raining which meant we got soaked.  It sure didn't stop us from having a great time!

We both agreed it was actually quite romantic down there on that foggy beach.  If we wouldn't have needed to get back to Jeff and Shauna's for dinner, I could have lingered on that beach with my honey for a long, long time.
 

One of my favorite things as a kid was to find all of the tide pools with creatures in them.  We found quite a few of them this trip.  I was excited because Trav had never seen a star fish or a sea anemone in their natural habitat . . . only at aquariums.

It was the perfect day spent together exploring a new, beautiful place.  We are hoping to go back this summer for a small family vacation.

 Please don't judge me by my hair in this picture.  It looks horrible and like I have super tight curls in my hair.  I will admit they were much tighter than I like, but NOT as tight as they look.  Ugh.  I had to include this picture for posterity's sake.

Saturday morning was Miss Anna' baptism and lunch at Red Robin.  It was a wonderful baptism and great time spent with our awesome family.
 

Check this out . . .
 

On our flight home we flew right over Mt. Hood.  It was an incredible sight.  

At one point you could see all four volcanoes from the airplane window . . . Mt. St. Helen's, Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood.  I couldn't get a picture of all four, but I did get one with all three . . .

I thought it was incredible!