Oregon Coast

So.  Are you ready to see photos of my most favorite family vacation ever?  Ryan REALLY wanted to go to the Newport Aquarium for his birthday, so we decided to sneak away from the wedding planning and go explore down south on the coast to towns we've never been to.

I did my research online and decided we should check out a place called Cape Perpetua.  We found a random little parking spot and then made our way through these awesome tree tunnels.  Doesn't it look like we're going down the rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland?  It sure felt that way.

To our complete surprise, this was the view waiting for us on the other side. We had the whole mountain side to ourselves and we spent the entire rest of the day exploring this lava rock shore.

Here's Ry and the girls waiting for the spout to blow...then getting soaked :)

 Our girls are the coolest little girls I know.  They are champs for adventure and have such enthusiasm for exploring.  We dragged them all over this shore line and never once did they complain,

 By the end of our adventure Lydia's little legs couldn't hardly move.

P

 Ry and I have had quite the year.  Thankfully we're more in-love than ever because of it.

Sooooo, this photo here is what inspired us to go to Cape Perpetua.  But guess what, it was no where to be found.  According to google we were right on top of it!  And yet, 3 hours of searching and we still never found it.  But what we did find while we were searching was priceless.

Once I realized we weren't going to find Thor's Well (above photo) we decided to move on to find the Devil's Churn.  We parked.  Crossed this completely charming bridge, and made our way down this perfectly shaped path.  You would think the landscaping was done by some high priced resort...nope, that's just how the North West rolls.  Totally, and completely breathtaking.

I don't know if you are appreciating how beautiful this is.  Really take it all in.

I mean come on.  Look at that!!!

Hi.  Yeah.  Devil's Churn.  Looks like something from Lord of the Rings.  It was a bit disturbing to walk all the way to this edge.  You could feel the ocean "churning" in the cave beneath you and it boomed all the way through to your heart.  If you fell in here, it would be game over, no being rescued.  It sure was fun to see in real life though :)

We ended our night with picking the most crowded restaurant in town to celebrate Ryan's 31st birthday.  I am just coming around to the world of seafood, but this place had the best fish and chips I've ever had.  Then we drove up the coast and found a quaint little hotel.  Had baths.  Put girls to bed.  Watched a movie.  Then fell asleep to the sound of the Ocean.  Seriously.  Seriously.  Can't get better than this.

The next morning Ryan's wish came true and we headed to the Newport Aquarium.  Loved the touch pools, especially since they were all creatures that live in the ocean right outside.

Just in case you were wondering, this is the aquarium that spent 7 MILLION dollars on a tank for Keiko (Free Willy) to return to health.  Bleh.  I am not a fan of saving the whales when there are starving children in this World.  Anyways, moving on.

Isn't this picture awesome?  You know what's fun about being the mom?  You get to always stay behind the camera.  So that way when your kids look back on their childhood, they'll have a ton of great photos with their dad, and your role can kind of be forgotten.  Fun huh?  (I'm laying the sarcasm on pretty thick here)

What I loved best about this trip was discovering new places I've never been.  Especially since the Oregon Coast is so familiar to me.  This was like I was in a whole new state.  We stopped at a real live lighthouse and got a tour of the inside.  We went down to the tide pools, and also saw loads of seals just hanging around, doing their sleepy thing.

Wait for it.....Wait for it....da da da daaaaa!!!!  Cannon Beach.  We made it!  Although the highlight was exploring new beaches, there's nothing like Cannon.  It never changes.  Even when everything else in my life does, Cannon always stays the same.  Nothing goes out of business, the restaurants don't change their menus, and Haystack Rock will forever and always be the symbol of my happy childhood.

Some people have Disneyland, some have Bear Lake, some Lake Powell, but our family's happy place is at Cannon Beach.  The remaining photos pretty much speak for themselves.

We finished off this day with Joining Ryan's brother Greg and his family for a slumber party in the next town over in Seaside.  We had a great fire on the beach and then stayed up until 3a.m. catching up.  This has to be the best 24 hours we've had in a long time, possibly ever.  Possibly.