SB: Friday

I am going to pre-apologize that this post is SOO long, but I had a hard time choosing pictures. This was probably my favorite day of our whole trip!

Friday morning, we woke up in Portland and decided to head to the coast. It was Luke's birthday too! :) Yay!! We had heard the Oregon coastline was gorgeous, so we had to go see for ourselves. :) This is a bridge that gets you in and out of Portland. I don't remember the name of it, but it goes over the Colombia River, which borders Washington and Oregon east to west.

This is a sight you don't really see in Texas! :) There are so many mountains, sometimes they have to cut a tunnel in the side of the mountain to let the highway pass through...

This isn't the best picture, but these logging trucks were everywhere. It was kindof scary driving next to them. (Have you seen "City of Angels?")

The road to the coast was windy and curvy, and went up and down and side to side, plus it was raining. It was a beautiful drive, but a little tense if you were the driver. Finally we made it to Cannon Beach! This is the cutest town I have ever been in. Lots of little shops and restaurants, art galleries, etc.

Zac, Luke, and Kayla walking down the street looking for a place to eat! Luke's choice, since it was his special day.

We passed this cute candy store, and they were making fresh caramel apples. Yum!

That's the outside of the candy store. Isn't it the prettiest thing you've ever seen? ;) If I ever open a shop, I will make sure it is very pink on the outside!

We decided to eat at Bill's Tavern, and it was a great choice...

The inside had cool murals,

and this chili-cheese dog on a cold, rainy day was awesome! I ordered this and Kayla ordered a hamburger and we split them and each had half. Both were delicious, but that burger was ah-MAY-zing! Delish!

They had a little fireplace inside, which was nice and cozy...

After our delicious lunch, we headed to the candy store. Luke bought abunch of Salt Water Taffy. I teased Zac by taking his picture with the caption (a candy bar) "Big Hunk."

We drove to a lookout point so you could see down on the beach. That large rock is called a Haystack Rock, and can be seen in the movie the Goonies! :) (that exact one! they filmed in Cannon Beach.)

Zac and I at the lookout...

We finally found a place to park and got on to the actual beach. I can not explain in words how COLD and windy it was. Brrr!

Luke and Kayla getting windblown too...

The coast was amazing. Mountains behind you, with tall tall trees, and then ocean in front of you, as far as the eye can see. It's indescribable.

We were happy, and giddy like little kids. I think the cold was making our bodies produce a little extra adrenaline too. haha.

beautiful!!!!

See that rock behind us? Luke got on it and said it was really cool, so I wanted to get on it too...

Unfortunately, it was scary to jump on it. The tide kept rushing up, plus the rock was kinda sharp and stuff, AND when Luke jumped on it, he split his pants. So I rolled up my pants (hoping to not get wet) and then I kept pulling my pants up so they would not rip. I bet I stood there a solid 20 minutes trying to pump myself up to jump on it, but I kept chickening out...

Finally Zac just ran and jumped up there, and so I did too. It was totally worth it! Look at these beautiful colorful starfish!

I always think of starfish as being white and stiff and hard, but these were definitely jiggly and moving and the prettiest shades of pink, purple, and orange! It's cool to see something like that in nature...



The big rock we were standing on was made of a million shells. I was wandering if I was hurting them by standing on them. Maybe we weren't supposed to stand on them. Oops.

Zac exploring the rock...

This is my view of the beach from the rock. See how much the tide came up?? We were stuck on the rock for awhile, and had to wait til the perfect time to jump back down. It was very fun though. :) I will never forget the hour we spent on that stretch of beach. It was the best!! :)



The wind made waves, and a bird takes flight...

pretty rocks, mountains, ocean, and birds



That says "Oregon March 2009"

Even though it was not sunny at all, the whole time we were at the beach, it started to lighten up a little on our drive home.

Woah! Look at that big momma cloud, though! Yikes!

Once we got back to Portland, to the apartment, Zac and Decided to go for a walk. These beautiful trees were everywhere in Portland, but this was at a park really close to their apartment.

This is the entrance to the park. It was cool. Very non-traditional park.

We found an entire block that was all Vegan stuff. Zac's brother Eli is vegan, so we were wishing he was with us. There was a vegan grocery store, vegan bakery, and a vegan clothing store.

When we got back from our walk, Kayla got back from Baskin Robbins, and we all sang Happy Birthday to Luke. :) He got a yummy ice cream cake with 31 candles on top. I think he was happily surprised! :)

Zac and I still had some stuff we wanted to do in Seattle that we didn't get to do on Wednesday, so after the birthday party, we packed up and headed back to Seattle. We had a wonderful stay with Luke and Kayla. Thank you both so much! Y'all were awesome tour guides, and the trip would not have been the same without getting to spend so much time with you guys! We love you! Come to Texas soon! :)

So as we made the trip back to Seattle, we crossed the Colombia River one last time...

Left Portland and Oregon,

and returned to Washington...all on one bridge! :)


At the end of the day we were pooped, but it was one of the best days ever. I didn't know you could enjoy a beach so much when the weather was in the low 40's...but it was awesome! :)

Saturday post, coming soon...