Northern Cal and Oregon Trip

At the end of August we went on a trip to Northern California and the Oregon coast. When I was growing up we would take this trip every year, but I hadn't been back for over 10 years. I've wanted to take Larry back for some time so that I could introduce him to some of the things that I loved when I was a kid on family vacation. We finally made it and it was fun to experience all those memories with Larry and Bryton.


Hiking in the Redwood forest

















Bryton and the "tick"- Once when we were hiking, Larry picked up a stick and started using it as a walking stick. Bryton thought that was really neat and so Daddy found him a stick of his own.He would not take one step on the trail without using that stick after that. It was adorable, but soooo slow. He also liked to take off in the opposite direction. You know how most kids get scared if their parents leave? Not this boy! We tried to get him to follow us by walking away and yelling "Bye Bryton, Bye!" A normal kid would freak out and run after you. Bryton just turns around, smiles, yells "Bye!" and keeps going. Mr. Independent! Pointing out the leaves and "pacones" (pinecones).





Larry swimming in the Smith River. He absolutely fell in love with this river- the water was so clear and blue.




Bryton playing at a cool park in Brookings, Oregon



Hiking Humbug Mountain


Battle Rock




Climbing Battle Rock. larry was wearing flip flops and didn't feel stable in them, so I climbed up on my own.




The Harbor in Bandon, Oregon











Cape Perpetua Lighthouse




Canoeing at Honeyman State Park








Old Town Florence, Oregon




My favorite scenery on the trip- Heceta Head









Devils Churn



There was a lot of driving on the trip but Bryton was happy and patient through all of it!



Blue Heron French Cheese Company in Tillamook




Tillamook Cheese factory



Seaside,Oregon




Bryton petting a starfish at the Seaside Aquarium
Larry is nuts about the movie "The Goonies".When we were in Astoria he made us go around town to try and find the sites where the movie was filmed. I thought we were going to look like total dorks but it turns out this pasttime is actually quite common for visitors to Astoria. We even ran into another guy taking pictures of the Goonies sites at the same time we were.

The Goonies house


A sign at the end of the drive leading to the Goonies house

In front of the County Jail that the Frattelli's escape from at the beginning of the movie

The museum where the Dad works


Sea lions in Astoria.Bryton was crazy about these things. We went back 4 times to see them because he kept yelling, "I want Seaw, I want Seaw!"



The view from the Astoria Tower.I don't usually consider myself a person who is afraid of heights, but climbing up the rickety, see-through metal stairs in this thing really freaked me out. I almost lost it and turned back a couple of times. There is just something about looking straight down hundreds of feet to a cement floor that brings it out in you!






What a great time!