It's been two years since we've been camping at Christmas. This work & school thing keep cramping our style!!I was fortunate enough to get 4 days off between Christmas & New Years...just enough time for us to get out for a few days. Bill & kids did a great job getting us ready to go, while I was at work on Monday. The kids were giddy beyond description, as it had been almost 7 months since we'd been out camping. Tuesday morning came,and we finished getting ready, and piled in the truck and headed west then North, up the coast. We stopped at Tillamook Cheese Factory (of course we needed cheese) and found that we had a dog that did not travel so well. I neglected to think that Lexxi had not traveled with us yet. Poor girl lost her breakfast. So, while Kristin & I stayed behind to clean her & her kennel up, Ryan and Bill went inside to check things out. After getting Lexxi cleaned up and settled, we all headed in for our cheese/ice cream fix.
We continued North, and our destination was Ft Stevens, but it had rained all day,and was starting to get dark and we were tired....so, we stopped at Nehalem Bay State Park, another nice park. What was even nicer, unlike Ft Stevens, was that it was almost empty! We got set up and had a nice dinner, followed by a few rounds of scrabble before bed. It was POURING!
On Wednesday, we woke to rain, but headed out, stopping at the Seaside outlets, to make an exchange, and let Kristin have a field day in Claires. The bargain shopper she is, she got 47.00 worth of merchandise for 14.00!! She waits for the clearance stuff....and has a blast. Sorry for us...she has 11.00 left on her gift card, so that means another trip to Claires! We then headed to Astoria, where we hit an Old English restaurant for lunch. Kristin had Sheperds Pie, and Bill had a Meat Pasty, Ryan & I both had some great fish & chips. All was VERY yummy.
After lunch, we headed to the Astoria Column, and it was SO cold that they kids decided they didn't want to climb it, and Ryan & Bill didn't even get out of the truck!
From there, we headed downtown, to the Historic Flavel House. Mr. Flavel was a River Guide....who guided ships into the dangerous Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean. He built his wife a BEAUTIFUL retirement home, and only lived there a few years before he passed away. The kids and I had a great time exploring the grounds, the carriage house, and the main house. It had beautiful mahogany woodwork and doors, that we later found out was local douglas fir wood, but had been treated to look just like mahogany. It was an incredible old house, and we enjoyed the history, as well as having fun looking at it as it seemed like the perfect setting for a Nancy Drew Mystery! Both Ryan & Kristin found many "clues" and "puzzles" as we walked the garden and through the house. After a full day, we headed back to camp. It was a stew dinner inside...too wet for a campfire.On Wednesday, we woke to a beautiful sunshiny day. It was cold, but pretty. Bill was not feeling well, so he stayed behind while we headed to Ft Clatsop, where Lewis & Clark spent the winter of 1802 on their trip to explore the Louisiana Purchase. On the way there, it was so pretty, we stopped at some of the scenic pull offs, and I had a chance to play with my new camera lens.
After a few stops, we were off to Ft Clatsop. They were having some special things happening, as this was the time of the year Lewis & Clark were in Oregon. We watched a neat film, learned how to write with a quill and watched a gun be loaded, shot and learned a ton!! We enjoyed checking out the new fort (the old fort had burned down a few years ago, and had since been rebuilt.) It turned out that it was not arson as thought, but a spark from a fire. The Fort is unable to burn to this day because of that fire. The ranger told us that they were "close" to getting their burn permit back! We decided not to do the river walk with the ranger due to the ice on the ground down the hill, and the fact that we didn't have gloves or hats with us. It was a 45 minute walk, and we'd already done about an hour and a half of programs and hadn't done the visitor center yet.
It was a fun day at the Fort.We headed back through town, stopped to pick up some things for dinner, and headed back to camp. On the way back down the coast, the sunset was SO beautiful, and of course, with a new lens, you have to try it out...so we stopped several times on the way back to camp.
Chili for supper, and it was decided that we should head home early. The weather was not the best...the kids really wanted to help with the pancake breakfast for their youth groups, and it simply was not one of the better trips we have had.
It was a blessing we came home when we did, as our breaker box in the house was having some issues. Bill found that we had a bad breaker, and all the lights were dimming, and the box was making some strange buzzing sounds. Very thankful for a husband who can troubleshoot & fix. We spent the night (New Years Eve) with out electricity, but were thankful to be safe! We headed to the pancake breakfast while Bill hit Home Depot (YES, they were open New Years Day). and he had us back up & running by 2ish. We did enjoy our time at the pancake breakfast, and the kids loved being a part of their group. Everyone was TIRED when we got home, but dinner with Nate, Katie & the girls agave us something to perk us up!
We spent the rest of the vacation just prepping to get back into the swing of things for the coming week. Back to the usual routine...hate the end of vacation time!!
Enjoy the pictures!
