Oregon Fall Break, Day 1: Tuesday morning, after Jennetta going to one class, we headed north. This trip began with a Jetta getting her Christmas present early, an eos camera that will be rewrapped for the actual Christmas day, but she was absolutely delighted. Then we traveled through snow capped passes to Boise for lunch (too good to go donuts and desserts and burgers) before heading onto Oregon. The Columbia River gorge was spectacular. While Rob and I drove to Seattle some 25+ years ago, a lot of this area is completely new and so gorgeous at sunset. We dipped across the river so that Jetta could step foot on Washington State (because we were listening to and critiquing twilight) and then as we entered Portland. We grabbed three more too good to gos: pizza, sushi, and Thai food before settling into our absolutely perfectly quirky downtown Portland hotel to feast and rewatch Gravity Falls.
Oregon Fall Break, Day 2: Rob doesn't often get excited for a shopping morning but when he's in a town with a famous bookstore, he is absolutely giddy. We headed straight to Powell's and while Jetta and I spent a nice hour there, we still had to leave Rob to go thrifting. He spent a good three hours there, only joining us when we said there were antique print supplies at one of the shops, randomly, because Portland is weird. Then over to a record store for records and CDs before heading west to the coast. I've always wanted to go to Cannon Beach and going at sunset did not disappoint. If you think my pictures are good, wait until you see Jennetta's. It was so fun to walk along the water, sidestepping jellies and seeing how long in could stay in the freezing water. And just talking and taking fun photos. Once the sun was down, we headed back into Portland, stopping at whole foods for some treats before more gravity falls and showing Jetta a clip or two of Portlandia.
Oregon Fall Break, Day 3: We left our perfectly Portland hotel and headed south. We stopped in Eugene for Elmer's breakfast at lunchtime. Then down to Roseburg for groceries at winco, and Rob and Jennetta had so much fun filling up snacks at the bins. Then we left civilization to go into the Umpqua forest to find waterfalls and hot springs. We hiked, soaked, and marveled at the natural beauty. Then we settled in at our little cabin for the night, making hot dogs and s'mores at the fire and then watching as much twilight as I could stomach before switching to gravity falls to end out the night.
Oregon, Fall Break, Day 4: Driving home was an all day event but we got up early enough to go see one more waterfall near our cabin and spend a few hours marveling at the rim of Crator Lake. Then lots of driving, punctuated by good tunes, good conversations and the clicking of Jennetta's camera. But also a lot of alone time in the car as we all listened to our own stuff with our respective headphones. The last bit of the drive was brightened by one last Too good to go in wendover at Pizza Hut. Where they didn't really have any extra so just gave me box after box of what was coming out of the oven. Jennetta was delighted by the pizza treasures and we feasted all the way home.
