Newport

 I think I'm far enough off our trip to Oregon that I can write and not grimace in horror.  That perhaps makes you think that it wasn't the best, but it was. At least most of it was.  Like 52%. Luckily that made the whole trip completely worth it.  So come with me as we explore the Oregon Coast...

Our primary reason for the trip was for bird watching.  We took our binocs and scope and all of our birding gear.  The highlight of the trip was to be the pelagic ocean bird watching on Saturday. A full eight hours on a boat watching ocean birds. WooHoo!

We left our home Wednesday evening and got to Boise very late.  We got a decent deal on a hotel from Hotwire.  It did not meet the high three star rating we were expecting.  It was a low two. Maybe. But since we got there at 1 and were leaving at 8, we decided it was okay enough.  Ick. The next morning we headed out early.  

Welcome to Oregon!

We decided to make all of our stops on the way there.  We knew on the way home we were just going to want to be home and not stop. I'm glad we did it that way. Because seriously, ya know?  15 hours is a long time in a car...

We stopped at a rest stop and were walking around and came upon this tree.  Can anyone tell me what these are? My first thought was limes, but they were very hard. The ones that had dried on the ground looked like little turds. Share your knowledge if you know-

We stopped here at Multnomah Falls.  No matter how many times I've been here, it is still so beautiful.  Except for the tons and tons of people.  Sort of obnoxious, actually.

We drove around the outskirts Portland.  I wish we had been able to stop and visit people, but there just wasn't enough time.  There was however time to pull off the free way to stop at the Lego store.  We have a serious addiction to the Lego people...

This is the view off the balcony of our hotel when we got there.  Oh, the beauty and grandeur!

Then the sun came out and it was gorgeous! Breathtaking!  Unfortunately, for a good portion of our visit it was foggy and rainy.  But we powered through and made it work.

 This is about the day that my stomach started to be sick.  I thought I had picked up a bug where we had lunch on our drive the first day.  Either way, that makes for a HORRID traveling experience! Always know where the bathrooms are... anyway...

We did a small bit of hiking around right on the coast.  The lighthouse was awesomely gorgeous.  By the time we got there, it was crazy foggy and we couldn't see much. See the fog rolling in??

We went back on Sunday, it wasn't open then...

We hit the aquarium, it was pretty sweet.  I find fish to be kind of gross and icky.  But it was set up pretty cool and we were able to see lots.  My favorite is the kid looking through the floor at the stuff under us.

 What a silly buggar!

Newport 

 Tide Pools

Then came the glorious day that we were to spend eight hours ocean bird watching.  We had prepared.  We had prepared so much! We had both gotten rain jackets, we got some prescription strength motion sick patches for behind our ears, we had studied our birds... we were ready to roll!

We had to get up at 5:30 to be to the boat by 6:15.  My gosh, that's early!  As we got on the boat I thought that this might be a little crazy. Totally out of the norm for what we are inclined to do.  But we tarried on and got on the boat. When we got on the boat, they gave a little spiel about going to the back of the boat to puke so that it didn't come back in anybody's face. 

We drove (?) along the land for about 15 miles.  I was so glad after about 45 minutes when I didn't seem to be getting sick.  The patches are working, huzzah! Here is the view as we were leaving the bay. If you squint, you can see little black birds.

Then we turned away from the coast and headed out to sea! Good bye land!! Look how calm the water looks.  Those waves are deceiving! The further out we got, the bigger the swells got.  It didn't take long after we turned out for people to start getting sick.  I still thought I was doing pretty good.  For about another half an hour or so.  I found it hard to walk on the boat, even to stand was difficult, so I mostly sat in the same spot.  

The further out we got, the bigger the waves. Ugh. 

I finally couldn't handle it anymore and stumbled to the back of the boat and lost it.  Several times.  Oh, yeah! Remember how I mentioned earlier that I had some sort of food poisoning/stomach bug? Well, throw that in there, too!  Something I don't wish on anybody. Seriously. I kept thinking as I went back to the railing to dry heave then back to the two foot square bathroom, that I wish I had some secret information to give to whomever was torturing me. Just so it would stop!  

After coming out of the bathroom once, I found Jake at the back railing.  He eventually threw up four times. I'm not sure how many times I lost it.  A lot. And you couldn't eat anything.  It would just come right back up. 

I think about a third of the people on the boat eventually got sick. 

 

When we stopped at halfway, the sun had finally come out and it was so nice out. I must have looked extra pitiful because one of the boat's crew brought me a "pillow" and I laid down and crashed for a bit.  When I came to, this is what I saw:

He was so sick, too. So sad he was!

The ride back was much calmer as we were going with the waves versus against.  It seemed to go quickly as well, thank goodness.  All in all, it was pretty cool to see birds that we probably for sure will never see again. 

When we got back, we didn't want to do anything. It almost killed us to walk to the truck.  When we got back to the hotel I took a picture to remember how pretty it was the day I thought I was going to die. Kidding. Sort of.

You would also think that spending the day puking would make us not want to eat, but we were starved. So we ordered a pizza and it was one of the best pizzas we've ever had! And we ate pretty much the entire thing. It was a small.... Do you believe me?

The obligatory writing in the sand...

We found an awesome place to go hike. And look for birds. We saw several new species in this little park.  So awesome! This was one of our favorite places we went while we were in Oregon.

On a different day we explored Newport some more...

Another awesome lighthouse

The last two nights we were there, we camped.  I must admit I was not looking forward to this part of the trip.  But it turned out to be my favorite part by far.  We were out away from everybody, it was quiet, and lots of birds!.  But holy stinkin cold. We were less than half a mile from the beach, so we got a lot of fog, mist, and wind.  But when the sun went down it was perfect. 

We took our bikes with us with the intent of riding all over town.  Looking on GoogleMaps, it looked like it would be a nice town to bike through. It wasn't.  It was so super hilly and the "bike lanes" left a little something to be desired. Like a lane.  Anyway, we took them out a little bit while we were camping.  It was SO cold, but the trail was so cool. I took these pictures on my bike, so sorry they're a little blurry.

The best hot chocolate ever. Hot chocolate packet on the left, multicolored marshmallow packet on the right. Yumm!

Then. It was time to go home!  Did you know it takes 15ish hours to drive from the Oregon Coast to Wyoming?  I does. And it's a really long 15 hours.  We only stopped a few times along the way for lunch and bathrooms. I don't remember where this was... somewhere in Oregon...

We stopped in Burley and spent the night at my stepsister's house. And showered. It was lovely!

I know we had just spent almost a week in Oregon, and it was so beautiful, but I must tell you.  I think Idaho is beautiful, and I was beyond glad to get home.

Did I mention it took 15 hours to get home?

Fall Creek in Swan Valley

Palisades

And where else in the world do people ride their 4-wheelers to the library? And park them like they're cars no less? I love Wyoming.

HOME!!

We were still in birder mode when we got home. Jake digiscoped this within a few minutes of us being home.

It was such a fun trip, and the good times far outweighed the bad moments. But next time we're budgeting in flights so we don't have to drive so far!