25.8.09
Our trip began early one Sunday morning. The mini van, piled to the top with treats, kids, blankets, duffel bags and more videos than you can shake a stick at pulled out of our driveway around 7:30 am. We were excited! I was feeling pretty good. I had a bag full of everything and anything a person could want when you were stuck in a car with four small kids for 9 hours, (including several types of sleep inducing aids I am not ashamed to admit.) The kids were all snuggled in their little nests and Kent was properly caffeinated and ready to drive.
Our destination for the day was Pendleton, Oregon. The plan was to be there by dinner so we would have a bit of time to swim in the hotel pool and burn off 9 hours of pent up energy and I am most happy to say we made it! Adding an hour due to time zones totally helped, but we arrived around 6 pm and we were most happy to be there.
Kade typed "We are in Oregon" on his DS and really wanted me to take a picture of it for history.
Because their are 6 of us, when I booked a hotel I had to get a suite. I could have lied about how many of us there were , but there was NO WAY I was cramming three people each on a double bed just to save a buck or two. Turns out, this was a very smart move and we all slept like babies.
When the lady quoted the price of the room, I nearly dropped the phone. These little towns in the middle of nowhere sure know how to get you. However, I was promised that I would LOVE the view of the blue mountains from our hotel window and it would totally make the high price worth it.
This is what we got: 
Not bad, but when this is the view from your front window, those poor Blue Moutains didn't stand a chance.
Not bad, but when this is the view from your front window, those poor Blue Moutains didn't stand a chance..jpg)
After a good nights sleep, a fabulous free breakfast (which almost did make the price worth it, we are talking delux breakfast and all for freezies!) and a quick mini-tour of Pendleton Oregon, we loaded up and headed out again. This time our drive was much shorter and our destination was Seaside Oregon! Hooray!
We followed the Columbia River along the border of Oregon and Washington and it was GORGEOUS! Remember, I am a desert girl. For us a big river is one you can't just jump across. I was so in love with this river by the end of our trip.
I won't bore you with the trillion pictures I took, but just know it was great.Here is what Lucy thought of this part of the trip. She was starting to get really done with driving.
We went through Portland (crazy!) and then came to these tree lined, windey road for the rest of the drive in to the coast. Again, I must say..... beautiful. (Remember, desert girl here.....)
We went through Portland (crazy!) and then came to these tree lined, windey road for the rest of the drive in to the coast. Again, I must say..... beautiful. (Remember, desert girl here.....) 
After about 5 hours driving, we made it to Seaside and to our cute little home away from home. Let me just say that renting a beach house is totally the way to go. It was cheaper than a hotel, more privacy, a laundry room, a full kitchen, and it just felt like we were on a grand adventure with this cute little fairy tale place to come back to each night.
The kids wasted no time settling in. Kade and Tanner shared a room, Wes got to sleep on the pull out sofa and Lucy got to sleep with us in her playpen. It worked out really well.
Our teeny tiny living room with more beach paraphernalia than one little beach house should ever be in possession of. These people REALLY like beach decor.
Our little backyard that we never actually got to enjoy because it rained every night. (Gosh, you'd think we were in Oregon or something.)
The highlight for the boys, their Bionical's fit just perfect on the beach chair light in their room. They were very pleased with this.
After we got settled in, we went for a little drive down the coast. We pulled off onto a lookout area and this is what we saw:
Do I even need to say it?
Beautiful.
This is when I knew that 14 hours in the car and two days of driving was totally worth it and it was going to be a great vacation.
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ARE YOU AWARE THAT YOU WERE CLOSER TO FORKS THAN YOU USUALLY ARE? JUST WONDERING! WELCOME BACK!
Since you went around the Columbia, did you stop at Multnomah Falls? It is the most gorgeous thing, and we didn't even know about it til I happened to catch a glimpse in the rear view mirror and made Tyson turn around.
My sister-in-law is from Pendleton. You should've stayed with her parents (who live in a ginormous house) for free and skipped the suite. :)