Fair warning....these next few posts could be be long. There will be some serious journaling going on here and I tend to ramble.
Please forgive me and buckle up.

For our family vacation this summer we decided to head back to Seaside Oregon. It's my most favorite place in the world and this time, since they've never been we asked my parents to tag along.

We left bright and shiny on a Saturday morning. The drive is long....15 hours...so we like to  break it up over two days. The first day is what we fondly refer to as "the vacation death march" because it is a whole lot of potato fields and cows for 9 hours straight.  Last trip it took FOREVER to get to our hotel because our kids were little and we had to  hit EVERY. SING:LE. REST. STOP. This time it only took 9 hours and we only had to stop at every OTHER rest stop. Nice!  Nevertheless, our hotel was a most welcome sight...especially for Ms. Lucy. She was quite done buy the time we rolled up.

• The fine for littering in Baker City, Oregon is $6,275 so I strongly suggest you keep your trash in your car until you are safely back in Idaho where the fine is only $70. 
• We passed the 45 parallel which meant we were equal distance from the Equator and the North Pole. 
• Getting 3 DVD players to share between 4 kids may seem excessive, but is totally worth it. 

I won't lie...I am obsessed with this tree farm. It is HUGE! Probably if tree farms are common around your neck of the world you are saying, "seriously? a tree farm? how lame can you be?" But remember, I am a desert girl and tree farms are not a common sight to see. We pretty much stick to sage brush and scrub oak, not 5 miles worth of poplar trees.



 Here are the momma trees and the baby trees hanging out together.


It's a wonder poor Kent didn't crash the car because some crazy lady was all up in his face trying to get a good picture of a tree farm.  Bless him and his patient soul.











Another highlight for a desert girl...the Columbia River! Our rivers are shallow and narrow enough you can cross them by carefully stepping on big rocks. But the Columbia is a REAL river with REAL river stuff going on like trains, and wind farms, and barges, and bridges, and islands, and Mt. Hoods!





















After the river, it's on through Portland...( I tried to get a picture, but Kent's patients was gone and I had to help him navigate instead of play car tourist...)