Oregon Coast Adventures 2021 Part 2 + Hood River

 One night we had corn dogs at the corn dog place in Rockaway, which was apparently where corn dogs were invented. And, of course, the kids all had to ride the bucking corn dog:

One early morning we went out to Ecola State Park at low tide, where we saw a lot of cool things in the tide pools:

Dallen even caught a little crab that all the older kids got a chance to hold:

It's a pretty area, with a lot of cool creatures!

Ivy had fun playing with her baby cousin on the walk back to the car:

Later that morning we went to Cannon Beach, where we got the most delicious crepes I've ever had:

The crepes weren't quite enough food for us though, so we also hit the Cannon Beach bakery, which was also delicious!

Here's the best picture we got of the kids with Haystack Rock:

Pretty flowers and scenery at Cannon Beach!

We hit the same lookout point on the way back to the beach house from Cannon Beach because it was so beautiful!

We spent our last afternoon and evening on the beach, since that's really all the kids wanted to do the whole trip! They built another sand castle to get destroyed:

And they played in the freezing water:

Some of the kids even tried boogie boarding:

Ryan found a live crab:

Ryan and the kids had fun building a log wall around the sand castle:

The kids had fun burying each other in the sand:

After dinner we went back out to watch the sand castle get destroyed and just play some more on the beach:

Ryan even went out in the middle of the night to see the earlier sand castle get washed away. Even the log wall did not survive the waves:

The next morning we left the coast to head for Hood River, OR. On the way we got breakfast at Alice's Country Kitchen, and it was so good with huge pancakes and cinnamon rolls for the kids:

Zane even managed to finish his cinnamon roll!

When we got to Hood River we visited Ryan's mom's and grandma's graves:

Then we went to one of Ryan's favorite places to eat growing up, The Ranch, where we all got some mini burgers:

We drove by Ryan's old house and saw the blackberry bushes that Ryan used to pick berries at as a kid on the side of the road, so we had the kids get out and try their hand at it:

We met up with Ryan's Aunt and Uncle, as well as Papa Gary at the Hood River county fair. Ryan's aunt was in charge of part of the fair, so she got us in for free and the kids got a ride on her golf cart:

We got to look at and pet the animals:

Then each kid got to ride one ride!

The kids even got a sneak peek of the magic show:

It was great meeting up with family we haven't seen in a long time!

After Hood River we were trying to make it to Boise to get a hotel for the night, when Ryan's parents called to tell us the freeway was backed up because of a log truck turnover. By the time we got to La Grande, OR, the freeway was completely closed off and wouldn't open until 2 or 3 in the morning. It was around 8 or 9 pm at that point, so we tried every single hotel in La Grande to see if we could get a room, but they were all 100% booked. There were lots of cars outside the fast food places with people just hanging around- I think we were all wondering what to do with the freeway closed! We said a prayer, and decided to continue on towards Boise on the back roads (which was going to add 3-4 hours to the trip). After awhile driving down the road, we saw this old-looking hotel in Union, OR, and we decided to stop and call the number to see if we could get a room. It was a total blessing from God- they had two rooms left, and they promised us one of them (they had other people on hold wanting the rooms). It actually ended up even being big enough for all of us!

Ryan and the kids thought it was a bit creepy (it was like 100 years old or something) and it didn't really have air conditioning, but I was just extremely grateful we didn't have to drive through the night or sleep in the car that night. Here's a picture that was in our room, and a picture with the hotel to document this crazy adventure:

After our night in Union, OR, we were finally headed home. We stopped in Boise, ID on the way home to see the temple:

And of course we had to stop at Hyrum's favorite restaurant (which they don't have in Utah), Panera bread for lunch:

After a long and exciting couple of weeks, we were grateful to be back home, though we still aren't sure Utah actually feels like home yet! What a fun summer adventure!