Seattle, WA

Goodness gracious I am behind!  We have been back in DC for a little over a week and I am finally finding the time to blog.  I've gotta get caught up before this baby comes!

So, to pick up where I left off in our crazy busy summer, just a few days after Mimi and Pop left, Gran and Grandy (my parents) came for a visit.  They were with us for just a few days before Jesse and I took a weekend trip to Seattle.  They kept Turner for us so we could take somewhat of a "babymoon." We took the Bolt Bus from Portland and within just a few minutes on the bus, we thought "wow, is this what it was like to not have a kid??" We could just sit there, talk, read, sleep, whatever and not have to think about anyone else.  The entire weekend was such a great break from life with a toddler.

When we got to Seattle, we checked into the Hilton downtown, just to find out that the air conditioner in our room wasn't working.  After telling the hotel staff we got upgraded to a better room! Woo Hoo! We got ready for the night and hit the town. That night we had dinner at a Nijo Sushi and then explored the city some. We ended the night at The Pie Bar with fantastic pie and drinks.

The next morning we hit up Pike Place Market and continued to eat our way through the city. Sadly I can't remember the names of everywhere we snacked, but if we saw something that looked good, we enjoyed ourselves! We took naps in the afternoon and then went to see The Great Gatsby that night.  We seriously considered going back to the Pie Bar... because it was THAT good. But as good as pie sounded, the bed sounded equally as good to this preggo.

On our last morning, we woke up, got coffee and breakfast burritos and checked out Freeway Park.  One of Jesse's favorite landscape architects, Lawrence Halprin designed an awesome fountain in this park.  We spent a good amount of time walking around Freeway Park and enjoying the morning. We thought we had a lot of time, so we walked around the city a good bit more, doing a little shopping, looking for some art, and just wasting time until our bus left for Portland.  Well, it's always a good idea to double check your travel details, because we had our departure time wrong and MISSED THE BUS! We frantically made it to the train station, with just a few minutes til departure, we bought tickets for one of the last trains to Portland.  We stood in the long line waiting to board the train just to find out that the train was having a maintenance issues and we would be on a charter bus back.  We were really bummed... after missing our bus and having to pay for another way home, we at least were excited to be on a train.  Well, we board the charter bus and wait..... and wait..... and wait..... and finally hours later, we get on the road back to Portland.

Jesse is obsessed with poke.

I am obsessed with flowers.

Isn't this a great picture?? Such a surprise when we were looking through our photos.  Sorry, dude.

The Bubblegum Wall

Overall, we had a great weekend getaway in Seattle.  We both had always wanted to visit Seattle and since it is just a couple of hours away from Portland we knew we wanted to get up there this summer. So thankful that Gran and Grandy were able to come keep Turner so we could go.  I think they also loved getting a weekend alone with him.  They went to Cannon Beach for the weekend and visited the Tillamook Cheese Factory (a local cheese factory that makes amazing cheese)! Getting back to Portland was nice, but one of the best things was the HUGE HUG I got from my Turner man when we got back to the apartment.  Because I am with him 24/7, its rare that I get one of those "I missed you so much" hugs.  He seriously wouldn't let go for a while.  So sweet.

Grandy flew back home and Gran stayed a few more days so that she could fly back with me and Turner for our month in Mississippi! ...but that is for another post.  If you ever get a chance to visit Seattle, do it! We loved our little weekend there.

Yachats, OR

So Kelley left town on a Tuesday and Jesse's parents came in town Friday to visit.  We were excited to have more family come to see us so soon!  They got in town early afternoon, so Jesse took off work and came home a little early.  We took them to eat at one of our favorite places in Portland -Pine State Biscuits.  The owners are from North Carolina and they serve all kinds of southern goodness! We had fried chicken biscuits with cheddar, bacon, a fried egg, and gravy along with grits, collard greens, black eyed peas, and sweet tea in mason jars. Yummmmmy.  After dinner we played with Turner at a neighborhood park then found a little bit more room in our bellies for some ice cream at Salt and Straw. Again, Yummmmmmy.  Mrs. Terry had honey balsamic strawberry with cracked pepper, I had cinnamon snicker doodle, and Jesse had smoked hefeweizen.



The next morning we put Turner's car seat in Mimi and Pop's car and Jesse and I got to ride all by ourselves for 3 1/2 hours to Yachats, OR! Yachats is also on highway 101 along the Oregon coast, but further north than where we explored the weekend before.  We stayed in a house right on the water and only left for food!  It was too cold and windy to have much beach time, but we had some lovely views from the house. It was so very relaxing to have a long weekend on the coast.

The Great Redwoods

We have been a VERY busy little family recently so I have been really slacking on updating the blog. We have been going like crazy... had family in and out for 3 weeks, then Turner and I went to Mississippi for a month until Jesse joined us for Kelley's wedding. Great problem to have, right?  I have LOTS to update you on. Well, let's start back at when Kelley came to visit!

So, Kelley flew in the Wednesday after Memorial Day to celebrate the end of another teaching school year and to kick off her summer.  This was pretty much the only weekend she didn't have something wedding related planned, so we are so glad she shared her down time with us.  I had been counting down the weeks for her visit and we were so excited the day she got here! We spent the first few days hanging around Portland while Jesse worked.  We had plans to leave Friday morning for a trip to see the Redwoods in Northern California... well, our car was in the shop and we weren't sure if it would be done in time for our trip.  Turns out it wasn't, so the mechanic hooked us up with a brand new Yukon XL for the weekend. Holy moly that thing was HUGE. Imagine: Jesse and I in the front, Kelley and Turner in the backseat, all of our stuff in the 3rd row, and Maggie had the entire back all to herself. It made for a very spacious comfortable ride, but I don't think we will ever own anything so big! Seriously felt like a bus.

Anyways, we left Portland Friday morning and made our way over to Hwy 101 - The Pacific Coast Highway.  Have you ever wondered what the Oregon coast looks like? Probably not. I had never thought about it before, so I wasn't sure what to expect but it BLEW ME AWAY.  Hello amazingly beautiful rugged mountain and forests meets gorgeous water and huge rocks out in the surf. It really reminded us of our time in Hawaii, especially our time on the island of Oahu. So natural and beautiful.

We followed 101 along the coastline for a few hours until we got to Crescent City, CA (known as the Gateway to the Redwoods) where we were staying for the weekend. We got some seafood, then studied the map for the best way to get to our cabin that we rented. The most direct way we found went straight through the Jedediah State Park, so we took off into the woods. Not 5 minutes later the road got narrow, the forest got thicker, and we were completely surrounded by GIANTS.  Out of nowhere we were in the midst of the BIGGEST trees I have ever seen in my entire life.  The setting was perfect.  It was dusk, cool, quiet and we had miles and miles of this little forest road all to ourselves.  We rolled the windows down and stared out in amazement of these beasts of trees that surrounded us as far as our eyes could see.  No words can adequately describe it and no photos can do these trees justice.  It really is something you have to see for yourself to grasp the magnitude.  We realized that this is the same road we would come coming down the next day to get to the trailhead for our hike, so we really enjoyed our little HUGE preview of what the next day held for us.  This road led us to the road our cabin was on, so we continued on -- beginning to wonder if we had gone the right way because we were getting further and further away from the town and deeper into the wilderness.  Sure enough we eventually pulled up to a very cute "A frame" house on the Smith River - the Jade River Lodge.

This place was really cool! Completely off the grid - no internet, no phone service, no power (other than from the generator), and water from a well.  A total getaway from everything.  The owners lived next door and their sweet old Golden Retriever, Bella, welcomed us and kept us all company while we were there.  She was very sweet with both Maggie and Turner.  The Smith River was just down from the cabin.  The water was so clear and a gorgeous blue/green color.  If you find yourself needing a place to stay near Crescent City, we HIGHLY recommend this place!

The next day was simply amazing.  Again, no way to adequately capture it all, but here are some pictures to try to show what we saw!  Even Turner got out of the pack some and hiked around all by himself.  He did really great navigating over the roots along the trail. I had a few braxton hicks contractions on our way back out on the trail, so we took it slow and just enjoyed the scenery.

We were so sad to leave the next day, but made our way back up the coastline and headed back to Portland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kelley was in town for one more day and then it was time for her to go back to the reality of wedding planning and Mississippi heat. We had SUCH a great trip and were so glad to have shared this experience with Kelley.  If you have not seen the the Redwoods and ever have the chance... take it!  Simply amazing.