Visited Idaho. These first to photos are by Cooper who went for photoshoot drive with Grandma, Aunt C & Spencer. I loaned him my camera so he could take pictures too.
With one day of "rest" in between (acutally that would have been a day of work for Dennis & I) we were off to the Washington coast for the annual Chandler campout.
We actually got excellent weather this year for a change from the past couple years. The water was still really cold but that did not stop Cooper the boogie board king from being in it pretty much all day.
Home for a week of work then it was off to the central Oregon coast. Dennis got some trade for a free motel "suite" right on the coast in Florence OR. Famous for it's huge sand dunes & rugged coast line.
With one day of "rest" in between (acutally that would have been a day of work for Dennis & I) we were off to the Washington coast for the annual Chandler campout.
We actually got excellent weather this year for a change from the past couple years. The water was still really cold but that did not stop Cooper the boogie board king from being in it pretty much all day.
Home for a week of work then it was off to the central Oregon coast. Dennis got some trade for a free motel "suite" right on the coast in Florence OR. Famous for it's huge sand dunes & rugged coast line.This photo was taken by Spencer near the end of a "moderate" 3.5 mile round trip hike. We actually didn't make the full round trip. We turned around shortly after he took this picture because we were concerned about the sun going down before we could get back. We think it ended at this beach you can see down below, but we will never know.
This was the view from the "middle" of the hike which is on the other side of the "moderate" hike hill that the first picture is taken from (again photo by Spencer)
This is the top of the light house that is in the middle of the "moderate" hike. (photo by Spencer)
This is the lovely beach you could see outside our motel window. We walked about a mile down the beach and back.
Spencer hamming it up (photo obviously not taken by Spencer)
Cooper's "island". It was gone by time we turned back to head the other way.
We were joined on our Oregon adventure by Dennis' cousin Barbara (taking the picture), her husband Darren (in the hat & white shirt), their son Christian & daugther Caitlyn. Since we have a free, 3 bedroom suite and they were headed home to California and planned to go through Florence, we invited them to stay with us. We had a great time. Darren joined Dennis & I for a round of golf at a really great course right near our motel.
And yes, we did try out the sand dunes. Maybe we just are the adventurous type because it seemed more scary than fun. We rented a four passenger dune buggy for 1/2 an hour, of which about 10 minutes of it found us stuck on a side hill fearing that the buggy would tip over. You really can't tell from the photo, but the front week is about a foot off the ground the back driver's side wheel was buried and there was about a four foot drop-off on the drivers side. Luckily we were able to flag down one of the rental guys and he came and got us out--after which we headed directly back to the rental place.
Back safe and sound at the rental place. Cooper & Spencer got a little neck jolt from Dennis driving us off the ledge of another dune. It really was deceiving out there. You really couldn't tell as you came up a ridge whether it would be a smooth slope on the other side (which you could go down) or a straight drop (which you couldn't). Not sure if going with driver would have been less scary as they drove like a "bat out of hell". At least we can say we did it though.
After one day of "rest" (another work day) we headed off to Riggins for our annual rafting trip with the Guidos. Always a fun time that never disappoints. This year the waves seemed particularly high and Bill soaked me every time (perhaps that is because I was sitting up front).
There is always fun to be had afterwards as well in the Guido's pool. Cooper could spend 24/7 in it. He entertained Laura and Spencer for about an hour throwing these littl rockets across the pool and having them race to bring them back to him. I was surprised at how long they played that game.
Cooper with the "rockets". They all had a great time and the weather was awesome.
And that is what we did. I know there is still a little bit of summer left for us, but I am back to work on Monday and it's a jam packed three weeks until school starts on Sept 7th so who knows if we will be able to squeeze in any more adventures in this summer. The ones we did do involved alot of driving, but we had a blast on them all.
This was the view from the "middle" of the hike which is on the other side of the "moderate" hike hill that the first picture is taken from (again photo by Spencer)
This is the top of the light house that is in the middle of the "moderate" hike. (photo by Spencer)
This is the lovely beach you could see outside our motel window. We walked about a mile down the beach and back.
Spencer hamming it up (photo obviously not taken by Spencer)
Cooper's "island". It was gone by time we turned back to head the other way.
We were joined on our Oregon adventure by Dennis' cousin Barbara (taking the picture), her husband Darren (in the hat & white shirt), their son Christian & daugther Caitlyn. Since we have a free, 3 bedroom suite and they were headed home to California and planned to go through Florence, we invited them to stay with us. We had a great time. Darren joined Dennis & I for a round of golf at a really great course right near our motel.
And yes, we did try out the sand dunes. Maybe we just are the adventurous type because it seemed more scary than fun. We rented a four passenger dune buggy for 1/2 an hour, of which about 10 minutes of it found us stuck on a side hill fearing that the buggy would tip over. You really can't tell from the photo, but the front week is about a foot off the ground the back driver's side wheel was buried and there was about a four foot drop-off on the drivers side. Luckily we were able to flag down one of the rental guys and he came and got us out--after which we headed directly back to the rental place.
Back safe and sound at the rental place. Cooper & Spencer got a little neck jolt from Dennis driving us off the ledge of another dune. It really was deceiving out there. You really couldn't tell as you came up a ridge whether it would be a smooth slope on the other side (which you could go down) or a straight drop (which you couldn't). Not sure if going with driver would have been less scary as they drove like a "bat out of hell". At least we can say we did it though.
After one day of "rest" (another work day) we headed off to Riggins for our annual rafting trip with the Guidos. Always a fun time that never disappoints. This year the waves seemed particularly high and Bill soaked me every time (perhaps that is because I was sitting up front).
There is always fun to be had afterwards as well in the Guido's pool. Cooper could spend 24/7 in it. He entertained Laura and Spencer for about an hour throwing these littl rockets across the pool and having them race to bring them back to him. I was surprised at how long they played that game.
Cooper with the "rockets". They all had a great time and the weather was awesome.
And that is what we did. I know there is still a little bit of summer left for us, but I am back to work on Monday and it's a jam packed three weeks until school starts on Sept 7th so who knows if we will be able to squeeze in any more adventures in this summer. The ones we did do involved alot of driving, but we had a blast on them all.
5 comments:
Sounds like a great summer to me! It looks like Tucker missed out on alot of it though. Dang growing up!
As always Spencers pictures are beautiful. Why am I the only one in the family who can't take awsome pictures?
Alot of beautiful outdoors.
Man you DID pack in a lot of trips and adventures! (and driving). It looks like everything turned out pretty well and you have some great photographic evidence to prove it.
Kinda of anticlimactic going back to work eh? I'm right there with ya though...Ahh well. Makes one appreciate the breaks more. (So they say.)
Oh your Oregon trip looks lovely.
Great you got to spend some down time even if it was all smashed together.
You have had a busy and fun summer too! I am especially jealous of the Oregon trip. Beautiful.
I come to your blog to see any updates on your sidebar....but then I forget to comment on your post..geez..I'm a loser!
Looks like your summmer was fun and you had some adventures of your own....the dune buggy story was funny because it reminded me of myself..its a long story but I think they are more scary than fun, too ;) Love that you go down the river every summer...I love traditions. You have such a nice family:)
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