The Oregon Coast

After being in Oregon for a week we we're beginning to experience some feelings of withdrawals from the smell of the salty air. So we woke up, got in the car and drove straight for the coast!

After our 2 and a half hour drive, we we're a little hungry so we stopped into Mo's for some clam chowder, in a bread bowl! It was warm, salty and delicious! Yes, that yellow in the middle is butter. :)

After lunch we walked into a candy shop that sold fresh salt water taffy! We bought a pound of taffy! There were just too many flavors I had to try!

As we were walking along the bayfront we could hear the barking of the sea lions!

And we walked until we found them!

After I googled over the sea lions, we got in the car and drove north to the Yaquine Head Lighthouse.

At the base of the lighthouse is a trail to the beach bellow which is covered in these slippery black rocks.

The beach had large tide pools at low tide with tons of aquatic wildlife.

Beautiful rocks surrounding the beach.

I found a couple of bones on the beach. I'm guessing they're from a sea lion???

We followed the Oregeon Coast Bike Route on our drive to the different beaches. We will definitely have to come back one day with our bikes!

Seattle

Continuing our explorations in the Pacific Northwest, we decided to take the drive up to Seattle, WA since John had a 3 day weekend from clinicals. We took off on Friday and arrived around 2pm and headed straight to the Space Needle.

And of course, to warm up, we stopped at the Bang Bang cafe for John's first latte! And a warm oatmeal raisin cookie ;)

Pike's Pub is a large brewery in downtown Seattle.

 Saturday morning we woke up and walked along the intercoastal waterway.

We found the famous Pike Place Market, with plenty of fresh fish.

 As the FOODIES we are. We couldn't leave Seattle without eating at a very french bakery!

Oregon Falls

 We visited the beautiful Wahkeena Falls. Actually we just stumbled upon it. We were driving to Multnomah Falls and saw this one one the way, so we decided to hike it. Little did we know it's a 6 mile hike! But we did make it 1.6 miles which is almost to the top. It was the most beautiful view I have ever seen! Here are some pictures from the hike!

 This one John is standing on the bridge just in front of the main fall! It was freezing cold and covering him in mist.

 Let's such say it got a little warm the more we walked!

 This stop along the way is called Lemmons Lookout.

Downtown Portland, OR

 Our first day together in Oregon, we decided to spend in downtown Portland. The nation's largest open market is every Saturday and Sunday along the Willamette River that separates east and west Portland. The market was amazing! Most of the vendors offered handcraftes items and tee-shirts, others sold delicious cuisine form around the world! For lunch we had one of our favorites, greek gyro.

After the open market, we walked around this beautiful park along the river. It was so cold next to the water, but once we got deeper into downtown it warmed up (good hot coffee helped too!)

It took us awhile to navigate downtown and find a map! Oh and did I mention we stopped by the Columbia store and bought warmer jackets! ;) Our Florida blood needed some assistance.


We found China Town and walked to Portland's own Chinese Garden. The garden was beautiful. And of course I took too many photos to post. But here are a few.  

We ended the day, after walking for 6 hours, in Deschutes Brewery to watch the Oregon Ducks play the Washington Cougars. The Ducks won of course. ;) But it was fun to sit down and sample some of the breweries signature beers.

Happy Halloween

We made our costumes from scratch this year. John thought of Mario & Luigi. Instead of searching for overalls that we will never wear again, we went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some blue fabric. Since neither of us had ever sewn before we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into! John asked the lady cutting our fabric how much we should buy to make 2 pairs of overalls. She said, "Well, do you have a pattern?" John and I looked at each other, and he said "kind of." Then we got home and John had me lay on the fabric while he made an outline. Once we made our "pattern" we started to sew. We had so much fun making our costumes this year!

GEORGIA ON MY MIND....

We took a trip up to GEORGIA to see the family this week while John is on a break from school. This time we finally made the drive up to ATLANTA. We first went to the GEORGIA AQUARIUM, which I loved!

John took tonas of pictures for me because I was too busy standing in awe at their amazing fish tank!

 After the aquarium we visited the World of Coke, which at first I didn't think I would be very interested in, since neither John or I really drink soda. However, it was so much fun! We saw how coke is made and got to taste 60 different coke brands including BEVERLY, a drink from Italy that was unexpectantly bitter.

These furry creatures "kiss" the coke before you drink it

 

We ended the week by playing golf. I had never been, and I was horrible! Apparently your not suppose to talk while someone is teeing off. Oops.

 

We had the hardest time hitting the balls over this lake, many were sacrificed in our efforts.

We enjoyed driving the golf carts around ;)

HORTON LAKE

 

This is a beautiful park near John's parent's house. We always love to take the dogs and walk along the lake.