Honeymoon "Part Deux" - Our Successful Road Trip

Hold on to your hats!  I'm FINALLY going to tell you all about our road trip this summer.  But it was a 10 day trip so read at your leisure, it's going to be long. So, our game plan was to drive about 2500 miles round trip from UT to CA to OR to ID back to UT.

Our Road Trip

Day 1

After establishing a very detailed babysitting plan with my MIL, my mom and my Cousin-in-law.  We dropped off the kids with Marcene after I cried a little bit.  It's not like I haven't left my kids with family before, overnight for several nights even.  It was that I wasn't going to be just a city away.  We were going to be on the road, THOUSANDS of miles away and DRIVING.  All the worst possible scenarios ran through my head before we left.  Tyler calmed me down, but I already started missing them before we even got out of Saratoga Springs.  I know I'm a sap.  So, we headed to Reno, 540mi and 9hrs from SLC.  But we did have to stop on the way to get some gas & photos of our Honeymoon breakdown spot in Winnemucca, NV.  We ate lunch, filled up and said goodbye to that poor excuse for a town in the middle of the desert and continued onto Reno.

We stayed at the Peppermill Hotel & Casino.  It was our only night we'd planned to stay in a nice hotel, so we got a really nice room.  Oh, man it had THE most comfortable mattress I have ever slept on.  Ahhhhh!  The hotel was beautiful, I had a Tuscan Romantic feel, with the most beautiful sculptures and paintings, and chandeliers.  We had some dinner at Biscotti's then gambled a bit.  For breakfast we had to try my Mom & Dad favorite breakfast spot Pegs Glorified Ham n Eggs.  Can I just say they have the most original menu with unusual items like Crab-cakes Benedict and Chorizo Benedict with Chipotle hollandais.  Ty got the later and devoured it.

Day 2
Our next destination was McAurthur-Burney Falls in northeast California, 165mi, 3 hrs drive from Reno.  They were just beautiful. There was a trail to a bridge down the river from the falls to cross over, we looped back towards the falls to see the top of them.  It was so nice to see every angle of the falls.  You don't get to do that at many falls.  Burney, CA was just beautiful.  It was a small quiet town in the middle of this towering forest.  I would love to spend a week there with my family.  After the falls we hit the road for Oregon.  We drove to Klamath Falls, OR and stayed the night in a KOA.  I purchased a small 2 man tent for us before we left, unfortunately, I should have tested it out first.  It was made for 2 small ten year-olds.  We slept in the fetal position all night long.  I have never wanted to stretch my legs so bad in my entire life.  So, since our tent sucked we had to find rooms or sleep in our truck the rest of the trip.  After some good ole McD's coffee and breakfast, we headed up to my most anticipated destination.  Crater Lake.  Along the way we saw the Cascade Mountains, just an amazing peak!

Mt. McLoughlin, Cascade Mtns, Klamath Falls, OR

(So, I don't know how many of you know this about me.  But since I work the night shift, I have a tendency to get VERY bored.  Most the time I watch shows & do a craft, but sometimes I just do searches/research on Google.  On literally anything.  So, one day I was searching lakes, and I came across a photo of Crater Lake.  I was instantly struck at how majestically blue it was.  I HAD to see this place -- and so do you!)

Day 3
Crater Lake was 184mi and 3.5 hrs from Burney, CA. Once known as Mount Mazama, before it erupted and caved in on itself, Crater Lakes brim spans 5 by 6 miles across with an average depth of 1,148 feet.  It is the deepest lake in the U.S. and the ninth deepest lake in the world. With an elevation of 6,178 ft, in the middle of June there was about 6-12 ft of snow when we went up there.  We had actually planned to take a couple hikes and go fishing (you didn't need a permit to fish there).  But since it was like winter still we could only take pictures.  They even have boat tours to Wizard Island where there is an old petrified tree next to it called "The Old Man of the Lake". They used to let guest stand on it, but not anymore.  I hope you can see it in my pictures....a TINY white dot by the docks sticking out of the submerged peninsula.  It actually bobs around the whole lake.  I just couldn't believe how clear the water was.  You could see all the submerged parts of the island and shore.  JUST BEAUTIFUL!!!

After Crater Lake we were headed for the coast of Oregon.  We traveled down the mountain traveling 65mi per hour on a two lane road that zig-zagged all over the place.  I was terrified the whole time, people would ride your butt if you slowed down or pass you.  I've never seen a Utah canyon road at those speeds in my life.  Coming down the mountain we followed the Umpqua River

Not the Sequoias, but towering none the less.  A beautiful lily pond that 4 homes
were luck enough to get to live by. Jealous!

Our first sighting of the ocean.  I loved all the arching, tunneling trees & winding roadways
Tons of beautiful wildlife.

Following the river all the way to the coast really makes you see the big ecological picture.  From Crater Lake to Newport, OR was 250mi and 6hrs, we arrived at our KOA in Newport, OR.  We decided to get a cabin. They were cheap and we had a FABULOUS view.  I loved the cabins, ours had a porch swing, DVD plyr, TV, heater, mini fridge, Twin bunk-beds, and a Queen size bed.  You just supply the sleeping bags and shower at the community showers, which were private individual rooms.  Once settled, we went for walk down to the beach.  Under the Newport bridge, we saw seals playing in the water and watched the sun set.  It was perfect, because we were able to talk to the kids and send them a video message via our cell phones while we wandered around the beach.  My SIL Morgan said they loved our videos the most, which made me feel more connected to them too. 
Day 4
In the morning, we set out to Pig N Pancake, which is the Denny's of Oregon.  They were so good and totally reasonable in price.  I got the Strawberry Blintz, make my mouth water just thinking about them.  Afterwords we went to see the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  It was very interesting to see the natural wildlife from the Pacific Northwest.  The Passages of the Deep exhibit was cool, to be in a tunnel and watch all the sharks and stingrays glide all around you.  They also had the seals and sea otters.  They were so funny to watch.  The otter would just clean himself nonstop and the seal just rolled onto it's side and opened his fin and basked in the sunlight.  He was so cute (see photos).  Outside of the aquarium was a funny little Gift shop strip mall that you could buy oceanic souvenirs and junk.  It had a pirates theme with the funniest statues and the outsides of each shop had old styles with vibrant colors.  We got some good stuff and some junk.  We couldn't help ourselves, everything was so cheap!!

We then decided to back track a bit down to Florence, OR (11mi) to see the Seal Caves.  They were SO COOL!  On the top of a cliff is the gift shop and ticket office.  You then walk down about 400 yards to an elevator that takes you 200 ft below into the caves.  There's a large chain link fence and down below you can see hundreds of seals all hanging out and groaning.  The tide would come crashing in and these massive seals would just hop right out of the water onto these jagged rocks.  There were also some steps you could take to the old entrances of the cave.  Looking out of there was a beautiful waterfall and a perfect view of a Heceta Head Lighthouse.  Down below were some more seals playing in the water and some of the old rubble from the old staircase entrance.  Very cool place.  P.S.  The seals STANK!!

Now on our way up to Cannon Beach, we had to stop at the Devils Punchbowl.  It was an old sea cave that had the roof collapse in.  Now when the tide comes in the waters churn like...devils punch. Mwahahahahaha! "evil laugh".  We actually managed to get there right at high tide.  So I have a video...  Sorry I had to link it, blogger wouldn't load the actual video.  LAME!

DEVILS PUNCHBOWL

There was also a quaint little wine shop on the dead-end road the punchbowl was on.  It was called the Flying Dutchman Winery.  They made there own wine right there in the tiny little bungalow.  It was so cool.  We bought a bottle and sampled some of there varieties of flavors.  We still haven't opened the bottle, but we are saving it   for a special occasion. Maybe next anniversary. ;)

Beautiful Shots of the Oregon Coast before sunset, my friend Meagan and I call the sun shining through the clouds "Gods Rays"

Along the way to Cannon beach we had the opportunity to stop at the Air Museum and Tillamook Cheese factory (see above).  But unfortunately we were unable to stop and see both.  So it is on our to do next time list.  After 113mi and 3hrs up the Oregon Coast Pacific Highway we arrived at Arcadia Beach just south of Cannon.  It was sunset and we had the most amazing weather.  My mom and dad have talked to us about their trips to Cannon Beach and how tranquil it makes them.  How they just sit on the porch of their beach house and watch the ocean all day.  I honestly never thought I could just sit there.  I HAD to be doing something. But once I arrived, and saw the beach at sunset.  All I wanted to do was sit and watch and listen to the waves crashing.  Cannon Beach has such a LUSH, GREEN and rich landscape.  Moss growing on trees everywhere and ferns covering the ground like fluffy green blankets.  We then checked into a Motel 6 for the night.

Day 6
We set out to have some good breakfast, and of coarse we hit up Pig N Pancake in Seaside, OR. on Main St.  Seaside is at the end of the Lewis and Clark trail.   They have a beautiful monument at the top of main right by the beach.  It's like a Park City beach town.  It was full of expensive shops and nice restaurants and a fun discount outlet mall.  We wandered up and down the shops, the weather wasn't cooperating so it was nice to stay warm inside the mall.  We stopped at The Coffee Shop and I had their special... The White Rocket (3X the caffeine...White Chocolate, Chai, & White Espresso)  OMG it was soooo good.  We don't see a lot of White Espresso in Utah.  It's when the coffee bean is just barely roasted so it's still fresh and has more caffeine.  Dark coffee beans have been roasted for a long time and actually loose a lot of their strength. 

After seeing all that we wanted to of Seaside, we decided to head into Cannon Beach.  Both of theses cities are right next to each other.  Like driving from my moms house (N. Sandy City) to my house(S. Sandy City).  Not far at all.  We first stopped at the Ecola State Park at the north of town and got some great shots of Haystack Rock (featured in Goonies-the skeleton key).  This is the rock that Mickey lines up with the Lighthouse the Rock and the Fertelli's Restaurant. The Light house and Rock are there but the Restaurant was a set in the movie.   We found a great trail down to a small beach, it had a perfect view of the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse.  It was like hiking through the Amazon (I would imagine), thick trees, vines, moss and towering spruces.  We then found another trail, but had to cut the hike short because I was silly and didn't wear the proper shoes for a hike.  Sorry babe!

So we went into town instead.  Cannon Beach was like Midway, UT.  Artsy but small and quaint.  We went to the local candy shop, bought some of their famous taffy.  Oh my goodness, so many different flavors!  We then went to the local Wine Shack.  It was so quaint, the owner was so helpful in choosing wines and giving us ideas for our Vineyard tour in Willamette Valley we were going to take the next day.  We took our wine, got some cheese and Slim Jims (hahaha! I know, we are classy, aren't we) and headed right to Haystack Rock.  It was beautiful and immense.  To get up close and see just how large this rock is.  I never thought it would be so large in person.  We wander the beach, picking up shells and drinking our delicious wine.  We found a teaser for the annual Sand Castle contests they have every year.  It was a large dragon.  That takes some real talent.  Once the sun started to set, it got pretty cold,, so we decided to get some dinner at the Great Wall Chinese restaurant in north Seaside.  It was one of the best Chinese restaurants I've ever eaten at.  Such good service & food.

Day 7

We were a little sad to leave Cannon Beach so soon, since we really didn't get to spend a lot of time there.  But we had to press on.  We honestly had a really tight schedule with driving and since we needed to be home in time for the kids.  So, after first stopping at Arcadia Beach again to get some sand and daytime shots of all the tide pools, our next destination was the Willamette Valley Vineyards and then Portland.  It was 2hrs and 92mi to Rex Hill Vineyards in Willamette.  Since it was our first time going to a wine tasting we didn't know which 3 vineyards we wanted to see.  So I did some research and found a list of top ten winners for Oregon vineyards in 2009.  Rex Hill was #7, but still had a lot of great reviews with the Oregon wine critics.  Since I wanted to try a variety of qualities and flavors, we also chose... Bergström Wines (#3) and Ponzi Vineyards (#1).  

Rex Hill had this beautiful blue facility with a very rustic feel.  The wine tasting room had this huge barrel with 20 different glasses filled with different berries, herbs, and spices.  By smelling the different glasses while sipping a wine, you can taste the different berries, herbs and spices that are in the wine.  For all of you future wine tasters out there.  If you go as a couple, don't get individual tastings.  Get one and share the tasting.  All vineyards will allow that, only cheap ones will give you a problem.  But it's better to share anyway, cuz believe me...you can get pretty TIPSY all by yourself.  Also, if your going on a tour for the day, the tasting fees can add up pretty fast.  We bought one bottle from them, and then continued onto Bergströms Wines, which was only 5 miles away.
     Bergströms had the most beautiful barn with the logo painted on it on their property.  They had a light, modern tasting room, with a friendly staff.  I really enjoyed their whites the best.  I got a bottle of Riesling that was DELICIOUS!  And believe me folks, I am a very picky wine drinker.  It's not my alcohol of choice.  But I'm excited to open this one soon.  
     After Bergströms we headed to Ponzi, again only 3 miles away.  They had one of the largest properties of all the vineyards we went to.  They had a huge driveway that traveled along one of their vineyards and was lined with huge pine trees.  We really enjoyed our tasting here the most.  The host was so upbeat and charismatic.  It was fun to chat with other people that were traveling around to other vineyards as well.  They had a mural of all their invitations and awards for their wines.  They had so many invitations throughout the years from the Presidents of the United States.  Their wines were used at the Presidential dinners.  
      After Tyler had a REALLY good buzz going, we decided it might be a good idea to get some dinner to sober up.  I don't drink red wine, so I wasn't shnockered like him.  Willamette had so many different vineyards all over the place, but they also had pine tree farms, apple tree farms, peach tree farms, and of coarse  vegetable farms.  We had dinner at Applebee's and then headed to Portland, which was only 30 minutes away and 25 miles.  We stayed at Shilo Inn, in Beaverton.  It's wasn't the best place we stayed, but it's wasn't to bad still.  The free continental breakfast made up for it a bit.

Day 8

We were both very excited to get to the Japanese Gardens in Portland.  It was our first stop in the morning.  It has THE MOST beautiful gardens I've ever seen.  I love Asian zen gardens, but this place just takes it to a whole new level.  Bamboo bridges, fences, fountains and huts.  Moss blanketing the ground everywhere, rock gardens perfectly groomed, beautiful blossoms, and contorted trees.  I honestly wished for only one thing... that they would have labeled the vegetation.  That way I would know what plants to buy for our garden.  If your ever stop into Portland, you MUST go see this place.  We felt so tranquil when we left the gardens and full of ideas.

Lush GREEN trees and stone bridges

Luckily, right across the parking lot was the International Rose Test Gardens.  OMG! They were just beautiful! And the smell...oh!  So delicious! Since it is a test garden, they were breeding different types of roses and creating new looks and smells.  My favorite was the Sweetness Grandiflora and it smelled like Lemon drops.  I'm not kidding.  I would have loved to buy a bush and bring it home for myself.  It also won the Most Fragrant award.  There were many others that had wonderful smells, some that had double buds too (probably from the cross-breeding).  There were so many vibrant colors I was in heaven.  Tyler's allergies began to kick in...so he was in...you know.

        Once we finished with the gardens my mom and dad had insisted we try a Portland original.  Voodoo Doughnuts.  Wowza, that was one crazy place. We made it there at 2pm and we had to wait 30min. before we could even get in the door.  They have crazy original doughnuts like the: 
Bacon Maple Bar - Raised yeast doughnut with maple frosting and bacon on top!
Memphis Mafia - Fried dough with banana chunks and cinnamon sugar covered in a glaze with chocolate frosting, peanut butter, peanuts and chocolate chips on top!
Captain my Captain - Raised yeast doughnut with vanilla frosting and Captain Crunch!
Mango Tango - Raised yeast doughnut filled with mango jelly and topped with vanilla frosting and tang! 
Grape Ape - Raised yeast doughnut with vanilla 
frosting, grape dust and lavender sprinkles!

 Yep! Crazy huh! We got several and we were going to head over to the Chinese gardens in the city, but we honestly just wanted to get out of the city.  But since we were in a new town, I wanted Ty and I to try an Oregon Brewery.  Hopworks Urban Brewery was given some good reviews online so we decided to check it out.  They were the only organic brewery in Oregon.  Since I'm not a beer drinker, I didn't really like the one I got.  So I gave it to Tyler and got another.  That's why Ty has three in front of him.  After lunch, we hit the road for a VERY long drive back to Idaho and Utah.

Just on the outskirts of Portland, they have some beautiful waterfalls just off the freeway.  We decided to have a look.  There was the Multnomah Falls and the Horsetail Falls just off the famous Columbia River. I also bought the kids some more souvenirs.  We also saw the massive Bonneville Dam and Jen and Austins old hometown, in the middle of desert nowhere, Hermiston, OR.

We were going to stay in Pendleton, OR on the way home.  But we thought we'd make more time if we just pressed on into Meridian, ID.  Pendleton has some underground city that the Chinese built in the 1800's, used to deliver goods back and forth between homes and business unseen.  I really wanted to it check out, but we got there in the evening and the tours would have been over.  So we gassed up and moved on.  After 425mi and 7.5hrs later we arrived in Meridian and we stayed in a Best Western that was really nice.  

Day 9

We got some breakfast and drove around Tyler's old stomping ground.  He lived here when he was 11yrs old for a few months.  We then headed down to Lava Hot Springs. On the way through Idaho we kept seeing these  "Aspen Farms", if that's what they are, they could just be for privacy, we still aren't very sure.  But out of nowhere on these grassy plains there would be these rows and rows of aspen trees.  It was actually a little odd, but cool (see slides below).  Well, 280mi and 4.5hr later we were in one of our favorite towns.  First thing we did when we got to town was stop by the Olympic pool and play a round of Frisbee golf.  After working up a good sweat, we got a campsite at the KOA and headed into town for a soak in the Hot Pools.  I just love those pools!  It just melts your back pain away...till you get out that is.  After we finished up there we decided to try out the river.
 
I was a little nervous because it was my first time ever tubing a river.  Most of the Stevens' tried it last time we were up here, but I had the kids and didn't really feel up to it.  This time was even more dangerous than last, because the spring runoff was flowing like crazy.  I made it down the river in one piece.  Phew!  I only got overturned once, unfortunately I lost my favorite sunglasses.  Tyler however, got overturned at least twice (ha.ha. Simpsons laugh).  Just in case you ever want to try it:

            Rule #1- Ditch your accessories
            Rule #2- Lift up your tush whenever you see yourself going into a rapid/boulder.
                            Or you'll scrape your bum/back and possibly flip over. 
             Rule #3- Your flip-flops can be very useful paddles if you don't loose them.

Once we got the tubes back to the vendors we headed into town for a delicious dinner at the Chuckwagon restaurant.  We then wandered the town for a bit and headed back to camp.  That night we slept in our truck.  It was actually really comfortable.  We put up the small tent, put some of our nominal items in it, and I had the laptop plugged in outside so we could watch a movie.  Ruffin it right!  Bhahaha! 

Day 10

After a cramp free night we got up early, had some breakfast at the good ole Chuckwagon again, then hit the road for home. I really missed my babies bad throughout the whole trip, but now that I was this close to them, it really made me want to get home so much faster. I needed to give my babies a BIG hug so bad! Once home, we swapped cars, headed down to Eagle Mtn., to get the kids from Morgan S.  My WONDERFUL cousin-in-law who watched the kids for 3 days with two kids of her own and being 7months pregers.  She is the best!  And from the look on her face, she needed a break like the one I'd just come back from.  I don't blame her either, my little ones are active little hooligans, that will keep you on your toes all day.


Thank you to everyone in our family that help to watch the kids throughout our trip, Mom/Dad, Matt/Mary, Marcene/Morgan & Morgan/Zack!  You guys seriously made our vacation that much better because we knew are kids were in trustworthy hands.  We know they can be a handful and we appreciate the help more than you could possibly know.  They had a blast at everyone houses and talked about all the activities they did for weeks.  It was so nice to be able to have some one on one time with my hubby again for the first time in 5 years. We started clicking like we did before work and babies distracted us.  It was exactly what we needed to get back to the roots of our relationship and fall in love all over again.  I love you Tyler! Thank you for a wonderful Honeymoon Redo and for 5 years of fun, growth and love.

Well I hope you all enjoyed our Honeymoon II vacation story.  I'm just glad that it was a good one, and not a National Lampoons Honeymoon Vacation like the first honeymoon.  If you don't know the whole story on our first real Honeymoon, well I might post a brief explanation about that one at a later date.  Let's just say everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.  Thanks for reading.  I hope you enjoy my photos.  I sure love taking them.  I'd love comments on your favorites too.