The morning of September 29th, 2021, I was still feeling yucky so Michael took the kids out to breakfast. After that he and the kids packed us up and we set out for our last couple of nights before heading home. After leaving Eugene our first stop was Tillamook Cheese Factory. The last time we'd been here was in 2018 when we went camping with the Kuch's & Ga-Ga & Pa.
It was a bit different this time around because of all the Covid restrictions...no cheese tasting! :(
I wasn't feeling nearly as bad as the night before, but I also wasn't up for eating anything either. We did the walk the through self-guided tour upstairs....I love watching all the cheese moving around on the conveyor belt. Then we headed downstairs to the gift shop. If I remember correctly we got Cheese Curds...a must...Owen got some extra sharp cheddar and Zeke got the cutest stuffed pig.
Then it was time for lunch. What a horrible time to have a tummy bug! Thankfully I was absolutely certain it was not contagious since no one else in my family was feeling sick. I was almost certain is was caused by something I ate. Ella & Daddy got the amazing grilled cheese and tomato soup. The soup has cheese curds at the bottom. It's one of my favorites!
Zeke and Owen got this amazing looking mac 'n cheese....of course it was made with real cheese so neither of them really ate any of it. One day they'll like food....at least I'm hoping! :) I did take a couple of tiny bites of mac 'n cheese just to see, but I knew I could not overdo it.
Jackson stuck with his typical meal....cheeseburger! Why mess with the best!
For our last two nights we stayed at the Inn at the Shore in Seaside, Oregon. It was the cutest little condo place right on the beach.
We were on the 3rd floor on the left side with two sliders out to the balcony.
This isn't exactly what the inside looked like for us, but this was what our view was from the room. One of the sliders opened from the living room which is where Ella and Zeke slept on the pull-out couch. The other slider was in our bedroom. We slept with the slider open almost the whole time. I love the sound of the ocean!!!
This is what the main area of our unit looked like. Owen and Jack's bedroom was on the other side of the kitchen wall.
We headed down to the beach, but since I was still feeling icky I didn't make it very long. It was a bit dreary out the day we arrived, but honestly just being at the ocean is awesome!
Michael wrote this in the sand to commemorate our trip!
Then he thought it would be fun to write all the abbreviations for each state we were in.
After being at the beach we just hung out in the condo and rested. We were all feeling the effects of going, going, going for days on end. It was nice to chill out and read, nap and watch TV. While Michael and I were looking for something to watch on the TV in our room the kids had the TV in the living room all to themselves. Since we had been scanning through the guide on the TV we knew there really wasn't much on the TV that the kids would enjoy. From the other room I heard Zeke pipe up and say, "I wanna watch Shark Tank"....okay I thought...that might be interesting for them. After about 20 minutes of them watching it Zeke said very exasperatingly, "There aren't even any sharks on this show!" :) Sweet boy thought he was getting robbed! When I checked in I did get a couple movies from the office....they lend them out for free so the kids had a couple of fun movies they were able to watch.
The next day Michael took the kids out to breakfast again while I stayed back at the condo. I asked him to stop at the store and buy me some soup for lunch. The only thing I had eaten up to that point was a couple bites of mac 'n cheese the day before and a little bit of instant oatmeal.
Later on in the day, Michael ended up taking a nap and the kids really wanted to go back to the beach. At first I said no, but then I got to thinking about it. I could lay around in the condo feeling icky or I could walk to the beach, get some fresh air, see my kids enjoying life and still feel icky....beach sounds like the winner to me!
I love being with these kids....they did so great the whole trip. Road trips are just the best!
Just typing this out and reliving all these memories makes we want to get back on the road with them.
This girly could look for shells for hours.
At this point the sun was starting to shine through the clouds. There was a bit of blue sky showing through and the ocean was doing that thing where it left this thin layer of water on the sand.
It was gorgeous and I was so glad the kids asked me to go out!
They have my heart!
Look at that thin layer of water...it just goes on forever!
Zeke had the best time going around gathering crab parts from the beach. He actually ended up assembly a few!
Here's the biggest crab he assembled from parts. The funny thing was, he totally tricked a seagull into thinking it was an actual crab. It was hilarious. This seagull swooped in thinking he was going to get dinner....fooled ya!
After Michael's nap he came down and joined us. I guess the fresh air did some good because I ended up feeling good enough to go to dinner that night. We ate at Finn's Fish House and it was so good!
The next morning the kids wanted to go back to the same restaurant for breakfast that Michael took them the day before....Pig 'N Pancake. The guy seating us even remembered Michael and the kids. It was a great restaurant and food was good. Ella and I shared Silver Dollar Pancakes.
We headed back to the condo to pack up and have one last time at the beach!
I love how the water is calm enough you can see the kids' reflections.
Pure joy!
We had never taken the kids across the Astoria Bridge before so we thought this would be the perfect time. I used to have nightmares about this bridge. I had one where I was in the backseat looking out at the bridge from the back window and I could see the bridge falling behind us and screaming at my Dad to drive faster! Thankfully none of my kids share my same irrational fears! :)
On the bridge!
Whenever we are on any bridge coming back into Washington from Oregon we always always have to say..."Goodbye Oregon, Hello Washington!" It's just tradition!
It's good to see you Washington!
We made it!
4062 Miles
16 Days: Sept 16th - Oct 1st
9 States (WA, OR, ID, UT, CO, NM, AZ, NV & CA)
7 National Monument/Parks
Golden Spike National Monument, Arches National Park, Mesa Verde National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, Petrified Forest National Park, Death Valley National Park & Crater Lake National Park)
5 Hotels
3 Airbnb's
1 Friends' House
Ton of memories made!
We were all so happy to see Charlie. I had asked our neighbor across the street to check up on him every 3 days while we were gone. I didn't want to come home to some rotting animal carcass in the hallway. He also needed to have his food and water refilled. It was nice to get an update every 3 days. We'd hear things like...Charlie's taking most of his meals upstairs. Refilled food, no dead animals. Haven't seen him in person, but our camera caught him last night though.
Happy to be home!
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