Oregon Coast

 

So our little summer vacation started off with 1 night in Portland, Oregon.  We stayed in the cutest motel room and I couldn't have asked for a better experience. The room had just recently been re-done with new modern decor and the location was perfect; 5 minutes from restaurants and bars, and 15 minutes to the downtown core (walking). It was great! We did a bit of shopping and then had some good greek food for dinner!

Of course we visited the Oregon Zoo, and my personal rating on it is that it's not quite as nice as Woodland Zoo in Seattle, but it is definitely respectable. And I love me some big cats!

And then the dunes, they are unbelievable! It makes you feel like you are somewhere completely different than only a few hours from home.

I love these little oasis' in the middle of the dunes, so pretty!

Matt climbing the dunes.. Seriously, they are beautiful but they make you work for it! It's like the ultimate stairmaster..

Nice calm beach that we found, the rest were pretty windy!

As soon as I sat down this guy bee-lined it for me. I really thought he wanted to be my friend, but later found out he was just mooching for food :(

This beach was so windy!

This was our little campsite in Florence. After this weekend I decided that I don't love tenting. I can definitely rough it, as I proved to myself in Africa, but tenting was tough. And then how about when your going home and you have to pack it all up and try to fit your huge tent into it's gum wrapper sized sleeve. (You all know what I'm talking about) and come to think of it, the sleeping bags and air mattress don't seem to ever fit into their bags either. Also, I was probably dehydrated the whole time because I had a cut off for liquids after dinner for fear that I'd have to get up and pee in the middle of the night.

Needless to say, it was a great experience.. but we spent the last night in a hotel in Salem. :)

The coast!

And sea lions! A lot of sea lions!

The sign said that this lighthouse was the most photographed lighthouse in the world, so naturally I couldn't resist.

Dune buggie adventure! This was awesome and definitely a highlight. I think I still have sand in my ears though..

And lastly, a beautiful ending to our trip.

Now it's lots of work and no holidays until September 2012. Matt and I are once again embarking on a journey to Africa then, but I will save those details for a later date!

Good night!