Salem: The Last Goodbye

We spent our last week in Salem house sitting at a beautiful home up on a hill with a fantastic view.

The sunrise:

That's Mt. Jefferson out there.

So fantastic.

The view:

What a pretty place! I've been doing just fine being back here in MN, but these pictures make me miss OR already.

One last goodbye to the nicest people in all the world:

Pauli, the Grandmas and Dave and Miles.

What a summer.

Hallelujah

Ladies and gents, there's nearly a light at the end of the tunnel. Today was Dave's last first day of school:

Hallelujah!

DAM Camped

Our last weekend in OR was spent camping at Crater Lake. It was fun. I like camping. Miles likes it more.

We hiked up to this neato waterfall at Crater Lake National Park. The whole park was beautiful and had great views.

If I don't look too hot from camping, at least I have my Ichiro shirt to make up for it.

Above and below: the pinnacles. After she blew her top, the ash and pumice gathered and eventually eroded away leaving these spires of pumice and ash.

Crater Lake:

That little jagged island out there is called the Phantom Ship.

The lake is at least that dark of blue. This is the kind of place that a picture just doesn't do justice.

You can definitely tell where it was a mountain and it collapsed.

All in all, super cool and a fun weekend.

One Last Hurrah

Our time in OR is running out. We leave for MN tomorrow morning. I took Miles to the beach last Wednesday for one last time. It was extremely windy and a little chilly. But fun and beautiful, nonetheless.

Going out to the coast will definitely be a big memory of this summer. We went every weekend for the first 3 or 4 and more throughout the summer. We almost always got taffy in Lincoln City, usually ate at the Chowder Bowl in Newport and always had a grand time. It was a bummer that Dave was working and we had to go without him, but like I just said, we had to go.

The drive out to the coast is great and super beautiful. We have favorite spots and I tried to snap a picture for memory's sake when I could. Unfortunately, I didn't get the sideways growing trees and lots of other views, but I got a few of this cool spot:

It's one of those spots that's just as cool and pretty as it was the time before. Actually, the whole coast is that way-- it just doesn't get old.

That lighthouse in the left of the picture is this one.

Sand in the eyes.

Oh Miles, I love your chubby little feet so much. Don't get big and hairy. Or stinky.

Goodbye coast. It was so awesome. I'm sad.

Humidity and mosquitoes here I come! Whatever...

Seattle

Well, we never went to Seattle the first time we lived in the Northwest, so this time around it was a must. When we first drove in, I have to say I was a little underwhelmed because of all the docking crane looking things on the south side of the city. Seattle didn't let me down, though-- I thought it was awesome! I really, really liked it. The whole super green and beautiful effect wasn't there because we arrived from the same kind of climate. Also, coming into Portland through the Columbia River Gorge in the Spring may just be unbeatable. That was fantastic. I think Portland is a prettier city, but I really enjoyed Seattle. Some things I picked up on: recycling-- everywhere; tons of smokers!; great food.

Dave took a half day on a Friday and we went straight to the Mariners v Red Sox game.

Safeco was a cool ball park.

Soaking it in.

The weather was totally perfect that night.

We were alllllllll the way at the top of the ball park, so Miles had room to roam.

The sweeper peeps stopped and did a choreographed dance...

Miles totally loved being at the game. However, he would always comment on how loud it was.

Ichiro and his unique stance. We, along with 20,000 other fans, scored some sweet shirts that bare his name. You'll probably see me in it in a coming post. Get excited.

DAM fam.

Red Sox won and it was fun. We like going to baseball games.

The following onslaught of pictures is from Pike Place, which was definitely my favorite part:

This guy pulled out a huge fish right before I took this picture, so I got all ready to take a picture of a huge fish being pulled out of a box... but it was just a bag of clams.

Those are all retro sodas. We got some that we'd never tried before and in the end I wished I'd gone with the one and only Henry Weinhard's. Mmmmm.

This guy was amazing. And funny. He's playing a harmonica, balancing a guitar on his chin (and strumming it once in a while), playing a guitar, doing two hula hoops, and shaker things on his feet. We ate delicious grilled cheese sandwiches from Beechers (super tasty) while we watched this guy. Dave never gives money to street performers, but this guy earned a buck.

We took the ferry out to Bainbridge Island:

The view.

Miles really loved being on such a big boat and watching the cars and motorcycles and bikers drive on and off the ferry.

Those are the docking crane looking things I mentioned before. You ask a stranger to take a picture and instead of skyline you get cranes. Or whatever they are. Is it that hard to look through a viewfinder?

We also ate some great seafood and wish we would have dished out the dough to do the museum of flight on our way back. Live and learn. Two thumbs up for Seattle!