Ore-gun is fun!

McManamin's, Oregon Hotel - McMinnville, Or

Golden Valley Brewery, McMinnville

We have enjoyed many fun-filled days in Oregon.  The boys enjoyed "summer camp" last week, working on their climbing, knot-tying, and swimming skills.  The Kroc community center has an amazing program with many wonderful camps, staff members, AND they are taking our kiddos to a baseball game for free!  The kids are signed up for a local baseball game next Friday which includes transportation, supervision, food and swag-gear for the kids.  We are again, ALL very excited for this night to come, especially since I don't have to work! 
Jason and I decided to take in some wineries last week since we were sans kids.  We made it to two, and we are in Pinot country (our favorite wine)! I guess our taste buds are more interested in all the local breweries.  We have, as of today, made it to 15 breweries (sorry FB friends for all the posts).  Some of the more interesting have been part of the McManamin's chain of restaurants.  The beers are ok, tater tots are good (thanks Janet!), but the building and decorations are a trip in themselves.  Many of the beers at the breweries have been good, some we can forget as soon as we taste them and others we won't ever try again (sour beer---yuk!).  

Willamette Winery

Uncle Dan showed us around Corvallis on bike as well as taking us to a very scenic Willamette Winery.  We then took a picnic to the local concert in the park.  The music was good, but more than that was the enjoyable evening experience of the community.  Our Wednesday nights are booked for the next 6-8 weeks with more concerts in the park!
It is getting hard to remember everything that we have done.  Every day that I'm not working we are out exploring and enjoying Oregon.  Days that I am working the boys are staying busy with skate-parks, mountain biking, golfing, and swimming.  I'm keeping a calendar so we can remember what we did on what day, as well as keeping this blog, which is becoming more of a diary for me, since no one else is contributing to it.

On a recent day off, we explored more of Portland with Uncle Dan and Aunt Janet, who took us to all the great spots!  We began with food and a brew at Saturday market, with musical and fountain entertainment.  We took a stroll down the riverfront, then downtown to enjoy a concert in the park.  We then hopped in the truck to explore the Rose garden and a mansion with amazing views.  It was then off to get some yummy ice-cream at a local business that was featured on Oprah.  The line was out the door at Salt & Straw, but well worth the 30 minute wait. (Uncle Dan and Jason took off to a restaurant for a pint).  The day was filled with a lot of history about Portland as well as filled our minds with the many possibilities of future trips.

Yum! Salt & Straw ice-cream!

We recently went back to Portland to experience the Jet Boat tours up the Willamette.  FUN FUN FUN!!!  Oh my gosh, I didn't know boats could "drift" (as I put it).  Everyone got wet....., ok, soaked!, but it was all in good fun.  We saw so many beautiful homes along the river and found out a lot of history along the river and Portland.  I was able to keep my phone dry to take pictures, but I had to keep moving it to different pockets that were dry. (I got a cool app, to take cool photos--otherwise, I'd have my touristy camera!)

Before it got wet

Today, my phone decided to test the "waters".  We went to Alsea falls, which we had heard from Uncle Dan was a primo spot for a picnic and scenery.  Hiking down the trail was great, but short, so we decided to make it interesting by rock-hopping our way back up through the river to the falls.  We all were doing great, except for Alex, whose shoes are more for basketball and running, than hiking and gripping wet rocks.  Needless to say, he fell in the river.  Scaling over fallen trees left me gripping wood instead of my phone, which decided to test the water as well.  It was down at the bottom for about a minute before I got my footing to reach in and grab it.  I thought, so much for all the photos I took.  To my surprise, it still works great, and took many more photos of our day (thank goodness!!!).  After a short while of keeping our soles dry, we realized it was more fun in the water than trying to stay out of it. Elwood was there hopping and swimming by our sides.  It was such an enjoyable and memorable experience.

Everyday has been something new to explore and that is the whole point of this adventure we are on.  We have found a home-schooling program for the boys which we will begin in late August.  We are hoping to incorporate a lot of their studies with hands-on experiences.  So, here comes another new chapter in our lives. 

Excursions

Finally time to start work, augh!  The first week was spent in orientation, so not bad, but I'm not a desk job type person, so it was rough sitting for 8 hours a day.  While I was occupied, the boys kept themselves busy.  Jason and the boys have scouted out all the nearest skate parks, some are definitely better than others, but it means the boys are learning the evolution of skate parks here in Oregon (see, learning opportunities!).  Andre spotted a bald eagle while hiking in/around Lincoln City with Uncle Dan, he was so excited.  While it was rainy, drizzly at the coast, here in Salem it was blue skies.  We came to these neck of the woods to experience the beautiful summer weather.  So far we have run the gamut of weather; rainy, hot and humid, windy.  Thank goodness for a pool here at the resort!  The weather has been HOT lately.  The boys are swimming daily.  Well, I don't know how much swimming, more like horse-playing.  We have been keeping our eyes out for any events going on in the area, or surrounding areas.  We have taken in the World Festival in Salem in which many nationalities/cultures were on display.  Jason was there for the food!  It was really interesting, but also HOT (have I said that already?).  It was off to Corvallis afterward, to maybe float the river.  Well, the float didn't happen, but we did happen upon a few breweries. (yay for us!).  The boys are liking the ginger ales or rootbeers that are also produced by the breweries.  We then decided to explore a little bit of Portland, taking in Voodoo donuts, Saturday market, and numerous breweries.  There will be many more trips to Portland in our future!  I'm on a diet, eat really good, so I can drink my calories at the breweries.  We are going to up our activities so we can keep enjoying the varieties of beers that are around.

Enjoying Voodoo donuts

It was really nice to experience a true Main Street parade in "middle-America", aka Independence, OR on the Fourth of July.  The street route was lined with chairs.  The boys sat on the curb to catch candy that was thrown their way.  Jason and I found a wine bar/brew bar and had a pint while watching the parade from inside (fans!).  We have decided this was the best of both worlds, the boys had fun and we were comfortable.  We caught a great fireworks display from atop our COW.  Birds-eye view!
A spur of the moment plan had us traveling to Bend, OR, about 2 hours away over the Cascades, for the weekend.  We arrived to find that it was event night!  Woohoo!  Most of the downtown businesses stayed open late and were having music, food, drinks all around.  Deschutes brewery had us following their alley music.  After much walking and taking in the downtown area, we were entranced.  Bend seemed to be a mix of Mammoth Mtn and San Luis Obispo.  The whole town is geared toward outdoor enthusiasts and is very dog-friendly, which made Elwood happy!  Determined to take in as much as we could, we headed out the next morning to the Lava Beds, hiking around a cinder cone volcano, taking in falls created by the lava rocks in the Deschutes river, and walking over the lava beds.  We also went to the Lava tunnel that extended almost a mile, in a dark, cold, drippy environment.  Next we floated down the river into town.  The water was COLD!  It looked like everyone was out there on the river.  Our day wasn't complete without taking in another pint (or two) from another brewery.  Before leaving Bend, we traveled to Mt. Bachelor ski area, and visited one of the many Cascade lakes in the area.  Mt. Bachelor is 14 miles from Bend, and the only way back to the highway is going back through Bend.  On the way we happened upon Deschutes brewery.  We didn't stay for a tour, but did take some free samples :).

Alex on top of a 150 ft crater

Andre feeling muscular by picking up a lava rock

Squirrels???

Mt. Bachelor (left) and 3 Sisters (right)

Andre seeing his breath by flashlight in the lava tube

We have many plans on our agenda, in between working.  Tillamook cheese factory, the Oregon Coast, the Rogue River, Mt. Hood and if we get a chunk of time, Seattle and Vancouver.  Don't know if we will get to all of it, but we will do our best!

We have signed the boys up for "summer camp" for a couple of weeks during the summer, at the local community center/water park.  They should have a blast and it will give Jason a much needed break.  Their first camp starts tomorrow and they will be swimming, playing sports, learning to tie knots, enduring a climbing wall and playing with kids!  We are ALL looking forward to it!