Beaches, forest and falls

Let the outings begin!  Yahoo!  Uncle Dan had  a wonderful coastal loop to show us on our first taste of Salem/Oregon scenery.  Aunt Sally,  Uncle Ed and Rosemary joined us.  Our first stop was toward the coast to stop for picnic fixings in Lincoln City.  Of course wouldn't you know (well we do now!), that it started raining.  I guess you can't complain of all the rain when you like to see all the greenery.  Our first picnic stop was rained out.  Aunt Sally put on her sunglasses to give us some much needed hope that the sun would break through and it worked.  Our picnic stop was at the mouth of the Salmon River.

The crew

Ok, maybe more like tailgate party, but the ground was wet!  We wern't  here too long.  It was time to move on to Neskowin Beach and see the remains of the "ghost forest".  Tree stumps that remain long after they should on the beach, just sticking up.  Very weird, anyone say global warming?

Jason and Uncle Dan "stumped".

There is a really cool rock in the middle of the beach which involves lots of questions of how it got there.  We tried to walk around it, but wound up climbing part of it.  Most of what we were stepping on (6-8 feet up from the beach) were shells, that made me think I don't want to be here during high tide.  We gave up climbing with the tide inching its way up, but found some cool caves.

posing on the rock

Everyone is a little too tall for the cave

Uncle Ed the explorer

It stayed dry for the remainder of the day, so we drove on to Cape Kiwanda and it's 200 ft. sand dune.  Race anyone?  The boys ran up ahead of us, and then ran up and down another time...oh to not need Motrin in the morning!  The views were amazing from the top.  Our shoes carried away a portion of the dune.  We all had a good time climbing the dune and earned ourselves a pint at the brewhouse at the bottom.

just a breather! Alex on trip #2

looking up the coast

Oregon has amazing colors

Andre showing of his many talents

That was it for the first day of the coastal route.  The next day we took the inland route to see Aunt Janet at work in Eugene, then off to the covered bridges and the McKenzie river.  The weather was not cooperating with our plans as we chased a storm cell the entire way!  We found a spot for a picnic... under umbrellas.  The weather was not going to let up.  We have some great photos of our picnic area and now understand why moss grows everywhere!  We are planning another attempt of the bridges at a later date, sunshine hopefully.

Whose the kids now?

After taking a break for a day and catching up of daily living, we found our day filled with warm temperatures and sunshine, yay!  It was off to Silver Falls, to view 10 falls on a scenic hike.  On our first fall to view, the sign of no dogs allowed plunged our spirits of a great day.  We brought Elwood figuring to give him some exercise and the park not mentioning no dogs allowed on the trails.  There was a rim trail that dogs are allowed on, so off we went.  We were able to see 3 falls and take Elwood down to one of them (no signs posted not to!).  It turned out to be the perfect amount of hiking for the day and got us into the hiking groove again.  We made a 6 mile loop in all, and the boys slept the entire way home!  We are making plans to visit all of the falls at a later time, and without the dog.  On our drives, it's been cool to see the fields of grass seed, christmas trees and vineyards which make up some of Oregon's industry.

Our first week in Oregon was wonderful!  We got to see family and go explore.  Next week work begins for me :(, but I can't wait to see where we go on our next outings.  

South falls, the boys and Jason ran down to it

Oh boys!

Twin Falls, reminded me of Last of the Mohicans,with it's overhang-under rock-behind-waterfall trail.  

North Falls, Elwood got to play in this one, it was REALLY cold!

We made it!

Our last day of traveling to Salem was filled with going up and down mountains and looking at green forested areas before coming out into the Willamette valley.  It was a beautiful drive with white puffy clouds above and dark grey clouds ahead.  We took the back way to the RV resort to avoid the downtown traffic of Salem, going through Corvallis (looks like a town to explore!).  Our RV resort is just beautiful with walking trails all around it, plenty of things for the boys to do and green grass!  After the past couple of RV resorts, we've landed at the best one yet.  We have a super site, which is two RV sites in one, this allows us a parking pad and patio area, we totally scored!  There are movies every night (boys already told us which ones we are going to), daily activities and more to do on the weekends.  And did I mention that there are wineries all around us? 

Green grass and bushes all around us

We don't have to mow it!

Our Super site (2 sites in 1)

It was nice to spread ourselves out of the trailer again and set up house.  Elwood seemed to enjoy the nice weather we had yesterday and just being out of the trailer.  I think he's going to sleep away the next couple of days, the road trip wore him out.

Do my eyes look tired? I need my hair done!

We have plans today to do some exploring with the Wojcik/Heidelbach side of the family.  We can't wait to get out there! 
Months of planning and anticipation of our goal, have finally been achieved!

Rollin' down the highway

We began our journey to Salem just outside of Valencia, where the trailer was stored for 2 days while visiting with family in LA.  It was nice to have a house to relax in, washer and dryer at our finger tips and Elwood to have a yard to play in without being leashed.
Traveling up the I-5 to Sacramento was a bumpy one!  We had put Elwood in the trailer so he wouldn't be too hot in the back of the truck.  While in the trailer, he got stuck in our bedroom.  With the bumpy road, it must have been like Mr. Toads wild ride - there was slobber all over our pillows and things shoved to the floor.  I wish we had a baby-cam to have seen what he was going through.  Though it was bumpy, nothing broke in the trailer.  I was having visions of our 4 wine glasses in a million pieces.  Things had shifted inside cabinets and it made us realize some modifications that need to be made and to carefully open the doors after traveling.
While traveling, I was thinking about how my focus of important things have changed.  My focus now is where's the next bathroom, where are the smooth highways, is that truck too close to us and making sure Jason has everything he needs so he doesn't lose focus of the road (peanut M&M's, please!).  I'm sure I'm freaking out more than Jason likes, but he is keeping his mouth shut :).  The boys are catching up on their sleep, getting use out of their ipad and itouch, eating every snack in sight and wondering how much longer.  They are really good travelers and are taking an interest in where we are going and what's around us.  So day 1 took us to West Sacramento, the boys couldn't wait to get their swim trunks on and get to the pool.  Elwood loved the dog area and getting out of the trailer!  We went into old town Sacramento by the river for Father's Day dinner.  Jason found his Guiness and corned beef tacos...he was a happy guy!  We all went to bed tired.
Day 2 took us from Sacramento to Medford, Oregon.  We were traveling in new territory for us up the I-5.  First thing we realized is the road is MUCH nicer north of Sacramento!  We drove through YOLO county, which made us laugh because that's been our saying for the past few weeks. (you only live once).  We passed many sunflower fields with their yellow faces turned toward the morning sun.  It was Mt. Shasta that got us to ooh and ahh at it's lake with many fingers and its snow-covered peak.  Traveling through  the pines was truly refreshing and reminded us of Lake Tahoe or Mammoth.  We couldn't have asked for a more perfect driving day!  One little town we passed is called Weed.  Andre read the population sign and announced "there are 3000 happy people living in this town".  The jokes were flowing for a few miles after that town.

Sunflower fields, you've gotta smile at them

Mt. Shasta

We are now in Medford/Gold Hill for the night.  Gold Hill is a smallish mountain-like town that we explored a little. We took a quick jaunt down to the Rogue River, it was really cold, but Elwood loved the water.  The boys found a skate park which made their day and the trip worth it to them.  Oregon is SO green compared to the brown scenery we've been seeing.  The weather is holding up so far, but may rain tomorrow.  The trailer needs a good rinse from all the highway driving! We will endure another long day of travel getting to Salem, but enjoy the new scenery.  It will also be nice to set up our home again.  There will be a few days to enjoy our new surroundings and get our bearings before work begins for me next week. 

Jason &Alex

Alex and Elwood in the Rogue River, or rather attempting it!

Life in the trailer

It is becoming apparent that we are going to be able to survive living in close quarters!  Yahoo to that, otherwise we'd have issues.  It helps that there are daily walks to take and trips to make to school or the store.  We don't feel like we are camping, but living in an apartment.  There are times when we are tripping over the dog, a stool or shoes, so cleaning up is a must.  This is how we celebrate birthdays (Happy 10th b-day Alex!), no baking required!

Donut cake

We are eager to actually begin the adventure we have focused on starting and it is coming very soon.  Our departure from Oceanside, CA is on June 14th.  We will travel to LA area to be with family for a couple of days, then make our way to Salem.  We are not really planning any extended outings on the road for this leg of the trip, but speeding our way to Salem to enjoy spending time with our Michigan family who will be in town when we arrive.  We'll make our way to their neck of the woods sometime during our road trips, maybe even staying for a bit!
It is with bittersweet goodbyes that we leave the San Diego area.  We are leaving our long-time friends (who will visit us in various locations we hope!), leaving our new friends from school, and work friends.  I finished my last work day in Oceanside, and am now on a 2 week vacation before I start work again in Oregon.  The boys are excited to be starting their last week of school with the many end-of-year activities going on.  We are wrapping up this chapter of our lives it seems.
So packing it all back in is the name of the game now, we hope it all fits back in to all the nook and crannies of the trailer.  There are many unknowns as we finally start out, but that is all part of the adventure.  Here we go!......

Saying bye to all my friends

     Hi this is Alex and i just want to say to all my friends that you guys were the best friends i have ever had!  Here's to Sam, Jared, Trevor, Mason and Issac, I had a fun time with you all.  I also want to thank Mr.Little for a wonderful year.  Please comment and I will try to reply.  See ya!

Our first pick is....

SALEM, OR

We have made a choice of where my first nursing assignment will be.  We wanted to go to Oregon for a few reasons.  First, it's close to family (here we come Uncle Danny, Aunt Janet and Rosemary!), second the summer months should be really nice, third I have a nursing license in that state and fourth we haven't spent much time there and want to go exploring new places!
There were a couple of places we wanted in Oregon, but because of our behemoth of a trailer (hence C.O.W.), we were limited on what RV parks could accommodate us.  We were given options like Hood River, Seaside, Newport, Lebanon, Kalamath Falls and Baker City.  There are so many places to go!  I did a phone interview with a position in Salem, and got it really quick, so here is where it will begin for us.  My assignment will be for 13 weeks which should give us a good time frame to taste what Oregon has to offer (Andre hopes there's Cheeseburgers!).  We are looking forward to traveling all over when I'm not working.  We've got to start planning these adventures!
Meanwhile, we are continuing to enjoy our trailer lifestyle.  Recently, we had the pleasure to have our neighbors help us out.  Alex is learning the guitar, and our RV neighbor just happened to mention that he plays.  Coincidence???  Our friendly neighbor taught Alex some chords and played with him the other night as well as gave us a taste of Karaoke.  We hope the others in the RV resort didn't mind the flat-tuned songs that were sung by the Grosdidier's.    It was the stereotypical camping-nighttime-neighborly-activity-(with electricity)! (Thanks Bill and Lisa!).  We hope that Alex will be jamming soon, and you never know who we might meet while on the road!

Kind of hard to see, but it's Alex and Bill

Still here in CA

We are all getting used to living in closer quarters.  We have adjusted to turning off the water to lather up when taking a shower, making sure that we flush with enough water, and ensure that the holding tanks are empty!  There haven't been many mishaps of living in a trailer yet.  Yes, it rocks when someone walks around and you are trying to sleep (wink wink!) or the oven is often too hot and the cookies end up getting burned.  We are having our normal functions of household life though, so there is comfort in knowing that no matter what we are in, we can still put our mark on it and have the familiarity of sticks and bricks living.  Having a back area with a closed door makes it easier for the boys to play their games or enjoy the back patio and sunshine and it closes them off to us and their noise!.  We are still getting used to where everything is that we have placed in the trailer.  There just isn't enough room for the things you need to put in the right spots (Wine is in the bedroom...where else?).  The boys say that we need to make a map so we know where we have stashed things!
Living in the RV resort has been good so far.  We have met some interesting people who have shared their travel experiences with us.  The ebb and flow of the RV resort is interesting too, always giving us a reason to take a stroll around to check out new rigs and see who has recently vacated or come into the resort.  We are spending our days taking the dog for a long walks, as well as getting the kids to/from school and me to/from work (done on a scooter!). Being so close to the beach, we taking a lot of walks right beside the beach and catching some beautiful sunsets.  There are parrots that come out in the morning and evening which catch our attention by their awkward sounding squawks.  There must be an apartment nearby that houses them. 

Beautiful California Sunset!

We have been eye-ing some potential travel nursing positions in Oregon for our first long stop on our journey which should begin the end of June, or beginning of July.  I am hoping that by next week I will hear more about who needs what and where/when, so I can apply for some of these jobs.  We still have a month left here in Oceanside before we depart, still waiting for school to finish for the boys.  All of us are eager to get this adventure on the road!

See you on the road!