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Saturday, July 9, 2011

We MUST fit it all in by 5:00 P.M.

 My alarm went off early Monday morning seeing how we had a long list of things we needed to see before we left the beautiful state of Oregon.  Time to hit the road, running!




































As we were leaving the small towns we had become familiar with, I saw a sign that I had fallen in love with.  I must have said it over thirty times over the weekend.  I guess we were staying in Yamhill County.  Well, I loved to say, "What the Yamhill?"  Or, "Yamhill Gaston" because it was on several other signs throughout the area.  Makes me happy.  :)

We had seen a field with real scarecrows in it several times while driving back and forth places.  I wanted to make sure we got a picture.  Thing is.  They are NOT like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz.  These are creepy.  Pulling out from the field, we saw these railroad track and I couldn't resist.  I'm not proud of this, but yes, those are my splits.  lol

While driving north we saw a herd of cows.  They were so cute.  Seriously.  Did I just say that?  The bells on their necks were so cute.  It just made me think of cowbells and happy cows.  But then I realized that happy cows come from California.  But I was sure that these cows, surely were the happy cows seeing where they lived. 

While continuing northbound, we saw what I thought was an eagle.  Heaven forbid I miss an eagle.  So, I slammed on the brakes and ran back with my camera.  Thing is, I haven't seen eagles swarming together.  Like thirteen of them to be exact.  After taking the pictures and drawing our own conclusions, we decided they were probably vultures or scavenger birds.  Sure enough.  Turkey Vultures.  Oooh. 

Tillamook was calling our names.  We drove the hour and a half only to find out that the workers weren't actually making the cheese that day since it was the 4th of July.  Oh well.  We did have the most amazing curd ever and I had white licorice ice cream.  (I love licorice.  I buy the black jelly beans at Easter. )  The really funny thing up there in Tillamook was that the high school mascot is "The Cheesemakers".  It just struck us as really funny.  I mean really.  Aren't mascots supposed to be kind of intimidating?  Can you imagine going up to your opponent and them saying, "Back off.  I'm a cheesemaker".  Oooh.  Scary.  lol


Next we were heading south to Lincoln City to go to the beach.  It was hard believing that it was the 4th of July.  It was freezing!  We sat there stiff on the beach with our hoodies pulled over our heads so that the seagulls wouldn't poop on us.  It's happened before!  Just before we left, we did the token, "stand in the water for a picture" thing.  That reminds me.  I need to get my shells and rocks out of my suitcase.  The rocks were kind of cool.
 
Next stop.  Newport and the Yaquina Head lighthouse.  It was really pretty there with black river rocks on the beach.  On our walk down to the lighthouse we found the most amazing Oregon trivia sign.  I'm not one to really read those things, but it caught our attention like no other.  See what I mean?




































After the lighthouse and my next gymnastics effort, we decided that we wanted to find a little local place for some fresh fish and chips.  We were thrilled to find a little place and we hurried in.  We had fun talking with some of the locals and noticed a hugemungous hamburger on the wall.  I sat there working up the nerve to ask if I could hold it.  A man told us that it's a replica of the 7 lb burger they sell there.  Eat it in 45 minutes and get $1000.  Who are they kidding?  I guess the guy from "Man vs Food" will be there to tape a segment in September.  I couldn't help myself anymore.  I had to hold that hamburger.  I asked and lo and behold.  I was holding that 7 lb burger.  I think I want to throw up.  What was once really fun there, turned into a long wait while we sat at the counter waiting for our fish and chips for over half and hour.  I finally yelled across the counter and asked the cook if he was cooking our fish and chips.  He had lost the ticket with our order on it, so that would be a no!  Rather than eating our fun little lunch outside on the main drag, we scarfed it down on the scenic byway.  That's not easy.  Dipping fish in tarter sauce while driving through mountainous terrain.

At that point, we had two hours to get back to the Eugene airport and I still had all those pictures of barns I needed to get.  That's when we started zig zagging, braking, backing up, and turning around to get all 23 of the barns.  We made a bee line back to the airport with me ready to sprint up to the rental car counter and slap down my keys two minutes before 5:00.  We made it.  It was a great trip with a lot of fun memories.  The people of Oregon are such kind people minus the gas station helpers.  Can't wait to take D back with me some day. 




1 comment:

Erika said...

Ahhh, sisters are fun! I feel bad my B doesn't have one. I guess I'll just have to do the crazy stuff with her instead!