Hey all, Joni here. We have been home for a week now, but I'm determined to blog about our recent trip to Seattle and Oregon. It's a daunting(that's for you Joel, Erin, Maude) task because I took 952 pictures and I have to figure out which ones to put in here! The problem is, 952 pictures still couldn't capture the beauty of the area where we were lucky enough to stay. The first day Paul, Ellie and I drove up to Seattle to see our dear friends Mike, Jen, and baby Rose. It was pretty overcast and rainy in Seattle, this is the best picture we could manage in front of the Space Needle



We walked over to Pike market in downtown. I've never seen so many piles of fish, ice and tourists in my life. Okay, so the tourists weren't in the piles, but it was really crowded in there.



Here we are hanging out (eating delicious donuts) with the Barnes, introducing our girls who are soon to be BFFs. We weren't in Seattle long, but it was totally worth it to see our long lost CT friends. Ellie LOVED playing with Rose and looks like a giant sitting next to her!


That night we picked up Joel and Erin in Portland and headed over to Yachats. Our rental house could not have been in a more ideal location. The view of the ocean/beach/wildlife out the back windows was breath taking, and again, impossible to capture in a picture. These next shots were all taken within 100 feet of our back door.







I loved that blackberry bushes grew wild everywhere around the property! Our first day there we drove down the coast and saw some beautiful mountain chiasms where the waves churned and crashed into rocks. It was like nothing I have ever seen. We also hiked up to an old lighthouse.






The next day we headed the other way on the coast to another town to a whale watching spot. Joel snapped a picture of this big guy for me. The views from the whale watching area were spectacular!






While there we ate at a little cafe and I indulged my inner child on one of my favorite treats - carmel and cheese corn. Mmmm

Glen, Kendi and fam showed up the next day and we had a blast seeing more local sites, catching up, and doing secret handshakes :) Carter caught a giant crab that made all the locals jealous and they brought it home for us to try.


One day we went to the Lion caves and then to sand dunes... in this pic you can see the sea lions sunning on a huge rock.




Paul and Carter, Me and Bess in a "mini-me" situation that was totally unplanned and totally awesome.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was my running mountain. It's a tsunami evacuation route - basically a steep paved road of switch backs that wind up the side of a mountain. The view from the top was worth the daily trek to the top. If you look down you can see the houses down below... I loved it.

This is Bruno. He came to visit a few times on the sand bank right outside our back porch. This is the little guy I was chasing (for a picture) when I hurt my leg... totally worth it though. I miss him!

On our last day in Yachats we walked over to a Mushroom Festival downtown. I have never seen so many funky plants and people all in one spot. A bunch a fun guys. Ha.

All in all, the trip went by WAY too fast. We played games, laughed, saw beautiful places, and made some great memories. I can't wait to go back to Oregon some day. Phew! That was a LONG blog.
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P.S. Is it just me, or does Ellie have a Justin Beiber vibe going on with her hair?...