A Circuitous Route to Portland

Our big adventure in July was a trip to Portland by way of Highway 101. Scott and his family (it was made official in late June at a backyard wedding in Seattle) planned a vacation near Gold Beach, Oregon the same time we had planned a trip to Portland to meet with Lara, Rick and their boys. Scott suggested we leave a few days early and drive Highway 101 through the redwoods on our way to Portland spending a few days in Gold Beach. Great idea as I’d never been that far on Highway 101 and since making the drive to Portland over the past six years we’d always taken the 5, which is a straight shot from Sacramento, and we’d never seen southern Oregon near the coast. A new experience and perfect opportunity to spend some time with family.

There were three practical options to get from Volcano to Gold Beach: (1) driving the 5 freeway to Grants Pass, Oregon and then taking a highway southwest to Crescent City (back into California); (2) driving the 5 freeway to Redding and then cutting across on a windy road through a forest to the 101; or option (3) driving the 5 freeway to around Colusa and taking the 20 west past Clear Lake to the 101. Against Scott’s advice, he has taken all three and suggested we take the first option from Grants Pass, we regrettably chose the third option, a long windy and slow drive with a million stops for road repairs. Eventually we made it to the 101, which was also long, windy and slow with a number of detours for road work. I was under the impression the 101 went directly through the redwoods. That is, close enough to actually see them. It was a life-time ago when Verne made his only trip through the redwoods and he couldn’t remember getting off the highway to see them. Apparently, that’s what you need to do if you’re going to have an up close and personal experience with the trees. By the time we saw the last of four signs pointing to a redwood park off the 101, it was getting very late and we were two hours past the ETA I’d given Scott. So much for our drive through the redwoods. We pushed on. I’m sad to say I still haven’t been close enough to give one of those old majestic trees a hug. Next year.

We arrived in Gold Beach early evening and had a great dinner with the McKenzie’s. Up early the next day we continued our circuitous route to Portland north on the 101 a short distance stopping at the Prehistoric Gardens Dinosaur Park. This was largely, actually entirely, for Joshua’s benefit. We walked through the rain forest, which was amazing (I’d never seen such large ferns) stopping and reading about each life-sized replica. As most 8-year old boys, Joshua loves dinosaurs and knows them all.

Joshua, Ini and Scott

 Scott and Joshua on trail through Dinosaur Park

There are a number of blueberry farms along that part of the highway and as it has become a tradition for Scott and Ini to go home from their vacations in southern Oregon with blueberries, we stopped and picked. Joshua and I teamed up looking for the largest and sweetest berries. He was the scout and continually called to me as he found the best bushes, “Joyce, Joyce, over here.” Cute. He would have a handful of berries to show me and then leave me to pick while he continued to scout. This was our favorite blueberry bush as it held a surprise. Look closely and you’ll find a frog that blends perfectly with the foliage.

Joshua picking blueberries

Find the Frog!

The second half of our vacation began with a drive to Mount St. Helen where we met the Rausch family at the Forest Learning Center. Unfortunately, there were low clouds and we didn’t get a good look at the mountain (minus its top), but enjoyed the exhibits and full documentary of the volcano at the learning center.

Matthew attacking Logan with an eagle's claw

Rausch family hiking a mile trail around wetlands

Beautiful wetlands around Mount St. Helens Visitor Center

The following day was a busy one with an early trip to the Nike outlet store near Salem where Nike products are sold at a deep discount. Nike employees are incented to wear Nike clothing and shoes and receive perks throughout the year as encouragement to “buy Nike.” Lauren had recently received a discount card that entitled her to an additional 40% off her entire purchase at the outlet store. Combine all these discounts with no sales tax (8% in California) and it sounded too good to be true. We power shopped for almost two hours, finally leaving with three or four huge bags of shoes and clothing. During this time, Verne sat next door at Starbucks and kept the boys entertained so Lara and Rick could shop, but even he scored a new pair of Nikes. Verne hates to shop and it took some trickery to get him in the store to try on the shoes Lauren and I had chosen for him. First, you need to understand Verne sees nothing wrong with his dirty, worn, 30+ year old no-name brand tennis shoes. We do. Secondly, he thinks tennis shoes are purely utilitarian and not worn to make a fashion statement. Wrong. They are both. As Lauren and I worked at convincing the man he needed to replace his old tennies, I was reminded of a scene from one of our favorite movies, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In the movie, a mother explains to her daughter how things really work in a marriage…”The man is the head, but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants.” Solid advice. We had a good laugh and made it our mission to “turn the head” and we did. In fact, so much so that this morning Verne said he regretted not buying a second pair of $27 Nikes to leave at Lauren’s. Mission Accomplished!

Under the Nike Swoosh

We spent the afternoon at OMSI, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. As a reminder, Lauren is a weekend volunteer giving submarine tours at OMSI and according to her supervisors (paid employees), she is the gold standard of volunteers. She now has another fan. Matthew, Lara’s oldest son, said Lauren’s tour was the best he’s ever been on and it was the highlight of his vacation. It was our second tour of the USS Blueback, ducking and squatting to get through the small spaces. Visualize that old saying, “Packed like a can of sardines,” and you will appreciate the cramped conditions of the Blueback. We followed the Blueback tour with a visit to the OMSI Planetarium and lecture on the night sky and then watched a movie in the IMAX theater, National Parks Adventure. It was an excellent day. Verne and I enjoyed it so much we’ve decided that every trip to Portland will begin with a trip to the Nike store (that’s the neck speaking) and a day at OMSI.

USS Blueback Tour

Best Tour Ever

Our trip couldn't have been better beginning with our time on the Oregon coast with Scott and his new family and then spending a few days in Portland with Lara, Rick and their precious boys. We love Portland and always enjoy our time with Lauren, but sharing vacations with our loved ones was special and made this the best Portland trip ever!