Oregon Coast Continued

We spent the remainder of Wednesday afternoon at Hug Point.  This was a beautiful spot that we just happened to read about on the internet and decided to make a stop.  And I'm so glad we did - this ended up being our favorite stop on the entire trip.

There was barely even a sign from Highway 101 that winds along Oregon's coast.  We pulled in to a small parking lot and walked down a few steps to a breathtaking beach.  Our favorite feature was all the caves to wander into and explore.  There was also a beautiful waterfall near where we let the girls play all afternoon.

I have to point out Laney's sandy bottoms...

It was all fun and games until Maria decided to taste the sand.  Then she was pretty much miserable after that.  The poor girl coated her tongue with sand.  We tried to wash it all out, but she was done with the beach after that. :(

So we took a dinner break.  Grapes, Grilled Cheese, and Rasins :)

So now you know why Maria is crying her eyes out here.  She was not happy that we decided to go back onto the sand.  She was terrified, poor girl!

Aaron & Elaina

From Hug Point we headed to our hotel in Tillamook and attempted to wash all the sand out of our toes.  And I bet you can guess what we did the first thing the next morning....  Toured the Tillamook Cheese Factory, of course!

DAY 3

 We went on the self-guided tour around the factory and had to try out some of their famous ice cream!  Elaina approved.

Next Stop: Cape Meares Lighthouse

We got to climbs the steps and go up inside the upper glass part.  But as you can see by the photos, it wasn't much of a climb.  This is one of America's shortest lighthouses at only 34 feet tall! 

View from inside the lighthouse!

What a handsome husband I have! 

It was a pretty windy day on the coast, so we just HAD to stop and fly a kite!  We picked one up at a local kite shop and it was amazingly easy to fly.  We got a "soft" kite, meaning there were no poles or parts that could break.  I was amazed at how easily it went right up :)

Aaron flying our kite. But what you can't see is that he's actually holding one of the babies here WHILE flying a kite. Now that's talent! 

After playing on the beach in Lincoln City for a while, we made a few more quick stops along hwy 101 before reaching Newport, where we had to check out another lighthouse! (Can you tell we have a thing for them?  We also got to see one a few years ago on our trip to Vancouver :)

yeah, baby, still in love! 

After checking out the lighthouse, we met up with the Parkers in Newport.  The Parkers are a couple that served a CES mission in the Canary Islands while I was there.  They were always amazing and cooked us lots of yummy American food! (I remember being especially excited for things like ranch dressing and homemade ice cream!)

We met up for dinner and saw these seals down below the docks in Newport.  They were hilarious - biting each other, flopping around, and making a barking noise.  The babies loved it!

We went to dinner and had some yummy seafood before taking the beautiful drive to their home near Alsea, OR.  After such a beautiful drive near Multnomah Falls, and again along highway 101, I was surprised that Oregon could get any prettier.  But the drive to their home (near Corvallis, OR) was by far the prettiest of our trip, (car-sickness aside).
I didn't take many photos that night, but there are more to come, stay tuned for part 3 of our adventure!