Oregon

It had been a long time since we last visited Brad’s relations in Oregon, so for this R&R, we decided that not only were we due for some sightseeing, we really ought to do a little catching up. We sent out emails in advance, and managed to set up a pretty good schedule of meeting up with everyone as we roadtripped down the coast.

Our first stop this trip was in Portland. We landed at the airport, grabbed a one-way rental car plus GPS, and drove across town to stay overnight with one of Brad’s cousins and her family. Their older son and Honor hit it off quite well (how are the ‘pet’ water beetles doing?) and we all enjoyed ooh’ing and ah’ing over their twin baby girls – so adorable! Brian was thrilled to be introduced to Nerf machine guns… guess we’ll be searching for some of our own now. Kids, and cats, will be thrilled!

Next we moved on to Salem to visit an Uncle and Aunt, and more cousins … great timing to catch everyone there! We had a good couple days to visit and relax. Unfortunately, Brian had caught a cold on the way over to the US and that, plus a bit of jetlag, called for some quiet time. We had a nice visit, and it was so wonderful to have the time together.

Brian and his great-Aunt have a very similar smile! I have a photo (somewhere) of them together when he was very small and you could see it back then too.

 

Aunt Kathy took us to the Enchanted Forest in Salem. The kids are almost too old for it, as a lot of the theme is Fairy Tale and Story Book, but they’ve never been before and it was fun to run around, see the displays, and climb on things. It was all set in a gorgeous woods area and I think that us adults enjoyed the walking about as much as the kids did.

Look at the GREEN! The whole place was covered in this alien color!

The ‘Old West’ part of the site.

They even got to pan for gold (well, pretty rocks, which are almost as good as gold). And yes, jacket in July were very necessary!

Next stop. Toledo… Oregon that is… to visit more relations.