Vacation: Tuesday - Saturday

So Joel posted our slide show that didn't turn out that great. You've seen most of our pictures now, but don't know much about them. So here is what we did the rest of our trip to Oregon.

Tuesday

Tuesday was a busy day full of all kind of "shishies" (fish). We went to the OSU marine center or whatever it was called. They had all kinds of fish exhibits and fish you could touch. Later, we went to the aquarium. They were having an exhibit called "Oddwater" with all kinds of unusual fish and other sea life. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. For dinner, everyone got together at the beach for a weiny roast.

Izzy teaching Jenna about the fish
Petting the sharks at the aquarium

These things were creepy. Jenna thought they were funny. She wouldn't stop laughing.
Jenna's first trip to the beach
Joel showing her the water. The water came up to her and she freaked out. I don't blame her because it was ice cold.
All of the reunion attendees.


Wednesday

We went up to a lighthouse but couldn't go in. Jenna wasn't tall enough to climb the stairs and they wouldn't let us carry her. We walked around the back side of the lighthouse and saw these rocks that were covered with birds. They were making the most awful sound and it was just deafening. The ones that couldn't make it onto the rocks were hanging out in the water below.

They looked like little penguins.
Afterwards, we went down to this cobble stone beach and watched the seals sunbathe on some rocks out in the ocean.
After awhile, Jeremy, Hillary and Izzy came down and joined us. Jenna and Izzy loved throwing the rocks.
Later that night, the Harrison's all went out to dinner together. The restaurant had a little treasure chest full of toys that kids could choose from. Jenna and Izzy picked out these glasses as their first toy of many. Aren't they cute?
I love this picture

Thursday

On Thursday Joel and I packed up and headed to Portland. The reunion had ended the night before and our vacation was just beginning. Jami and Leslie had told us about some waterfalls somewhere on our way to Portland, so we decided to make a pit stop there and spend some time. They were way out in the middle of nowhere, but they were beautiful. There were 7 of them, but we only stopped at two. We stopped at a little river to swim for a little bit, then continued to Portland. We spent the rest of the evening just lounging around in our hotel.

The South Falls were beautiful. If you look close, you can see that there is a path to hike down and behind the falls.
Friday

Before we left on our trip, Joel was hesitant to stay in Portland for a few extra days saying that there was nothing to do there. Once we got there, though, he found out how much there was to do and see that we wish we would have stayed longer. Since we had limited time, we went to Mt Saint Helens. This took most of the day, but was a beautiful drive and very interesting. The whole area around the volcano was free to get into until you got to the final lookout area. Then it was $8 a person to get into the visitors center and to a really good look out area. We didn't want to spend that so we were just hanging out outside of the visitors center looking around when a park ranger came out of the building to give a demonstration to the "Junior Rangers" who had paid the $8. We were able to stand in the back of the crowd and learn the history of the volcano. It was really interesting. Jenna slept through the whole thing. She sure was a trooper with all of the driving we did. Anyway, after we were done there it was getting late and traffic was thickening, so we went down to Lake Oswego and walked around the temple. All Jenna wanted to do was get in the fountain and pick the flowers. There was a group of girls walking around waiting for a sealing to get over and they kept taking pictures of me and Jenna. Kind of creepy. We started talking to them and asked them why and they said they just thought she was cute. Weird.

Saturday

On Saturday we packed up and got ready to go home. We then headed out for a drive along the Columbia River. Talk about gorgeous! Since we were limited on time, we only made two quick stops. We stopped at Multnomah Falls and the Bonneville Dam. The falls are 700 feet tall and there is a little bridge you can hike up to and look out over them. The Dam is the second largest in the US (I think). We were going to go on a little tour to see how the dam generates electricity, but Jenna got bored, so we ducked out early. Before we ducked out, a squirrel came right up to her. She loved it. She kept calling it a kitty. It was cute. After our drive, we spent an hour or so at the outlet mall. It wasn't that great, but nice to get out and walk around. Then, for lunch we went to Popeye's Chicken. This was one of my favorite restaurants when we lived in Texas, so I always make Joel go there whenever we find one. Very yummy and very bad for you.

(Those are not my shoes in the picture in case you were wondering)