Category: The 50 States

Getting a Little Homesick Over Halloween – Lincoln City, Oregon

Post author By Jess
Post date November 7, 2014

About a month ago, we decided we needed to sit somewhere for at least a week. A few weeks of 2-3 day short stops were wearing on us, and we just needed time to get some
cleaning done and catch up on other small repairs and chores. Looking ahead, we also knew Halloween was coming up and being in one place the week before to get ready for the
holiday sounded fabulous. As much as we don’t like to plan ahead and make reseravtions, holidays turn out to be the exception.

We choose Lincoln City for two reasons: it was on the Oregon Coast (which was on our list of places to see) and we had Instagram friends who we were excited to meet.

When We Visited: October 24-31, 2014
Where We Stayed: Devil’s Lake Campground – Full hookups, right in town, it seemed like a great except for the flooding in the campsites. There was so much rain that week that many of the campsites were their own lake. Not exactly encouraging. Fortunately, we were able to change sites to one that was more dry and our stay got infinitely better. There were more than a few doubts about our choice of accommodations that first night.
Ages of Kids: 9, 7, 4

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, ranking right up there was Christmas. I especially love decorating and costumes as evidenced by past years. Last year in Virginia was a bit crazy and I was determined to do better this year. We actually planned ahead and I ordered costumes from Etsy, sent them to the Waller’s house, and we started looking around at thrift stores for other pieces of our costumes way back on Whidbey Island. See? So prepared. We decorated the Airstream, and read Halloween books every night before bed.

We managed one treat craft, and dropped in on the local library’s Halloween party. It was pretty small town, but the face painting artist was AMAZING. She paints tiles, and her skill was evident. It was also a good test run for our costumes.

Halloween 2014_07

Halloween Eve we carved pumpkins with the Waller’s. Don’t judge our use of gloves. It was the only way we could get the girls to clean out their own pumpkins. Andrew, however, fully enjoyed the slimy experience. We were so proud of Rachel and Andrew who drew and carved their pumpkins all by themselves.

Halloween 2014_28

Halloween morning started out with our typical pumpkin pancake breakfast (cooked this time by Rachel), and then we met up at the Waller’s church to help set up for the Harvest Festival later that evening. Amazingly, it made me homesick. That doesn’t happen often, but setting up tables and chairs in a church, getting ready for carnival type games, and a chili dinner completely overwhelmed me with homesickness for our church family back in Lehi, Utah. Every year we’d have a “Soup & Spook” event that involved, you guessed it, carnival games, chili, good friends, and a Trunk or Treat in the parking lot. It was something we looked forward to every year. I was pretty excited that we’d get to celebrate this year with new friends doing something similar.

Our kids totally rocked the cold, snowy theme this year. After a comment on an Instagram photo months ago about how Andrew looked like the “real” Jack Frost, we couldn’t resist. Rachel was Elsa from Day #1 (her and everyone else), and we talked Cara out of Merida (from Brave) and into Olaf to complete the ensemble. I love their Halloween photos so much, they got their own post. You are welcome.

Halloween 2014_40

Bring on the party! This community knows how to have an event. The games were great, the food was delicious, and the kids ran around collecting as much candy in their treat bags as they absolutely could.

Halloween 2014_87

The hat totally made the outfit. I don’t think most people realized how ridiculously hilarious our costumes really were.

Halloween 2014_88

Our awesome friends the Waller’s:

Halloween 2014_94 Halloween 2014_104

For our first, official, on the road Halloween, I feel like we did a pretty sweet job. I don’t know what next year will hold (or where we will be!) but if we can come close to pulling this off again we’ll be okay!

National Parks Washington

A Soggy Day at Mount Rainier National Park – Washington

Post author By Sam
Post date November 6, 2014
1 Comment on A Soggy Day at Mount Rainier National Park – Washington

We’ve been excited to visit Mt. Rainier National Park as such an iconic volcano definitely needed a wander. Unfortunately, the perfect storm of off-season, incomplete planning, and, well, RAIN, landed us in a possibly less than ideal situation.

When We Visited: September 23-24, 2014

Ages of Kids: 9, 7, 4

Where We Stayed: Ohanapecosh Campground

From Puyallup, we drove north on the 410, and then State route 123 down the east side of the park. Our target was the Ohanapecosh Campground, situated conveniently close to the Ohanapecosh Visitors Center since we planned to earn another Junior Ranger badge during our stay. This situation seemed ideal. It rained on us a bit on the way out of town, but as traffic cleared, the rain did too, and we had an enjoyable drive all the way to the campground.

Compared to our drive, our arrival was less the ideal. As we pulled up to the campground registration, we realized that the conveniently located visitors center was closed. Not only was the center closed for the DAY, it was closed for the SEASON. No Junior Ranger Badges here, folks. After finding the dump station (which made the Most Scenic Dump Station Ever list) and a site, we talked over our options. We could drive down the crazy, windy road to the other campground (didn’t sound fun), or just camp here and drive the truck in on a day trip the following morning. The latter option won out and we settled in with our hot chocolate for a night full of rain.

It rained. And rained some more.

We woke up to some German Pancakes, then packed a lunch and headed out in the truck for a day of adventure. Since there was no internet signal available, we turned a Thursday into a Saturday and I took the day off work. Some quick investigation after we arrived confirmed that the only visitor centers still open were on the other side of the park, so we drove the Stevens Canyon Road to the Paradise Visitor’s Center. Along the way, we paused for pictures in Stevens Canyon, which treated us to beautiful views of the landscape decorated with clouds low in the valley and wonderful fall colors.

As we drove along, we noticed two soggy backpackers along the side of the road. They looked at us so hopefully that we just had to stop and pick them up. They had traveled from Idaho to hike in the back country, and had enjoyed it up till last night’s constant rain. I couldn’t resist helping, and we managed to squeeze them in the truck by having both Cara and Andrew buckled in the front bench with us. Luckily there were no rangers in sight. We dropped them off where the road forked and wished them well on their journey!

The Visitors Center at Paradise is a beautiful building. Built like a lodge, there are exposed beams and iron work. The entire lobby is pretty open with huge windows that (I assume) provide majestic views on sunny days. We picked up our Junior Ranger Books, and then sat down in the theater for a quick movie about the park. The plus side of an overcast, rainy day was the lack of crowds so we spread out in the lobby and worked on the kids’ Jr. Ranger Books. We managed to time a short hike during a brief respite of the rain up to Myrtle Falls and then ate lunch inside on the picnic tables (you can tell they have inclement weather often). Overall, we managed to have a pretty good day!

On the way out, we managed a quick hike along the Nisqually Glacier overlook trail for some great views of the blue ice.

And, of course, the puddle jumping.

Unfortunately, the clouds never broke, and we didn’t get a view of the mountain top. Despite our visit to the park, the best view of the mountain we had was from Tacoma, a few days earlier. Even with the rain, we had a great time. We discovered that there are quite a few activities in the park for kids, so we’ll be sure and return.

Tags bad weather at national parks, Mt. Rainier National park, National Park, Visiting Mt. Rainier in the rain

Oregon

The Scenic Colombia River Gorge outside of Portland, Oregon

Post author By Jess
Post date November 3, 2014

During our stay in Portland, we wandered into the Columbia River Gorge for an afternoon. Perhaps the best known stop there is Multnomah Falls, at a height of 620 feet. The falls are beautiful, but honestly, we felt a little claustrophobic. Prior to arriving in Portland, we had visited Silver Falls State Park, and hiked to see all 10 of the waterfalls in the park. While the falls there were certainly shorter, we enjoyed the falls with far fewer people crowding around.

When We Visited: September 10, 2014

Ages of Kids: 8, 7, 4

We stopped at Wahkeena Falls first and enjoyed a close experience with some smaller but still powerful falls. Only a few other folks hiked up to the bridge, leaving us with a quiet experience. After these falls, we hiked down the small trail to visit Multnomah Falls. The path was not amazing, but we avoided the parking morass, so the success of that walk was a toss-up.

Multnomah Falls is beautiful, but we were unprepared for the masses of people that crowded the small area for a good view. In addition to people there were also quite a few concession stands, and we would have been tempted by the fudge if Cara didn’t have a serious nut allergy. Turns out they use the same knife for all of their fudge. 🙁

We hiked up to the bridge for a better view and the wind generated by the falls was incredibly powerful! Jess captured this priceless image of Cara and her camera, hair blown about by the waterfall generated wind!

After the falls, we headed over to the Bonneville Fish Hatchery. We have visited a few hatcheries, and I’ve loved every one. Our visits are rarely rushed, and everybody enjoys feeding the fish (bring quarters.) The kids loved the adult fish holding tank (lower right picture below) where we got a good look at “Herman the Sturgeon”, a 70+ year old, 450+ lb, 10+ foot long Sturgeon. I told the kids that Herman was a Doctor Fish, because he was a very famous Sturgeon. They didn’t think it was very funny.

At this point of our visit, things turned a little south. Our struggle potty-training Cara has been ongoing, but this was a particularly bad evening. We managed to forget stuff to change her, and she desperately needed a change. We managed to make it work, but it was a bit of a painful experience. I’m happy to report that things have improved drastically since our visit here.

We completed our afternoon with a burger on the way back home. Having been spoiled by some seriously nice Oregon Scenery, the Columbia River Gorge earned a “Good” rating from the Wandering Currens. Most visitors seem to enjoy it more than we did, but I’ll chalk that up to being spoiled by the rest of Oregon.

Tags Bonneville Fish Hatchery, Multnomah Falls, Oregon

Oregon Video

Wandering Update: Learning to Crab on the Oregon Coast

Post author By Sam
Post date October 31, 2014
8 Comments on Wandering Update: Learning to Crab on the Oregon Coast

Last Week, we rented the gear for crabbing and spent two hours on the water in Nehalem Bay on the Oregon Coast. I have plenty I could say and details to share, but for now, enjoy a Wandering Update from our YouTube Channel. We should follow up with details at some point, but for now, enjoy our experience!

Warning: Some of the camera work was done by the kids. Jess and I were busy piloting the boat and hauling crab.

This might have hit the top of our ‘favorite experiences’ list!

Tags Crabbing on the Oregon Coast, Fishing for Crab from a boat, Kelly's Brighton Marina, OR, taking kids crabbing

California Featured Destination

Beyond Sea World: 13 Other Things to do in San Diego

Post author By Jess
Post date October 24, 2014
6 Comments on Beyond Sea World: 13 Other Things to do in San Diego

Last February we spent two weeks exploring San Diego. Having just come from Disneyland, we knew we didn’t want to visit Sea World or Lego Land so we came up with alternate ways to spend our time. It turned out to be quite fun! We also enjoyed just hanging out in the same space and getting things done! For those that are interested in visiting San Diego (because who wouldn’t be? The place is awesome!) here’s the list of things we did:

1. Mormon Battalion Museum and walking around old Town

We wrote an entire blog post about how awesome this was. Not just for Mormons either, there’s a lot of history about the settlement of the area.

2. Balboa Park

This park is beautiful and there are vendors and such on the weekends including an organ recital on Sundays @2pm (check the schedule before you go). We listened to the recital and then explored the park a bit, even enjoying a show by a magician!

3. Downtown Central Library

This library has amazing architecture with a fun kid’s section. We loved the room on the 5th floor with all the windows and a view of the city. Would be great for a rainy, reading day if you needed to spend some time indoors.

4. Cabrillo National Monument

This monument is located out on Point Loma. I wouldn’t have known this was even in the area if it weren’t for the National Parks Passport app on my phone. We met up with some Airstream friends for an afternoon and had a great time. Full blog post here.

5. Go to the Beach

This is kind of a “duh”. You ‘re in San Diego. We enjoyed Mission Beach, as it was only 15 minutes from where we were staying, had lovely sand, and there was even a boardwalk with a roller coaster that looked pretty awesome.

6. Bike ride around Mission Bay Park.

There’s a lovely bike path that winds through trees with great views of the water, and at least 3 or 4 small parks for the kids to play on. If you are feeling ambitious you can even do a lap or two around Fiesta Island.

7. South Bay Drive in Theater.

This was a fun night out with friends. We went and saw the Lego Movie on a weeknight. Very few people, prices were decent, and we brought lots of treats!

8. Walk Around the San Diego Temple.

The building is iconic and beautiful. Even if you are members and don’t have time to go in (the atrium up on the top floors is beautiful!) the grounds are well kept and pretty. It’d be a great Sunday afternoon activity!

11. Ice Cream at Costco

Surprisingly, the Costco on Morena Blvd that has the biggest, yummiest ice cream cones for $1.50 that we’ve never seen anywhere else. Ridiculously huge. Just throwing that one out there.

10. Ballet at North Park Theater

This was definitely a seasonal thing. We got lucky and happened to find out the BYU Ballet was having a Fairy Tales Dance Performance. Rachel and I went on a date with my friend and her daughter. I’m not sure what other events they hold there, but maybe check the schedule and add a little culture to your visit!

11. Tour the USS Midway

One of our highlights and deserves a blog post all on its own (maybe we’ll get caught up eventually?). We loved the audio wands and did the family tour that was a shortened version for smaller kids. Our kids also earned their pilot wings and were pretty excited about it! They don’t allow you to take in food, but you can leave and return, so we had a picnic in the parking lot.

12. San Diego Zoo & Safari Park

We did both parks on different days. It was a lot of zoo, but we enjoyed them both. I loved the variety of exotic, less common animals a the Zoo. We definitely saw animals we’d never seen before, although our favorite was was the Koala Bears. They are just too darn cute! The Safari Park was…. okay. I didn’t feel like it lived up to the hype, and as its 45 minutes out of the city skip this one if you are running short on time.

13. Reuben H. Fleet Science Center

It was great for a rainy day (of which we actually had some) but not our favorite science center. Interesting exhibits, but I honestly think it would appeal more to the 10+ kids rather than my 4-8 range.

As you can see, San Diego has quite a bit to offer! We loved our stay there and definitely have plans to return at some point. Have you ever been? What was your favorite thing to do?

Other suggestions we didn’t get to:
Border Field State Park – go stare across the fence at Mexico!
San Diego Natural History Museum
The bridge out to Coronado is beautiful and Moo Time Creamery is rumored to be delicious.
I had a friend suggest Kono’s Cafe for breakfast, but we could never get out of bed early enough.
La Jolla – I’ve heard the beaches are great. Would have loved to go kayaking!

Tags Fun Things to do in San Diego with Kids, Things to do in San Diego besides Sea World