Oregon Trip 2008
June 28 thru
July 5 - After a 12+ hour drive (and a few heart-stopping gas station fill ups
with our gas-guzzling Expedition) we arrived in Roseburg, OR to visit Bill's
sister Liz and her family. Tyler had a lot of fun hanging out with his second
cousins Maribel and Aleena. One of the first things we did was take the 3 of
them to the Wildlife Park in nearby Winston. We had fun with it the last time
we visited and thought it would be nice to go again seeing as Tyler is so into
animals these days. We also escaped the heat with dips in Liz's pool and Tyler
showed that he's not nearly as afraid of the water as he was the last time we
visited them. We also got the chance to drive to Grants Pass and go on a jet
boat ride. What a blast! If you get the chance we would highly recommend it.
Tyler even thought it was great and laughed when he got wet, but when the boat
started going and the wind hit him, causing him to get a little cold, he wasn't
as thrilled. If it had been a little warmer I think he would have appreciated
it a little more. During the ride we did get the chance to see some very nice
river houses. When we win our first million we're planning on buying one.
On Wednesday we drove up a
little further north to the Portland area to visit with Bill's other sister
Cheryl and her family. It was our first time visiting Cheryl at her house and
Tyler got to spend some quality time with his godparents and cousin Rachel. We
got some play time in at Safari Sam's which is like a Chuck E Cheese, but much
cooler. There was a large play structure that Tyler just went crazy on, a mini
golf course, and an arcade. Why don't they have things like that in our area?
We also took a trip to the Portland Zoo, which was very nice. It's a large zoo
and we didn't even get to see the entire zoo. Hopefully we'll be able to go
back and check it out again some time. Probably the biggest thrill for Tyler
was the cool train rides at the zoo. The ride was much more interesting than
the Santa Barbara Zoo's train. The train takes you to Washington Park where
there is a nice big playground and then takes you back to the zoo. On the 4th
of July we drove up to Mt. Hood and the Mt. Hood Railroad where they just
happened to be having A Day Out with Thomas. We had already planned a trip to
the Roaring Camp Railroad in Santa Cruz for the end of the month to attend A
Day Out with Thomas there, but we knew Tyler wouldn't mind doing it twice. On
the way back from Mt. Hood we stopped off to see one of Oregon's many beautiful
waterfalls and grab some ice cream. That was definitely different than
California, seeing all of the rushing rivers and greenery. On the drive back
home we definitely knew when we had passed into California, the scenery turned
brown and the smell of smoke in the air from all of the wildfires hung in the
air. But, all the same, it was nice to be home after being away for a week.
Click on a picture to see a
larger version.
Roseburg – Visiting the Denisons
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After seeing
Aleena jump into the pool a few times Tyler decided he wasn't going to be
upstaged by a girl. Then he and Aleena decided to do a tandem jump. |
Acting silly |
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The giraffe
walking in the middle of the road and coming right alongside the car made the
trip to the Wildlife Safari something to remember. |
Whoa! What
was that? |
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Enjoying
snow cones at the Wildlife Safari. |
Maribel
before we all got wet on the jet boat. |
Liz and Doug
waiting for the trip to begin. |
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Tahara humoring Uncle Bill
with a picture. |
The view from the boat. |
Tyler before he got wet. |
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You gotta
love the view. |
After – and
yes we all got very wet. |
Uncle Doug
got Tyler a little project train for him to do. |
Portland/Tigard – Visiting the Bunches
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At Safari Sam's
- Tyler had no fear climbing up the cargo nets even though he was over 10
feet in the air. |
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Rachel
trying out her dance moves at the arcade. |
One of the
trains at the Portland Zoo. |
The
playground at Washington Park. |
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Aunt Cheryl on the zoo
train. |
Tyler enjoyed his trip on
the train. |
They had dinosaurs at the
zoo! |
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Bill braves
the life-size T-Rex. |
Tyler loves
puzzles! |
At the Mt.
Hood RR - on the train behind Thomas. |
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Tyler didn't
like the fact that someone else wanted to take his picture. |
We drove all
the way up just so Tyler could play with more trains. |
I LOVE
THOMAS! |
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The Roses |
Rachel, Matt
and Cheryl pose for Bill. |
Tyler and
Alana share some ice cream. |
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I LOVE ICE CREAM! |
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