a mini-vacation!

earlier this year, we started discussing our family vacation with my parents, and decided to re-visit disneyland to coincide with the CDN thanksgiving holiday (just like we did 2 years ago). but due to the ongoing teachers dispute and the uncertainty of when school will actually begin, we opted instead for a road trip down to the oregon coast.

so we loaded up our minivan, picked up my parents, and hit the highway to seaside, oregon.  it took us 8 hours to get to seaside, including a 30 minute border wait, 2 rest breaks, and opting for the more "scenic" route along highway 101 from olympia. i had originally tried to find accommodations in cannon beach since we had all heard of it, but after researching hotels to meet our criteria (connecting rooms, air conditioning, swimming pool, complimentary breakfast, walking distance to everything), prices and availability in seaside just made more sense.

after reading reviews on tripadvisor, we booked the newly completed river inn at seaside. it was 3 blocks to the beach, 1 block to broadway street where all the restaurants and touristy shops are, and our connecting suite overlooked the Necanicum River; our room in particular also happened to overlook the children's play area and the fire pit. the room set-up was great - the 2 queen bed suite had a separate kitchen/living space, so we could put the kids to sleep and then hang out until our bedtime. and my parents connecting room had a king bed and sofabed, so gabe chose to sleep in their room!  the continental breakfast was pretty good - waffle maker, bagels, variety of breads, yogurt, hard boiled eggs, coffee, juice, and tea. the cookies at check-in, the bowls of salt water taffy, and the water cooler to fill our bottles were added bonuses.

we basically had 2 full days on the coast, so we did everything possible:  the oregon coast scenic railroad, tillamook cheese factory, tillamook air museum, cannon beach, seaside beach, wheel fun bike ride and pedal boat, and swim at the hotel.  and as one does on vacation, we ATE!  i think all of my meals included a bowl of clam chowder followed by something deep fried :P  we have great seafood in vancouver, but somehow i still couldn't get enough of it in oregon! the coast was great, and i've already made a few notes for future trips:

• stay more than 3 nights on the coast so there's more beach time!
• go in July to avoid the foggy August mornings (and early afternoons)
• build a bonfire and make smores!

after the coast, we drove to the woodburn outlets for some retail therapy :-)  unfortunately it was a let-down - there were no sales when we went, and i found that the seattle outlets had better (and bigger) retailers. it probably didn't help that it was over 30 degrees outside, and we were still dressed for the 18 degree coast we left behind :(

when we planned the trip to oregon, we were doing some meal planning and my parents said they had never been to the red lobster - they've seen the commercials all the time though.  so after a disappointing shopping trip, we went to red's for dinner.  after 3 nights, chris finally got to work for his dinner and ordered the pound of crab legs.  our first night in seaside, he ordered crab legs cooked with cajun seasoning, but the crab meat had already been shelled for him (this was the restaurant's way of having quick turn-around on their dinner tables).  aw shame :(

we stayed one night in portland at the inn at northrup station.  definitely a colourful hotel - again, it met all our requirements...i probably wouldn't stay there again.  but one added perk that we discovered in the morning was that we were only a 3 minute drive to trader joe's! my family and i are TJ virgins, so we were extremely excited for the experience, and even happier to not be hated canadians emptying their shelves :)  we must've been in the store for at least an hour ooh-ing and aah-ing over everything.  my dad was super excited to buy cheap wine and he got to use our quota as well.  i am looking forward to shopping at TJ's again...i've already got my shopping list ready :)

after a quick stop for lunch along the I5, we had one more fun stop planned for gabe - imagine children's museum in everett.  after getting stalled at the train play area, we had to keep prodding him to check out the other centres.  the outdoor play area was another big hit!  definitely another place to re-visit...perhaps if the strike continues, another road trip is in order!

and last but not least, we went to tulalip for dinner @ the olive garden and more shopping :-)  i hadn't been since they opened the new promenade stores and my dad was in tommy bahama heaven!  while we were at the outlets, we even ran into one of gabe's classmates doing some shopping as well.

and finally, our roadtrip came to an exhausting end with a 1 hour border line-up...who knew that 10 p.m. on a wednesday night would be so busy?!?!  since the trip, jeremy passed his nexus interview (he was a tricky bugger trying to get his picture taken :P) and has received his card...no more border line-ups again :)