For our big family vacation this year, we decided to head to the Oregon Coast. My kids have never seen the ocean. Michael and I haven't been to the coast in over 15 years. It was an easy decision. Then ten days before we were scheduled to leave, the A/C went out in the van and we discovered it will be cheaper to replace the van than fix the A/C. What to do? We decided to be hardy pioneer-type folks and live without A/C. *dun dun DUUUN!*
We left Boise at 4 a.m. and started the adventure. Some of us were more alert than others. After our first stop for gas, the trailer started acting funny. We pulled over to find the tread completely gone from one tire, the other tire with visible bulges, and a bald spare. After changing the naked tire for the bald tire, we decided to limp into the closest town with a Les Schwab. We thought it was forty miles away. The nice dam government workers (whose road we were blocking while changing our tire) directed us to a Les Schwab in The Dalles only two miles away.
I'm starting to believe no vacation is complete with a stop at Les Schwab. I'm also beginning to believe we should replace our trailer.
We were planning on stopping at Multnomah Falls to take a break and eat a picnic lunch. The entire western seaboard had the same idea at the same time: Cars were parked half a mile down the road while people hiked to the falls, we were on a time crunch, pulling a trailer and the lack of A/C was beginning to be felt. We just kept driving. Thankfully, we found a pretty waterfall, Bridal Veil, another few miles down the road. We saw a waterfall and ate lunch. The world was good again.
We also made a slight detour and hit the Tillamook Cheese factory. The big visitor's center was under construction and closed to the public but a temporary one was erected. Free cheese samples and overpriced ice cream bars were not worth it to me. Michael wanted to hit the Cape Meares Lighthouse and the Octopus Tree he visited when he was last at the Oregon Coast 25 years ago, but was vetoed.
We finally made it to our campsite at South Beach State Park (just outside Newport) around dinner time. The kids were dying to go to the beach and to eat. We have never set up camp so fast in our lives. Within 45 minutes the tents, cots, sleeping bags and camp stove were set up and I was done making dinner! Everyone quickly ate and then we got down to what we really came for.
The ocean!
It was cold and wet. We were all worn out. I expected it to be miserable. I was wrong. We stayed at the beach for at least a couple hours before settling everyone in bed for the night. Everyone slept very, very soundly.
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