Our Oregon Trail

O LORD my God, you have performed many wonders for us. Your plans for us are too numerous to list. You have no equal. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them. (Psalm 40:5, NLT)

Key Tov Blog was on the road again! 

Our adventure started when we flew from Hawaii to Portland. 

My girls earned their wings before the flight, 

mahalo Alaska Airlines! 

We flew on Easter Sunday and Mikea won the egg hunt on the Alamo bus! 

One of our friends who lives in Oregon, David Johnson, planned our route. A great big shout out and mucho mahalos for his help! At the end of this post, you will find his suggestions which differs slightly from our route because we just couldn’t squeeze everything in. And during our trip one of our primary goals was no agenda. 

We landed in Portland and quickly found Oregon people to be so nice, friendly, and helpful. A very special thank you to the motorcycle gang dressed with skull scarves on their faces revving up their Harley Davidsons to get our attention to let us know we were driving down the wrong way into oncoming traffic off 205 South. We appreciate you!

Right after our encounter with the motorcycle gang, we met up with friends for a late dinner. It was so great to spend time with them! They recently moved from Hawaii to Washington so it was nice to be able to have dinner with them and catch up. 

Gracie was very impressed with the Embassy Suites near the Portland Airport. 

The next day, we went to lunch at McGrath's Fish House and just let me say, the halibut fish and chips are excellent. The portions are quite huge so in hindsight we should've split meals. The people of Oregon really know how to feed their guests!

Washington State was not on our agenda for this trip but we found ourselves turned around and as we crossed the state line Mikea yelled, "Yes! I asked God to work it out for me to go to Washington during this trip and look, He did!"

Once we were back across the state line, Mike was very happy to stop by the Tillamook Country Smoker and our girls were extremely impressed as well!  

Our next stop was a tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory where I ate squeaking curds and habanero cheese. The squeaking curds was a first and last event for me while I grew especially attached to the habanero cheese. I cooled my mouth off with the best serving of strawberry ice cream I’ve ever had. 

Not only does the Tillamook Cheese Factory know how to do cheese, 

they also have the market cornered on strawberry ice cream and excellent customer service! And yes, the servings are almost as big as Mikea's hat!

We spent the night at the Inn at Spanish Head in Lincoln City. 

We experienced great food, amazing service, and as you can see a spectacular view.  

We made a quick stop off at Depoe Bay and walked along the sea wall. We saw blow holes at the rocky point on the north end of the bay and the surf was giving us quite a show with forty foot splashes.  Our friend told us to watch out for sprays and he wasn’t kidding! I was sprayed several times. We were told gray whales are often seen from this bay; however, we didn’t spot any during our trip. We did see a lot of seals resting out on the rocks. 

And our girls hung out with some locals 

while I stayed in the car, 

too much Alfred Hitchcock as a child.

After Depoe Bay, 

we drove the beautiful Otter Crest Loop and made a quick stop at Cape Foul Weather. 

And yes, you guessed it…the weather was quite foul! 

The wind was way too cold for this island girl! As you can tell from this picture, we were severely underdressed for this trip. We did buy windbreakers and it helped; however, our next trip to the Oregon Coast will include waterproof footwear!

The Yaquina Head Natural Outstanding Area is a beautiful place to see the lighthouse and spend some quality time with the tide pools. We were disappointed to learn we had missed low tide by a couple hours; however, the wind and rain was so cold we would’ve been able to spend much time at the tide pools. 

Seal Stop Alert!

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse (not to be confused with the Yaquina Head Natural Outstanding Area) is a great tour to learn about lighthouse living. 

Our girls were amazed at the 

old beds, piano, and kitchen utensils. 

Next, we walked the boardwalk at Newport on the Nye Beach Historic Bay-front where we were entertained by the local sea lions. 

We had lunch at Georgie's Seaside Grill where I was treated to the best grilled chicken salad in Oregon as well as beautiful view and excellent service!

We spent the night at Coos bay at The Mill. The Mill is right next door to a sawmill so during our stay and our walks on the boardwalk, we were able to experience the amazing cedar smell in the cool, crisp air! We were hungry for a good steak and crab so we headed over to the Hilltop Steak House. It was a perfect meal to end a perfect day!

I was blessed to take a picture of the most hardcore surfer I've ever seen. Now this is wanting to surf! 

Lastly before leaving Oregon and crossing the California state line, we saw the king of sea lions as is evidenced by his pose in this picture. Meet Mr. Fabulous, at least in his eyes!

As any Oregonian can tell by reading this blogpost, we did some backtracking and did very little planning for this trip. Driving the Oregon Coast was an amazing experience with its wide open spaces, fun hiking trails, rich history, wonderful food, friendly people, and beautiful scenery! The more we travel, the more we become fully aware of all the ways the LORD our God, has performed many wonders for us! His plans for us are too numerous to list! He has no equal! If we tried to recite all His wonderful deeds, we would surely never come to the end of them! Thank You King Jesus!

Driving from PDX South:

1. Lincoln City: (Wildflower Cafe has good lunches, several nice beaches with tidepools, a nice outlet mall.)

2. Pirate Cove (Just before Depoe Bay)

3. Depoe Bay: (The sea wall in town is fun to just sit and watch the ocean. There are two blow holes there as well. Also, ask a local how to get down to the rocky point on the north end of the bay. It's amazing to just sit and watch the waves. two currents collide forming HUGE waves about 30-40 feet from you! Just watch out for the splashes!)

4. Otter Crest Loop: Beautiful drive right along the coast. It brings you down to a few nice viewpoints. One of my favorite spots on the coast. 

5. Devil's Punch Bowl (view the bowl from the top, but drive a few blocks north and you can get down to a small beach and actually into the bowl at low tide. Easily my favorite beach to explore. a few small sea caves to explore, etc.)

6. Yaquina Head Natural Outstanding Area: (Yaquina Head Lighthouse, clapping beach, tide pools, etc. 

7. Newport: (Nye Beach is lovely to walk around. Chowder Bowl is located here. The Historic Bayfront is very fun to walk through. Sea lions all over, good coffee shops, fun homemade taffy, etc. Tourist spot but fun. The Aquarium and Hatfield's Marine Science Center are right each other. Well worth the visit, but if only time for one, do the Aquarium. Much better.)